International Women's Day 2025

According to data from the World Economic Forum, it will take more than 125 years for the world to achieve gender equality. That’s another five generations from now.  

For International Women’s Day, we wanted to feature some of the ways Christian Aid and our partners support women and girls across the world. From amplifying  their voices in their communities to making a material difference to their own lives.  

South Sudan 

Around 4 out of 5 people displaced by climate change around the world are women and girls.  South Sudan ranks among the five countries in the world most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change such as extreme flooding and failed harvests which has forced people to abandon their homes and fuelled hunger.  
 
Forty-five year old, married mum of seven, Anok Angok Kon is one of many in South Sudan living on the climate crisis frontline.  

Anok has lived in her village in Aguat her whole life but has noticed a change in the weather over the years, which has made it increasingly difficult for farmers like her to grow enough food to eat.  

“Before the climate changed, it used to rain in April and May. We would plant our crops then and do our harvesting in September to October. But now, the rain is starting in June so we can’t harvest till October/November,” Anok said.  

Anok’s village in the Aguat area of Aweil West County in Northern Bahr El Ghazal state is in the far northwest of South Sudan. Anok has a small plot of land next to her home which she uses to grow crops to support her family, but like many farmers across the country, she has been impacted by the climate crisis.   

With its flat geography, South Sudan is plagued by regular wide-spread flooding, which wipes out crops, homes and livelihoods, and often leaves people with no choice but to abandon their homes in search of higher ground. Around three quarters of South Sudan’s population live in areas exposed to flooding. Aguat is also a low-lying area, leaving it very vulnerable to flooding.    

“The floods devastated vast areas of farmland last year which made cultivation impossible for us. The situation has pushed communities to their limits, with hunger becoming a prevalent issue,” she added.    

Christian Aid’s local partner Smile Again Africa Development Organization (SAADO) has been supporting local communities to protect themselves against the worst of the flooding. With funding from Irish Aid, SAADO have supported local communities to build dykes as flood defences to protect their homes and their farmland.  

Another Irish Aid funded partner, Coalition for Humanity, is supporting communities to adapt to climate change by providing farmers with training in climate resilient farming methods, as well as encouraging people to grow a mix of different crops to reduce the risks to harvests from climate change.     

300 farmers (the majority women) will receive this training every year for five years to help them to grow crops on their home plots as well as in communal plots in their villages. Christian Aid’s local partner will also provide 1,500 families with farming tools as well as fast growing, flood and drought resilient seeds to grow. These crops will feed their families, and any surplus can also be sold for cash.   

Anok said that before receiving support from Christian Aid’s local partner, farmers like her lacked knowledge about good farming techniques which led to poor quality produce, difficulty in controlling pests and reduced yields. But since receiving the training, tools and seeds, she said that it has made a real difference to her and her family. 

“We used to go and collect leaves from the wild trees to eat but now we aren’t collecting them anymore because we are benefiting from growing vegetables,” Anok said.   

“We were given vegetable seeds like kale, jute mallow and okra. We sell some to get cash for the children’s school fees and for medical treatment.”

Guatemala

In 2023, an estimated 55% of Guatemala’s population lived in poverty. The country’s high poverty levels are driven by a lack of access to basic services, job opportunities as well as the impact of frequent extreme weather events and climate disasters from hurricanes to severe floods to drought. 

Our local partner Congcoop is supporting women from indigenous K'iche' communities in the Sololá area to lobby local government authorities to provide basic services for their communities.

Thanks to funding from Irish Aid, Congcoop has helped women from these communities set up two ‘social audit commissions’ to demand that local authority budgets take account of community needs.

Indigenous women have traditionally faced discrimination and exclusion from public life in Guatemala, however, thanks to Congcoop’s support, the women in these groups have received training to help them better understand how public money is spent and develop strategies to successfully lobby local authorities to get better services for their community.

“To make a difference, the social audit commission has been trained about laws and our rights so that we can demand the justice, equality and the respect we deserve in decision-making,” said social audit commission member Felicia Tzep Guachiac.

Felicia said her social audit commission had a significant win in 2024. Together with women residents of the Chuisibel community, a K'iche’ community in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacán, they identified a rundown health centre in need of funding from the municipal budget for improvement.

In the months following, the commission interviewed people living in local neighbourhoods to get a sense of the issues facing the health centre. They later presented to the departmental health directorate what needed to be done to improve it.

In response, the local health department outlined steps it would take to begin improving the health centre, including repairs and equipping it with more medicine. The department also indicated that a doctor and assistant nurse should be hired so the centre can provide a wider and improved range of medical care.

Sierra Leone

The climate crisis does not affect everyone equally. Not only are people in poorer countries impacted more than those living in wealthier, higher polluting countries, but also women and girls are disproportionately affected by climate change. This is in large part due to them making up the bulk of the world’s poor, who heavily rely on local natural resources to earn a living.

In Sierra Leone, Christian Aid is working with local partners to empower vulnerable groups, especially women and young people, to carry out projects and actions in their localities that will help reduce the impact of climate change on their lives and livelihoods.

As part of this work, our local partner WONES set up ‘nature clubs’ in eight schools involving over 250 pupils. The clubs are educating the next generation on the importance of caring for nature. Our partner provided exercise books, trees to plant and bins for the school.

Tree planting is particularly important as it can help combat soil erosion as well as absorb rainfall to prevent it from pooling. One girl who is a member of a nature club shared with us how what she has learned can be applied beyond the school gates.

“It is important for us to know about climate change now because when we get older, we can teach other people how to manage the climate and also do things that will protect the climate by raising public awareness. We can tell people to stop cutting down trees and tell the government we need to protect the trees.”