100, 000 Women From 20 Countries Set To Climb Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro[/caption]
Smallholder women farmers under the platform of the Small-scale Women Farmers Organisation in Nigeria (SWOFON) are set to climb Mount Kilimanjaro under the Kilimanjaro Initiative.
The move is part of efforts to drive the stand for women’s land right; access to and control over the ownership of land and natural resources.
According to a Nigerian participant, Halima Oji, the event also aims at breaking the barriers that hold women food producers back and encourage that government must put women farmers first in its policies and budget line.
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Despite being 80% of the work force in agriculture, women continue to be marginalized and denied access to own and control land.
She said; “This is a remarkable and exciting process that will mobilize rural women farmers from across Africa towards an iconic moment in Tanzania.”
The women, mostly rural farmers, are drawn from Nigeria, Malawi, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe etc.
The main event will be the climb by the farmers to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro to symbolize the challenge facing women and represents the starting point to dissemination the message throughout Africa.
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Amongst the climbers are two representatives from SWOFON, Mary Afan and Lovelyn Ejim who are also members of the network of Rural Women Farmers across Africa and are already in Tanzania to be joined by others from Nigeria at the assembly.
The Kilimanjaro Initiative is spearheaded by ActionAid International. It was conceived during a meeting of rural women and civil society organisation in 2012 in Dar es Salam Tanzania.
It is schedule to hold between October 14 to 16 with the 15th being the International Rural Farmers Day.
