Mission Statement:
To empower women, children and youth through educational programmes and micro-credit so as to enable them move from crises and poverty into stability and self-sufficiency.
Mbonweh focuses on helping poor, vulnerable rural women and children.
The organisation was founded in 1988 (100% women membership), by a group of women leaders who were concerned with the increasing burden of poverty, crises and family responsibilities in which local women were trapped. The focus is to aid women who are illiterate, poor, marginalized, and abused and their underprivileged children. These women are also solely responsible for the well-being of their families (children's health, education, feeding and clothing).
In Cameroon 80% of the population is rural and 87% live below the poverty line, with women and children being the hardest hit. The greater proportion of women suffer from poverty because of lack of access to:
- education,
- productive resources,
- control of assets,
and in some cases because of cultural unequal rights in the family and in society. This in fact impacts negatively the entire household, particularly the children, and as a consequence the entire community.
In poor families, priority is often given to providing education and vocational training to boys, and sometimes girls go to work to support their brothers' schooling (only 22.7% of girls and 47% of boys are enrolled in schools). This has resulted in prostitution and juvenile delinquency, a rise in the number of street children (64% of which are girls). Where women's rights are recognized, illiteracy often prevents them from understanding their entitlements and makes access to public positions more difficult, as gender roles are still discriminating.
Poverty and lack of education also makes women and young girls more vulnerable to health hazards, sexually transmitted diseases (including HIV/AIDS), unwanted pregnancies, and social and domestic violence. Gender inequalities are not just hurting women, but the families, the communities and the country.
Mbonweh poverty reduction policies are rooted in the acknowledgement of women's rights and strives to change cultural biases and social behaviors that discriminate girls and women.
We ensure access of young girls and women to quality, basic education, adult literacy/skills development credit, assets, information on reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, and women's human rights.
Our Vision:
We believe that the agenda for change will not be carried out automatically and that unless women themselves convey their message and actively participate in the process of change, little will be accomplished. Mbonweh Women's Development Association is dedicated to building a world that ensures equality and justice for all. We define justice to include economic, political and social justice that has gender equality at its core.
Mbonweh envisions a world where:
- no woman/child is abused, poor, illiterate or marginalized;
- women have full and equal participation in process that ensure their health, well-being and economic independence; and
- women have the freedom to define their lives, future and reach their full potential.