Rural women are not often in the spotlight. Yet they should be, because in countries like Haiti, for example, which is vulnerable to natural disasters and extreme climate change, these women demonstrate a remarkable level of courage and resilience.
UN agencies deeply regret the sinking of a boat on October 11 in Acandí, Colombia, which was carrying about 30 people to Panama. In this tragedy, three people lost their lives and six others, including three minors, are missing, according to the Colombian authorities.
“I’ve lost my job. I gave birth. It’s been difficult as my child has disabilities too.” These are the words of a despondent mother of two, Rebecca Bolona, as the 38-year-old speaks to us in a small room upstairs of the Vitolina Centre, in a busy area in Wierdapark, South Africa.
The UN Secretary-General on Sunday said he was committed to ensuring that the Organization is a place where “youth voices are heard, and their ideas lead”, as he spent the day in Barbados which tomorrow hosts a major UN conference on trade and development, focused on the need to build a global green economy and recover equitably from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chanel Bernard, 29 years-old, is from Pestel, a township in Haiti's Grand'Anse department, located some 80 kilometers from the city of Les Cayes. The 90,000 inhabitants of this town nestled between the sea and the mountains live according to the rhythm of the market days—Wednesdays and Saturdays— and the flow of ships unloading their goods from neighbouring cities into the port.
Rural women have great potential as leaders and entrepreneurs. They also have the desire to lead. But they face many obstacles: few job opportunities, low levels of education, and lots of unpaid work. They are also often openly discouraged by their loved ones to pursue their dreams, pressured by traditional stereotypes.
By its magnitude, its duration and the changes it has generated, the COVID-19 pandemic has very quickly proved to be a multidimensional crisis, affecting the health, social, economic and human spheres of our societies.
The COVID-19 pandemic continues its deadly march around the world. How will countries be able to “build back better” from this calamity? We know, in this respect, that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are key.
It is 5 a.m. and Ceferina, a 30-year-old migrant day labourer, or jornalera, begins her day in southern Jalisco, Mexico. She and her family live in a shelter and work in vegetable and sugar cane fields. They live and work alongside other jornaleras families from different parts of the country, mainly from the south of Mexico.
