ADVANCING THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS
Why It Matters
Women and girls continue to endure pervasive unfairness that breaches their fundamental human rights, obstructs their access to health care and education, and increases their vulnerability to gender-based abuse and exploitation, not just in Cameroon but globally. They are routinely left out of leadership roles and political processes, and they are disproportionately affected by humanitarian disasters.
Our aim at H4BF is to empower the most vulnerable by investing in women and girls as leaders, change agents, and economic actors.
We aim to guarantee that women and girls are in charge of their own destiny, that they are valued as leaders, that they have access to the resources and opportunities they need to develop, and that they live in safe and resilient communities.
Our initiatives help teenage girls stay in school, prevent HIV and early pregnancy, and reduce gender-based violence and exploitation by increasing women’s access to economic opportunities and health services. We also work with families and communities to keep adolescent girls in school.
Men and boys have an important role in the changes we seek. H4BF works with men as partners, dads, and allies in our health and economic empowerment initiatives to embrace new attitudes and habits that promote their own and their families’ well-being.
Gender-Based Violence
We provide psychosocial assistance, Livelihood support and promote the right of all women and girls to live free of violence and abuse.
Inclusion
We encourage social inclusion by improving the mobility of people with disabilities and creating awareness on the dangers of stigmatization
Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality
“I’ve noticed that women are becoming more self-reliant. We discuss a variety of topics, including social issues, health and nutrition, domestic violence, and kitchen gardens. But this isn’t simply a conversation. We’re looking for answers.” Programs Coordinator Bisona Solange
Overview
Gender equality and women’s empowerment are at the heart of everything we do. Our work is guided by a commitment to women’s leadership, evidence-based programming, and the abolition of prejudice in all forms.
Our Approach to Women’s Empowerment
H4BF incorporates techniques to put resources and decision-making in the hands of women throughout all of our programs, while also addressing social norms and structural impediments that limit women’s choices and freedom.
Whether it’s giving prospective entrepreneurs with basic business skills training or collaborating with local businesses to boost women’s roles in value chains, our economic empowerment projects help women grow their economic possibilities and incomes.
Women Empowered (WE) programs give women a place to build their confidence, develop leadership skills, form social networks, and take collective action.
To address persistent discrepancies in health outcomes, concerted measures are required. This is why our reproductive and maternal health, HIV testing and treatment, and cervical cancer screening programs focus on connecting women to accurate information and high-quality, respectful services. We also assist women in adopting life-saving health and nutrition habits for the benefit of their mothers, newborns, and children.
Working with women alone, however, is insufficient to achieve gender equality.
Working with families, communities, and leaders to challenge harmful attitudes and practices and bring about change, H4BF provides an enabling environment. Community-based projects to prevent and respond to gender-based violence are included.
H4BF WOMEN EMPOWERMENT CENTER, NKAMBE
As the crisis rocking the North West and the South West regions continue unabated, women continue to bear the brunt.
Women’s rights activists and civil society partners have flagged increasing reports of Gender based violence as the crisis rage and have and have warned that if nothing is done urgently, thousands of IDP women and girls will be left without any life-saving assistance to recover from GBV and rebuild their lives.
It’s as a result of this, H4BF has decided to open a Women/Girls Empowerment Center in Nkambe, Donga Mantung Division North West region of Cameroon. This center will enable displaced women, returnees and host communities to get together and discuss issues affecting them and use the center as a place to conduct their income generating activities (IGA) and get informal education on numerals.
The center will also provide specialized Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) case management and reintegration of IDPs, GBV and sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). H4BF after training staffs at the center on GBV case management to improve the quality of lifesaving GBV service provision. They have better knowledge on the use of the GBV referral pathways to ensure safe referral of survivors of GBV to specialized services.