Women’s Project Obstetric Fistula

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Amount € 70,400.00

Overview

Trampled Rose, Inc. is an NGO that was established in Ethiopia to improve the general health and living conditions of women who suffer from Obstetric Fistula. These women were shunned by their families and communities and many were living alone and destitute. The source of this condition stems from a lack of medical attention or complications during childbirth or becoming pregnant at a young age due to the harmful cultural practice of early marriage. The project’s purpose was to rehabilitate 30 women annually, over a 3 year period and provide them with the necessary care, skills and knowledge to generate their own income and reintegrate into society.

Key results

• 87 women from numerous villages in Ethiopia were taught to produce products that they could sell in their communities. These products include jewellery, basket weaving and soap production techniques.

• The profits made by the women from selling their products while still in the programme were used as start-up capital to fund their own businesses. These capacity building initiatives improved the women’s employment prospects, provided them with the opportunity for self-employment and empowered the women by assisting them to become financially independent.

• Three women who were trained in chicken farming were hired at a large chicken farm and earned their first income of 1,000 Ethiopian Birr per month

• The women were also empowered with literacy training skills. At the onset of the course most of the women couldn’t sign their own names. The training started with the basics, teaching the women the Amharic alphabet and then progressed to sentence construction. By the end of the course all the women participating in the project could read and write fluently. The women were also taught introductory Ethiopian history and geography.