Somali tea and jobs

N-B-5808

,
Chief Technical Advisor in Somalia

Talking over a cup of tea is the main drive for job creation in Somaliland.

It is the way Somalis do business, the way they build on the new opportunities that can deliver badly  needed jobs in a land where three out of four people under 30 are unemployed (*).

“Talking means trade, and trade generates work,” says Mustafa Othman, member of the organization Shaqodoon (Somali word for job-seeker). “Jobs generate income, so we can sit over a Somali tea and keep on doing business.” Continue reading

Fighting forced labour helps women beat poverty

N-B-5808

,
Director-General of the International Labour Organization

Note: This entry was originally posted on The CNN Freedom Project blog 

Across the planet, about one in every seven of us lives in extreme poverty, having to survive on less than $1.25 a day. Every day, they and the millions more living just above the poverty line struggle to have enough to eat, and dream of a better life and of earning enough to provide for their families.

Geeta Devi was one of these people. Continue reading

Work and family, a crucial balance

Let me tell you briefly the stories of Afia and Melba.

Afia gets up every day at 5 a.m. to fetch water from a well two miles away from her farm in Djanipe (Togo) to prepare a family meal before going off to her farming or trading activities  When she comes back home in the evening, she is too tired to play with her two children, aged four and two.

Soglo, her husband, works shorter hours and does not participate in childcare or household chores.  They have been hit hard by the lack of rainfall and are constantly struggling to make ends meet. Continue reading