Earning Their Way to Healthier Lives

In Zambezia Province’s remote villages—often hours from urban areas down bumpy dirt roads—women toil in their homes and gardens just as they might have done hundreds of years ago. Strict male and female roles keep women digging on the land by day, cleaning and cooking by night, and supervising their children in between chores. They have little free time, little access to the outside world—even the radio is a rare treat—and basic household products are many miles away in the nearest trading center. They also have little help. Men are responsible for earning income for the family, but in an area with few employment opportunities, many cope through excessive drinking and risky sex. As women try to protect themselves from illness and manage their households, they do not have the money, time, or information to make even small changes to improve their lives. The Mulheres Primero (Women First) program, implemented by International Relief and Development (IRD), aims to give rural women options for a better life. It provides them with a combination of small business skills training, access to household products to sell, and health and HIV peer education sessions. Together these activities give women the resources—skills, information, peer support, and assets—to make informed health decisions. Recently, the program added a legal rights component to address issues such as sexual and gender-based violence and property and inheritance rights