Helping People Thrive

Vulnerable Women

Women make up half of the world’s population and yet represent 70% of the world’s poor. Women bear a disproportionate burden of the world’s poverty, marginalisation and injustice. Acts of violence cause more death and disability for women between the ages of 14 and 44 than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined (UNIFEM, 2011). Only a little over 20% of poor rural girls in Africa complete primary education; fewer than 10% finish lower secondary school and in many countries women in paid work earn 10–30% less than men. (ONE).

Yet when women have equal access to education, health care, decision making, employment and land they are a key driving force against poverty. Gender equality translates into better prospects for families and greater well-being of children, reducing poverty of future generations. Tearfund Ireland seeks to unlock this potential. Through partnership we aim to restore broken relationships between men and women. We are providing skills training for women to enable them to earn a living and escape poverty. We are providing anti trafficking awareness training, protecting women and children from the lies of traffickers.

Through Tearfund Ireland’s trauma counselling workshops in Jordan, women who have been affected by the war in Syria are coming to terms with the violence they have endured and the heartbreaking loss of their children, husbands and family members as a result of war. They are starting to rebuild their lives and slowly look to the future.

Children at Risk

Tearfund Ireland has a specific concern and heart for vulnerable children. We believe that children should be protected, honoured and enabled to grow and flourish in love and safety. Children have a right to safety, to education, to a home, to a family. Through our programmes and campaigns we work to ensure that children areafforded these rights, that the most vulnerable in this world are protected and empowered.

And children are considered some of the most vulnerable people in our world. One billion children worldwide are living in poverty. It is widely documented that rates of child trafficking increase in the aftermath of disasters, that the majority of children sold into slavery come from impoverished families with no choices. Of the 65 million people living as refugees across the globe half of them are under 182 and living without access to education, to safety, to normal childhood development. 80% of childrenliving in orphanages have at least one living parent, yet grow up without the love and security of a family.

Our projects focus on supporting families to lift themselves out of poverty through ongoing community mobilisation, preventing child trafficking, providing alternatives to growing up in an institution as well as providing education for children caught in conflict. In Ireland and Europe we campaign for the rights of children to be upheld and implemented across all national and international policies.