by Ny Hasina
Building the capacities of rural women to have their voices heard through advocacy campaigns towards a climate, social and economic justice is of a capital importance for a country with an agricultural vocation like Madagascar which boasts 2.4 millions of agricultural exploitations. Despite this status, small-scale rural people and especially women are being overlooked over years and considered as second-class citizens who are compelled to cope with all types of challenges, such those due to climate change, land grabbing , transnationals domination and a not insignificant fact that is the lack of awareness of their rights, though they have specific needs.
It is precisely to remedy this situation that a synergy needs to be created between the various organisations working to promote rural women’s rights , thus, the RWA members in Madagascar from eight regions actively participated in a five –day training courses in partnership with E-tafo, a youth organisation which militates for human rights promotion and climate justice.
The themes addressed focus on women’s rights and rural women rights, the nexus between Economic , Social and Cultural Rights and food sovereignty, how does climate change impacts rural women ways of life and livelihoods, the necessity of setting up a social, climate justice campaign and a public policy to have our climate change related-issues solved to better ensure sustainable livelihoods for generations.
