Sankofa

w w w. c c i o r g . c a • Vo l . 1 0 N O . 1 • Spring 2010

Canadian
Crossroads
international

ColleCTIve

gaIn

International Women’s Day Take your place Saving

campaign a success! at the table communities
p.2 p.3 p.4

49 Bathurst St., Suite 201

Toronto, ON M5V 2P2 Canada
 A
Shea butter & batik collectives
transform women’s live in Mali & Senegal
Arriving at work at 9:30, Fatou Marone heats palm oil and adds a mixture
of luxurious shea butter, honey and henna. By the afternoon, she and
her colleagues are cutting the pieces of their rich, natural hand soap. In
between, they work and talk, sharing the joys and trials of their daily lives.
empowering women
For Marone — a 52-year old mother of three in Senegal, who struggled to make ends
meet selling bits and pieces of clothing on consignment after her husband’s death in
2000 — this is a new life.
“After [my husband’s] death it became very difficult [to get by] now things
are good,” Marone says. “It’s great here. The solidarity is very good.” Kankou
Sidibe, the 48-year-old mother of three teenagers, agrees. She leads a batik
workshop run, like the soap workshop, by CCI’s long-time partner in
Senegal, the Association des Femmes de la Médina (AFEME). Years of work
on the front-lines in the city of Médina convinced AFEME of the need to
directly confront women’s poverty and economic dependence. Enter the
soap workshop and Sidibe’s batik workshop.
“We see a change in the women after they join the batik work-
shop,” says Sidibe, who herself struggled with unemployment while
raising three children. After joining AFEME, Sidibe took part in a South-
South Crossroads exchange to learn traditional batik dyeing techniques
“Now [the women] have work that gives them
revenue, greater autonomy and a new skill.”
Kankou Sidibe, batik workshop leader,
Association des Femmes de la Médina
Canadian Crossroads International
International Women’s Day
campaign a success!
n
Profile of a star fundraiser
no one was more surprised to discover that Meredith Low came out as top
volunteer fundraiser in CCI’s pilot International Women’s Day campaign this year
than Ms. Low herself. Sure, the mother of two girls is director, strategic planning
and initiatives at the CIBC. But asking friends and acquaintances to contribute to
the campaign to raise funds for women’s cooperatives in Mali and Senegal (see
feature story above) took courage.
“I didn’t really know how to ask people for funds,” she explains.
w w w. c c i o r g . c a
Low has been committed to CCI’s work against poverty and for human rights
for many years. She first got involved 20 years ago in 1989, was a Crossroads
volunteer in Zimbabwe in 1991, volunteered with CCI in Canada through the 90s,
and served on the organization’s board of directors for six years.
“I’m confident saying it’s a good cause. You can really have an impact.”
It seems that Low’s friends and acquaintances agree. Even people she expected
to ignore her appeal responded readily to Low’s call to support economic develop-
ment projects that empower women.
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2 “It felt really unobtrusive—you tap people on the shoulder and say basically
in Mali. “Now [the women] have work that gives them revenue, greater autonomy and a
new skill.” It’s an eminently practical approach.
Sidibe, for example, now pays school fees for her son and two daughters, and for
many of the women, earnings are crucial to ensuring their girls get an education.
“The cooperative is also a tool in the struggle for food security,” says Mariam
Ouattara, manager of the Coopérative de karité de Zantiébougou, or Coprokazan, a
tremendously successful cooperative in Mali (and another CCI partner) that uses shea
butter as a tool for community transformation. The women use their shea butter earnings
to buy food, especially during drought or other tough times.
But women like Sidibe and Marone and the more than 600 women members of
Coprokazan are agents, not just tools, of change.
“We really see a major change,” says Ouattara. Women gain respect within their
families and increase their roles as decision-makers in their communities.
CCI, with partner Association Malienne pour les Jeunes (AMPJ), supported the for-
mation of the co-op nearly a decade ago, and continues to support its expansion.
Recently, CCI funded tools to assist in processing shea butter. Now, says Ouattara,
Coprokazan has members in 32 villages in rural Mali, up from 11 villages and around 200
members just two years ago. The cooperative sells shea butter products in Zantiébougou
and Bamako in Mali; in Senegal, and in Canada.
CCI volunteers have been instrumental in the cooperative’s development. This spring
Crossroader Ourida Anki is working with Coprokazan to improve its website, brochures
and the packaging of its products. In May, Ouattara and Mah Koné, the president of
Coprokazan, will travel to Montreal to seek new Canadian markets for their wares.
The women of the Senegalese soap and batik co-ops both put their products to the
test in April at an international agricultural products forum. “I … hope to help members
improve and standardize the quality of their products so that they can compete in the
market,” says Crossroader Josianne Bathalien, who is also providing expertise in market-
ing and packaging their products.
Asked her hopes for the future, Fatou Marone’s response comes without hesitation:
“To work more, and with great courage.” Then she pauses a moment. “And,” she adds
with pride, “with great skill.”
“I’m confident saying it’s
a good cause. You can
really have an impact.”
Meredith Low (Zimbabwe 1991)
are you interested?” Low explains of the web-based program that enables CCI
supporters to invite their friends and acquaintances to visit their personal fund-
raising pages.
While raising nearly $3000 for the CCI-supported cooperatives in the space
of a month in honour of International Women’s Day, March 8th, Low discovered
that it isn’t so hard to seek support for a worthy end.
“I pushed my comfort zone a bit and I was really pleasantly surprised,”
says Low.
The campaign exceeded its target of $20,000 in support of CCI’s work with
women’s cooperatives. And CCI’s Director of Resource Development Jill Bridgman
hopes to expand this program in the coming year. “We were really inspired by the
response of volunteers and staff who raised funds for the campaign,” says Bridgman.
“Thanks to their support and that of hundreds of their colleagues, family and
friends we can expand these proven programs to help even more women.”
Street legal
Legal literacy volunteers help women stand up for their rights

although more than two years have passed since a
bill specifically criminalized domestic violence, few women in
Ghana are aware of the landmark 2007 legislation. If that situa-
tion is to change at last, it will be because of the work of women
like Beauty Basah, a legal literacy volunteer (LLV) who educates
fellow women in the community.
In her day job as a government community worker
who provides group and organizational training, Basah
gets plenty of exposure to the cost of physical, psycho-
logical and sexual violence women in Ghana regularly
suffer at the hands of men — often their husbands.
The 52-year-old mother of three first trained as an
LLV with CCI’s partner organization Women in
Law and Development-Ghana (WiLDAF-Ghana)
back in 1997. She had jumped at the chance
to help women learn about their rights. But her
decade of volunteer work has transformed her
as well.
“My own life as a woman
has improved. ... People look
at me as a role model.”
Beauty Basah, Legal Literacy Volunteer,
Women in Law and Development-Ghana (WiLDAF)
“I became assertive…[this experience] has built upon my
own knowledge and broadened my horizons.”
As Basah’s long-time service shows, WiLDAF has been
training LLVs since long before the domestic violence legislation.
But their work is of critical importance today. The challenge
now is implementation.
Two years since the passage of the bill, few lawyers
use the legislation in arguing a case. In fact, there has yet
to be a single sentence passed as a result of the 2007
legislation, which WiLDAF was instrumental in
getting passed. Through the CCI partnership with
WILDAF and Toronto-based Metropolitan Action
Committee on Violence Against Women and
Children (METRAC), and the help of skilled
volunteers, WiLDAF has increased capacity to
monitor the implementation of the legislation in
the courts.
This year, CCI also supported the expan-
sion of the legal literacy volunteer program so
that Basah and her colleagues can reach even
more women to help them assert their rights.
“My own life as a woman has improved,”
says Basah. Indeed, her role has had a small but
notable domino effect in her community. “People look
at me as a role model.”

TaKe YoUr
Message from
the Chair
obstacles to development. And while they are not program- PlaCe aT
THe Table
Darlene bessey
matic areas of focus for CCI now, we will continue to work
with partners to mitigate their impact and the disproportion-
ate burden they place on women.
CCI joins global call for action
Never has the need been more urgent. As we began
developing our plan for 2010-2015, many thousands of
at the Table, a campaign calling for real action on
people around the world joined the ranks of those living in

No small change
poverty, climate change and global economic reform, was
extreme poverty thanks to global economic crisis. Stories launched on March 8th, International Women’s Day. And with
CCI launches new strategic plan like those of Crossroaders Mariana Salazar (p. 4) , Jo-Anne good reason — after all, women endure disproportionately the

making Change
Rolls and Anna-Colletor Penduka (p. 4) remind us that the dire effects of both poverty and climate change.
The name of the campaign is a succinct reminder of a

C
anadian Crossroads International’s goal has always
been to create an equitable and sustainable world
through international collaboration and collective action.
This year, we’re taking to heart Gandhi’s admonition to be
the change you want to see. We have developed a bold
new strategic plan through which we will redouble our
efforts to empower women and children and ensure sus-
tainable livelihoods for all. The plan addresses both what
CCI will do and how the organization will transform itself to
increase its impact.
In the next five years, CCI will build on its strengths.
CCI will reduce violence against women and girls; increase
women’s political representation; and increase economic
empowerment for people in rural and disadvantaged
communities in West Africa and Bolivia — moving ever
closer to our vision of ONE WORLD where poverty is
issues we are trying to address are not Southern issues,
they’re global issues. CCI’s unique way of working, leverag-
ing the diverse experiences and perspectives of North and
South to bear on these problems, has particular value in
tumultuous times. But to effect real change we need your
support.
To achieve our ambitious goals requires that we also
transform our organization. In the next five years, CCI and
our supporters can make meaningful contributions to
national and international dialogues to advance women’s
rights and the right to sustainable livelihoods for all. As
we strive for excellence in international volunteering and
cooperation, we will engage even more Canadians as
volunteers, collaborators and donors. Already we have
restructured our Canadian operations to effectively and
efficiently deliver on our plans and in the next five years
bitter truth: the vast majority of people on this planet are not at
the table when decisions are made that determine the course of
their lives.
In June, the leaders of the world’s most powerful nations —
the G20 and, even more exclusively, the G8 — will be meeting in
Toronto. These leaders have made numerous commitments to
economic justice, real action to confront climate change and its
effects, and (particularly through the Millennium Development
Goals) to produce measurable, specific reductions in poverty
around the world. They have not kept these promises.
At the Table, a response to this breach of trust, is a global
call to action by Canadians and global civil society. At stake?
Everything — and that is why CCI is proud to join the call to
hold these powerful leaders to account for a viable world as we
inch closer to deadlines: on action to minimize the most cata-
strophic effects of climate change, and on absolutely crucial
goals for development, poverty reduction and justice that are
simply not being met.
w w w. c c i o r g . c a

We invite Crossroaders and CCI supporters to get active in

eliminated, equality prevails and the rights of women and
girls are fulfilled.
Climate change and HIV and AIDS remain critical
we will double funds raised in support of overseas
programming. To learn more about our plan please read
the enclosed insert or visit our web site cciorg.ca.
the campaign by writing letters, contacting your elected repre-
sentatives, organizing At the Table events with your family and
friends, and joining online actions — check out cciorg.ca to
learn more about the Flat Leader Photo Action, the Shortchange
video contest and other ways you can take your place At the
Table.
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Paying tribute to our monthly donors:
Jean-MarC HaCHeY
Our monthly donors deserve a huge and resounding
THanK YoU! Day in and day out, they provide ongoing
funding to support innovative projects in eight developing
countries. This kind of commitment, no matter what size, is
the most cost-effective and helpful way to support the valu-
able work of Canadian Crossroads International and our
partners abroad. As little as $10 a month quickly adds up to
a gift that could provide a microfinance loan for a small dairy
producer in rural Bolivia or a villager in Niger growing food
staples to support her family.
3
!
“volunteering with Canadian Crossroads International in
ghana back in 1982 was truly a life-changing experience for
me, and has, without a doubt, influenced the person I am
today. at the time, I was a young man with an ardent belief in
CCI’s vision of ‘one World’.
nearly 30 years later, making a monthly donation is just
my way of returning a favour to a top notch organization
working tirelessly to promote equality for women and girls. I
like being a monthly donor because the flexibility means I can
change the amount of my donation any time, and I know that
over the years, even a small donation can become a signifi-
cant contribution.”
 Women’s empowerment is
key to Zimbabwe’s struggle
against HIv & aIDS
T
They stopped the van in what seemed, to Jo-Anne Rolls, to be the middle
of nowhere. For the program coordinator with the AIDS Coalition of Cape Breton
(ACCB), this would be the most life-changing part of her trip to Zimbabwe. Rolls was
accompanying staff from Southern partner Women and AIDS Support Network (WASN),
on the travelling health clinic they hold every two weeks in a different rural area. The
Crossroader, whose organization directly serves people living with HIV or AIDS in the Cape
Breton area, was overwhelmed at the sheer number of women who travelled long
distances to reach the clinic.
“Some women walk 15 km to get there,” she recalls. “One woman came in an oxcart
— she couldn’t walk anymore.”
About 25 per cent of the population of Zimbabwe are thought to be infected with
HIV, and the life expectancy has declined to a stupefying 36 years. With political instabil-
ity, currency devaluation and an exodus of professionals from the country, structures like
the health care system have all but collapsed, increasing women’s vulnerability in every
way. WASN’s multi-pronged work against this background includes care and support like
the mobile health clinic; public education on sexually-transmitted infections,
healthy living and nutrition; and advocacy. They train other organizations
in rural, under-served areas in Zimbabwe — more than 80 of them to
date — to better address the overwhelming burden HIV and AIDS
have placed on women. And they run a mentorship program
where older students provide long-term mentorship to
younger women.
“WASN is a women’s organization, it looks at HIV
and AIDS through gender lenses,” says Anna-Colletor
Penduka, a staff-member with WASN, speaking from
Canada near the end of an extensive CCI-sponsored
lecture-and-meeting tour of Cape Breton.
Gender inequality, oppression and violence against
women facilitate the spread of HIV and AIDS and place
an extra burden on women — as AIDS sufferers and as
“We’re trying to create an
caretakers of the sick and orphaned.
atmosphere where women can About eight years ago, WASN began developing user-
enjoy their sexual and reproductive friendly booklets addressing issues ranging from HIV and AIDS
and nutrition, to communication and assertiveness for a rural
rights free from violence.” audience. “We’re trying to create an atmosphere where women
Anna-Colletor Penduka, Staff Member, Women can enjoy their sexual and reproductive rights free from vio-
and AIDS Support Network (WASN) lence,” Penduka explains. CCI supported a review of the in-
demand material for up-to-date reprints (including recent
sharing knowledge
reprints in local languages Shona and Ndebele) and publication online.
On her visit to Zimbabwe, Rolls wasn’t just struck by the admittedly staggering level
of need for free health services targeting women living with HIV.
“What’s amazing,” she recalls with awe, “is the hope and the joy that exists with
these women.”
Rolls brings her recollection of that courageous, unstoppable attitude back to
Canada, along with a stronger sense of how to apply a gender and human rights lens in
her work.
“For us,” she explains, “our fight against HIV is all about harm reduction. In Africa it’s
all about human rights.”
The CCI partnership — ongoing since 2008 — has had a profound impact on both
Southern and Northern partners. Penduka, like Rolls, found that differences between their
respective situations shed light on strategies.
While in Canada, Penduka learned as much as she could about harm reduction
strategies to minimize the spread of HIV, anticipating that the problem of drug addiction
(which already adds fuel to the AIDS crisis in neighbouring South Africa) will soon become
yet another issue to confront in Zimbabwe.
Penduka also studied the ‘women’s centre’ model prevalent in Canada, another
possible way for women to organize together for lives of dignity and health. “I’ve actually
gone to every women’s centre [in Cape Breton]”, she says.
“I realized it’s more or less the same as in Zimbabwe,” Penduka says. Personal
approaches to care and support, in the end, trump the vast differences between the Cape
Breton and Zimbabwe contexts. “When you continuously engage them, people open up
and tell you their problems. But once they get together they start assisting each other.”
w w w. c c i o r g . c a
MonTHlY gIvIng: MaKIng a greaTer IMPaCT
We know you want your donation to have the greatest impact. Becoming a
monthly donor helps us plan ahead so that we can sustain our programs to
improve the lives of women in Africa and Bolivia. Monthly giving is environ-
|
mentally responsible and helps cut costs. Help us make every dollar count
4
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Saving communities
Bolivia’s approach to communal banks takes root in B.C.
Marina Salazar wanted to volunteer in Canada so badly that
she spent four years preparing. But when the 32-year-old Bolivian
credit administrator with CCI partner Foncresol finally got to visit
Canadian partner Community Futures, the best thing was how much
she was able to share with her Canadian hosts. She inspired them
to start their own communal savings bank based on the Foncresol model, and provided
the expertise needed to make it a reality.
“When I was only in Cochabamba [Bolivia],” she says in her newly acquired English,
“I never thought that I can share something with other countries, especially with a different
language.”
Indeed, over two months as a South-North Crossroader, Salazar has contributed
detailed technical knowledge of how to set up and run communal savings banks, power-
ful tools for community economic development and helping people rise out of endemic
poverty.
While Canada has a history of peer lending, communal banks differ in many ways.
In these banks, the only guarantee is trust among members. As they are member-run,
they also develop self-esteem, leadership and public speaking skills. Salazar says that
85 per cent of Foncresol’s clients in the communal banks are women and, save for a
single man, women hold every leadership role in the more than 200 banks that Foncresol
currently supports, with ongoing education as well as operating support.
Along with offering technical know-how and experience, as an indigenous Bolivian
woman Salazar brought a unique perspective to her work with organizations in two differ-
ent First Nations communities on islands off the coast of B.C.
“In Haida Gwaii,” says Salazar of one of her placements, “the First Nations people
want to start something. They have this spirit and say: I don’t always want to live as I’m
living now. They want to tell their children that there is a different life…”
The first Canadian First Nations communal savings bank based on the Bolivian
model will be up and running shortly. The incipient communal bank members, a group of
Haida artists in Skidegate, are eager to get started with the training and financial literacy
part of the agreement they signed. The pilot project plan was formalized in April, and
should be well underway by May.
“We’re using it as an experiment to adapt it to the realities here,” explains Art Lew,
General Manager of Haida Gwaii Community Futures Development Corporation.
Salazar notes that, like her clients in Bolivia, the First Nations people she met in
Canada aspire to a modest life where they can meet their basic needs, feed their children,
and live free from the grinding, constant worries of poverty.
“Our clients [at Foncresol in Bolivia] and First Nations people [in Canada] want the
same,” says Salazar. “They’re different people… but they have the same dreams.”
CCI is supported by the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA), the Ministère des Relations internationales
of the Government of Quebec, other government and non-
government funders, as well as many individuals around
the world. Sankofa is published twice yearly for Canadian
Crossroads International alumni and friends. Please send
us your comments, letters and ideas. • executive Director:
Karen Takacs • Director, external relations: Christine Campbell
• research and writing: Carlyn Zwarenstein • Coordination:
Candice O’Grady • Contributors: Darlene Bessey • art Direction: Wioletta
Wesolowski, Visual Concepts • Canadian Crossroads International, Toronto
office: 49 Bathurst St., Suite 201, Toronto, ON, M5V 2P2, Tel: 416.967.1611,
Toll-free 877.967.1611, Fax: 416.967.9078 email: christinec@cciorg.ca
Montreal office: 5083, rue St-Denis, Montreal, QC H2J 2L9, Tel: 514.
528.5363, Fax: 514.528.5367, e-mail: quebec@cciorg.ca
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