b'When Women EarnWhen women earn an income, entire communities reap the rewards.Fosca Etap, left, sells groundnut paste to a local customer.Research shows investing in women isHeifer Internationals programsPHOTO BY JOSEPH MUHUMUZAkey to transforming rural communities.prioritize working with women for The health, nutrition, education andthis reason, providing farmingUnlocking Her Potentialoverall well-being of households vastlyeducation, business training andUNTIL FOSCA ETAP JOINED increases when women are supportedopportunities to take on leadershipA HEIFER-SUPPORTED SELF-with resources and opportunities toroles and make a living of their own.HELP GROUP IN 2018, she was pursue income-generating activities. financially dependent on her husband and regularly struggled to afford food for her children. All that changed after she received training in leadership, budgeting, entrepreneurship and improved farming practices.Applying what she learned to her own farm increased the quality and quantity of her They improveThey growThey spur They buildmaize and groundnut crops. But their familiestheir farms prosperity in theircondenceshe didnt stop there: Renting well-being. and food.communities. and expertise. a storefront in the town center Women reinvestIf women hadEqual payOver 47,000using a loan acquired through the group, Fosca launched a up to 90% ofequal accesscould meanwomen servesecondhand clothing business.their earningsto agriculturalan additionalas leaders inAnd as her confidence blossomed back intoresources as$160 trillion inHeifer-assistedalongside her business acumen, households men, theyglobal wealth. entities, includingshe was voted by her peers to thats moneycould feed cooperatives ART WORK BY JOHN JORDAN become the vice-chairperson of spent onan additionaland self-helpher agricultural cooperative.nutritious food,150 million . groups. Today, Fosca leads the co-ops health care,people. members in building successful education andfarming businesses of their own other essentials.and supplements her familys diet with fish, fruit and vegetables using the money she earns from her maize farm and her growing clothing enterprise.Nowadays, I am able to buy Our programs have assisted 1.9 million women-headed householdsclothes and shoes for me and since 2012, organizing them into support groups to collectively savemy childrenfood, too, she and engage in business, to think critically about their potential, andsaid. My children are doing to forge a promising path forwardfor themselves, their familieswell compared with the period and their wider communities. before my business.n'