OUR CAUSES
Girls and women empowerment
In Ethiopia, 80 percent of the population resides in rural areas and women provide the majority of the agricultural labor in these communities. However, their contributions often go largely unrecognized. In Ethiopia, one in three women experience physical, emotional or sexual violence, 65 percent of women have experienced female genital mutilation, and only half of girls who enroll in primary schools ever make it to grade 5.
TaYA invests in empowering women and girls in Ethiopia through creating access to education, health, and economic opportunities. In doing so, we help create opportunities for more equitable participation in society for females across the country. We focus on addressing the root causes of gender-based violence, child marriage, and female genital mutilation.
Increasing Girls Educational Opportunities
Ethiopia has made remarkable progress towards girls’ education, increasing net primary enrolment rates from 51% in 2003/04 to 95% in 2016/17. However, only 53% complete primary school, 25% of secondary school-aged girls areattending secondary school, and an estimated 10% go on to enroll in college. Girls face several challenges inattending schools with quality education, including harmful social norms like child marriage, gender-based violence and economic hurdles.
Investing in girl’s education is a smart investment: it boosts economic growth, curbs infant mortality, improves child nutrition and reduces population pressures, the latter being a huge issue for Ethiopia which has the fastest-growing populations in the world. And it allows them to achieve their dreams.
Expanding Economic Opportunities for Women
Improving girls’ and women’s access to resources – land and they will be healthier, wealthier, safer and better educated. When girls and women endure restricts access to resources such as land, energy, water and sanitation are far reaching implications. Investing in girls and women creates a ripple effect that yields multiple benefits, not only for individuals’ women, but also for families, communities, and countries.
When women have secure land rights, their earning can increase significantly, impacting their ability to open bank accounts, save money, build credit, and make investments. Solutions focused on access to water, sanitation, and household energy can better engage half the population and break the cycle of poverty.
Contribute for the elimination of early marriage
Harmful traditional practices—early marriage and childbearing, female genital mutilation and gender-based violence—all having adverse effects on Ethiopian women. 40% of girls in Ethiopia are married before the age of 18 and 14% are married before their 15th birthday. According to UNICEF, Ethiopia has the 15th highest prevalence rate of child marriage in the world and the fifth highest absolute number of child brides – 2,104,000.
The lowest median ages of marriage are in Afar and Amhara. A 2017 World Bank study shows that ending child marriage in Ethiopia could generate USD1581.4 million in earnings and productivity.