Tan Xiuzhen was once a timid woman who blushed when talking with
strangers. But after training from Badi Foundation, she ran for
head of her village in Hui County in northwest China's Gansu
Province -- and won.
Badi Foundation is a non-profit international organization in
Macao Special Administrative Region. Beginning in 2003, the
foundation and Gansu Province have been providing personalized
training for poor, rural women.
The project empowers rural women to better manage relationships
with husbands, mothers- and fathers-in-law and neighbors. It
encourages them to participate in social activities, develop
personal capacities, improve family life and contribute more to the
community and society.
One of the poorest provinces in China, Gansu registered about
1.69 million people under the absolute poverty line, 637 yuan
(US$77) per person a year. As a whole, China reported 29 million
people in dire poverty in 2003.
Gansu has tried many poverty alleviation program, but now has
found that providing training that targets rural women has better
results.
"The majority of people living in villages are women are about
38 or the old aged at around 61 since men have migrated to cities
for work. It's imperative and effective to provide tailor-made
training for women to fight poverty," said Ren Yanshun,
deputy-director of Gansu Provincial Aid-the-Poor Office.
The foundation has carried out similar cooperation with two
other underdeveloped areas in west China's Shaanxi and Yunnan
provinces, Ren said.
Besides Badi Foundation, the province is also cooperating with
Beijing Fuping Vocational Training Division, to provide free
training for 1,000 poverty-stricken women. Currently, about 900
women villagers have obtained jobs in cities after training.
Beijing Fuping Vocational Training Division was set up for rural
women to provide them with training on how to do high-quality
housekeeping and the basic living skills in cities.
The training has paid off remarkably. Hu Shuping, Li Honglian,
and Cao Guimei and seven other women villagers had believed they
would spend their lives farming for a living. After training,
however, they showed self-confidence and some opened their own
business or started livestock farming, channeling more income to
their families, according to feedback interviews by Badi Foundation
staff.
Zhang Weiming, deputy-director with Overseas-Funded Anti-Poverty
Projects Management Center, said Badi Foundation helped trained 146
rural women. The interviews after the programs showed that the
quality of their family life quality had improved. Some women not
only took the lead in village activities, but also organized
classes to improve literacy among other women or help them tackle
troubles.
"Housewives mostly are the axis in families. Their attitudes
could wield great power on the husbands and children. Thus it would
pay twice the results to provide training for women in fighting
poverty," Zhang said.
(Xinhua News Agency December 10, 2004)