Tuesday, March 08, 2011

International Women's Day: Supporting women of the Central African Republic


Marie Christine Ndarta is president of the Bambari Women Lawyers Association, which Mercy Corps supports with training and a grant to educate women in CAR about their rights. She and her team support women who have been raped, abused or subject to female circumcision. They help the women they work with to get to police stations and doctors (using their small fleet of scooters), give support in court, and also - as around 67% of women in CAR are illiterate - to complete police forms and reports. Marie says: “We inform women about their rights, and look after them to prevent all kinds of gender-based violence such as rape, traumatism and domestic violence. We also give assistance to women for court cases and we do our best for them to win. We’re trying to change [the] behaviour and mentality of people"
Photograph: Cassandra Nelson/Mercy Corps
The Guardian

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