E-CARE’s gender policy promotes gender equality and promotes the rights of women. Within both the RR2G and the new Enabling Recovery, Enhancing Resilience (ER2) programming, women form the majority of household representatives as well as officers of existing community organizations. There are also community organizations that are exclusively for women. Gender-power dynamics within households are based on the generation and control of family income, but those dynamics are changing as we and E-CARE strategically promote projects and business activities that give income to women.
Many E-CARE community projects emphasize natural farming techniques to increase resilience to climate change and avoid the negative environmental and health effects of chemical use. Using certified organic agricultural practices also enables farmers to meet local demand for organic produce and compete in export markets. E-CARE’s support for food processing and marketing also generates improvements in local businesses.
We work with E-CARE in the aftermath of natural disasters to build resilience in communities. For instance, local agricultural programs have expanded operations to provide emergency food aid to communities in need to supplement and expand external emergency funding.
In response to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, E-CARE established the Enabling Recovery, Enhancing Resilience (ER2) to provide emergency grants to households and community groups that are particularly vulnerable to both current and future emergencies. E-CARE’s efforts are different from many other disaster-response programs. It seeks to enable individuals, families and communities to survive the economic downturn caused by disasters of all kinds in a dignifying and resilient way that doesn’t involve the traditional distribution of relief goods. Rather, the fund recognizes and builds upon people’s strengths, such as labor power and skills.
