Women’s Centers
Weavers Cooperative
News from the Women’s Center:
September 15, 2011
The long awaited repair of water pipes to the Center have been completed. The women can now draw water from a large storage tank on the premises. Everyone is thrilled not to have to carry water from the well about a quarter mile away.
August 10, 2011 New Photo Book of Women’s Center NOW AVAILABLE. info@darfurpeace.org
April 14, 2011
Program Director Susan Burgess-Lent spent 4 days in Kassab camp during her Darfur mission in March and April. The Center staff have reached a level of confidence and competence that ensures successful operations in the coming months. Susan delivered a notebook computer and a solar panel from PowerFilm to charge it. The Center is a hub of community activity, supporting literacy training, start-up business ventures initiated but newly literate women, and the ongoing weavers’ program.
A new initiative, the Rule of Law program funded by UNDP, began operation in April. UNDP-trained paralegals will be accommodated at the Kassab Center until rehabilitation of the adjacent compound is completed. The new program offers consultation and training to the community about civil and legal rights.
On a sad note: the Women’s Center at Abu Shouk camp near El Fasher has been shut down effective 29 March 2011. This closing was necessary because of lack of funding. When new support is secured, DPDO can consider re-opening the Center that served 185 women.
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Why are Women’s Centers needed? 
In rural Darfur, many women have lost family members, their homes, all their personal possessions, and their livelihoods as the result of militia attacks on their villages. Some have endured four to five years in “temporary” shelters in under-supplied camps for displaced people. They’ve become the heads of their remaining households. And many have suffered rape. Darfuri women and girls are at the center of one of the most serious human rights and women’s health crises in the world today.
What is the Women’s Center?
The Darfur Women’s Center is a secure place for women to gather for supportive services and programs. The guiding principle of the Center is equipping Darfuri women with the resources to recover personal strength and develop resources to rebuild productive lives. The Center integrates social, educational, and income-generation services by providing:
- A safe environment that encourages peer support in group activities;
- Facilitation of micro-enterprises to ensure continuing income for women supporting households;
- Training in first aid, literacy, vocational skills – as requested by the women.
Where are the Women’s Centers?
The first Women’s Center is located in Kassab IDP camp near Kutum, North Darfur, 65 miles northwest of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.
In September 2009, a second Center was opened in Abu Shouk IDP camp near El Fasher. The programs at this new center are similar to those at Kassab.
Click to read Women’s Center Journal
Fatiah F: 28 years, 6 siblings, ailing mother, deceased father “The part of our women community that is at the center benefited a lot from it. Most of these women no longer go to collect fire wood which could lead to them being attacked because they now have solar cookers to cook with. The women at the center make traditional baskets and when they sell these baskets, it helps them to finance their lives. Every time they sell a basket or receive a solar cooker they don’t have to leave the camp for fire wood. “This center has changed my role in the community. It gave me the chance to speak out and report on everything that is going on in the center. Also now the women come to me for help, I have become from a normal woman in the camp to one which makes decisions regarding the welfare of women in the camp.”For more information, contact:
Susan Burgess-Lent, Program Director
E-mail: Susan@DarfurPeace.org
Phone: 202-393-8150
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Support the Darfur Women’s Centers:
Woman with her baby at Abu-Shouk Women's Center
Woman with her baby at Abu-Shouk Women's Center
1) Click this button to donate using PayPal.
2) Click this button to donate using your Visa or Mastercard.
3) Mail a check to:
Darfur Peace & Development Organization
P.O. Box 66475
Washington, DC 20035-6475
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