Many organizations and governments seek to achieve female empowerment through education. Although it is not the only means of achieving it nor the only one stakeholders should be focusing on, it is certainly an important aspect of female empowerment and a powerful tool for change, especially because it allows women to gain access to knowledge that will help them in the agency processes that play a big role in empowering women (Kabeer 2005, 16).

Gender-based violence in Sub-Saharan Africa is a large issue that has not yet been adequately addressed. According to the UN, women in sub-Saharan Africa are at greater risk of intimate partner violence than in most other regions of the world.

Female empowerment is often thought of as a critical aspect of achieving gender equality. Gender equality has been one of the UN’s greatest priorities for a few decades now: the organization has given it strong consideration in the Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda, in the Millennium Development Goals established in the year 2000, and in the still relevant Beijing Platform for Action from 1995. Worldwide, progress has been made, but Sub-Saharan Africa still remains one of the regions further behind in terms of gender equality and related issues affecting women.

Women’s empowerment can be defined in simple terms as “the process of increasing women’s access to control over the strategic life choices that affect them and access to the opportunities that allow them fully to realize their capacities” (Chen and Tanaka 2014). Because of its positive connotations, the word “empowerment” has become a comfortable and indisputable term, which has led to a wide range of institutions, organizations, and governments to adopt it as something they aspire to work towards (Papart, Rai, and Staudt 2003, 3).

So here we are - this is the above-mentioned famous stand-alone goal SDG-5, aiming to achieve gender equality and empower all girls and women by 2030. Among its accompanying targets you will find: "End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere“ as well as „Eliminate all forms of violence against all women and girls in the public and private spheres, including trafficking and sexual and other types of exploitation."

I was married to an impoverished boy when I was hardly 11 years old. When I even didn’t know the meaning of the word marriage or the word responsibility. I had a brother who was older than me, but nobody married him forcefully. Because he was a boy and earning money, unlike me, he was not a burden on my parents.

The Millennium Development Goal 5 of reducing maternal mortality worldwide by 75 % between 1990 and 2015, unfortunately, could not be reached. Although progress has been made, in 2015 about 303.000 women worldwide died from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. This means 830 women died every day.

Founded in 1990 in Bolivia, Pro Mujer has become one of Latin America’s leading organizations committed to the empowerment of women. Their integrated approach offers access to finance, health and educational services, thus supporting their clients by creating opportunities and helping them start and grow their own businesses. Pro Mujer is also focusing on issues like gender-based violence and teen pregnancy and migration crises and advancing health care for women by raising awareness and ensuring more women have access to preventive and treatment care.

When it comes to health promotion and disease prevention, developing countries face a challenging situation. Given the high level of illiteracy of their populations, the lack of infrastructure and trained manpower, interventions of all kind are hard to deliver. Even in countries where the majority of the population lives in rural areas, the available health resources are usually concentrated in the cities. Most developing countries also have difficulties with transport and communication, especially in rural and remote areas.

What would you consider the most significant parts to create a healthier planet and to help reverse climate change? Recycling of plastic waste? Increasing our reliance on sustainable energies? Reducing the impact of industrial agriculture? All well and good, but don’t miss one of the most important keys to effective change: women!