This past month, Wildlife Works celebrated International Day of Rural Women, under the national theme “Rural Woman, Nourishing Mother of the Nation.” While the day did not attract the desired attention and enthusiasm in most big cities, the situation was different in Inongo, the capital of the Mai-Ndombe province.
In Inongo, women of 16 grassroots organizations (OB) within the Mai-Ndombe REDD+ project gathered under the leadership of Mrs. Marilyn Elembe Mwako and the coordination of Mrs. Marie-Louise Membe, head of gender affairs at Wildlife Works in the Democratic Republic of Congo. They embodied the national theme by improvising a farmer’s market full of nourishing vegetables and fruits.
Armed with the harvests from their collective fields cultivated with conservation agriculture methods at the Mai Ndombe REDD+ project, the women showcased their agricultural products, outshining all the competition at the market. This improvised farmer’s market attracted more than a thousand buyers from Mai-Ndombe. The provincial governor, being unavailable, delegated one of his collaborators to represent him. The Wildlife Works staff also actively participated in the purchases.
For the facilitator and mentor of these grassroots organizations, Marilyn Elembe Mwako, this was an opportunity. “The best way to honor our mothers was to celebrate them by showcasing their work through their local products.”
Wildlife Works develops forest conservation projects in partnership with communities that preserve the planet’s most biodiverse ecosystems. By some studies' estimates, rural women are responsible for half of the world’s food production, while also being the guardians of the environment and biodiversity.
As farmers, women have learned to cope with and adapt to climate change, for example, by practicing sustainable agriculture in harmony with nature, adopting drought-resistant seeds, employing organic or low-impact soil management techniques, or leading reforestation and restoration efforts at the community level.
The International Day of Rural Women is a day dedicated to recognizing the work these heroines do in the world’s food systems and their role as protectors of the environment.
