“When you empower women food producers you improve not only their lives but the food production of entire communities.” says Margaret Nakato, who works as the coordinator of the Katosi Women Development Trust (KWDT) that helps to empower women workers in small-scale fisheries around the large lakes across Uganda.
In Africa, inland small-scale fisheries are a vital source of employment for local communities and despite the fishing itself being male-dominated, it’s estimated that nearly seventy percent of the rinsing, cleaning, and preparation of the fish is done by women. Margaret helps train women in everything from conflict management to new technical methods in order to add value to their products. Additionally, she also helps women gain access to microcredit so they can invest their income into new equipment which helps them earn better prices for their fish. Margaret is one of many local leaders featured on the One Earth Project Marketplace, a pioneering online database of vetted projects currently seeking funding.
Collective action will be necessary to restore our climate, but as Tim Chester wrote recently in his article, “The Power of Collective Action in Addressing the Climate Crisis” it often wrestles with a fundamental problem: “while individuals in a group may share interests or concerns, they also retain their own, often conflicting interests. Furthermore, if individuals believe change will happen without their participation, they’re inclined to let others do the work. They’ll also avoid action if it’s costly.” Chester’s article provides a helpful short history of collective action successes and failures.
How can we overcome the problem of conflicting interests or the idea that change will happen through the participation of others, when it comes to climate? Tomorrow’s Air is betting on the appeal of travel as a unifier, the ease of participation and the attraction of being part of a solution. As Chester observes: “Tomorrow’s Air travelers are helping expand the global community of travelers understanding carbon removal and facilitating a reduction in atmospheric carbon; they’re also playing a key part in the learning curve of new technology.”
Watch this space for more local leaders from around the world receiving support through OneEarth, a nonprofit organization working to accelerate collective action to solve the climate crisis through groundbreaking science, inspiring media, and an innovative approach to climate philanthropy.
One Earth has a vision of scaling climate philanthropy by providing easy access to innovative and meaningful projects, enabling anyone to directly contribute to efforts led by communities and grassroots leaders that are largely under-resourced and unseen. Learn more at https://www.oneearth.org/navigator/