Our partnership with BOMA Project

The Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASALs) of Africa epitomize economic isolation and suffer from some of the highest poverty rates in the world. And the effects of climate change, such as episodes of severe drought, have driven traditionally pastoralist families deeper into distress. Women and girls of the ASALs disproportionately experience the effects of extreme poverty. As men travel farther and longer with their herds in search of water and grazing, women and children are left behind without food or income, sometimes for as long as six months. In this traditionally patriarchal culture, women have not typically owned land or livestock. Scrambling to keep their families from starving, they rely on credit from shopkeepers or occasional work carrying water, charcoal or firewood. They are trapped in an unrelenting cycle where food aid can keep a family alive but does nothing to build long-term resilience or harness women’s potential to lift themselves and their communities out of extreme poverty.

One Day’s Wages partnered with the BOMA Project to expannd their Rural Entrepreneur Access Project (REAP) program. This program engages women in two years of sequenced interventions, including: a cash transfer to start a small business, financial and life skills training, and mentoring. Our partnership supported the enrollment of 105 women, seed capital, the launch of 3