Over the course of nearly a century, JDC has seen that to enrich a woman’s life is to save the world of a child, a family, and often a whole community.
Millions of women experience daily peril and live in dire poverty—they struggle for basic food and water, are deprived of healthcare, and lack access to education and employment opportunities. JDC works to mitigate the challenges that at-risk women and children face, empowering them with tools that alleviate poverty, improve health, and strengthen their communities.
Some of JDC’s leading initiatives targeting women and girls worldwide include:
Poverty and Risk Reduction:
Targeting single mothers and female heads of poor households, JDC extends life-saving nutrition and vital relief to families and children across the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe who face deepening destitution and social disadvantage. Reaching out to isolated, impoverished elderly, JDC provides food, medicines, and home care to thousands of homebound widows across the former Soviet Union who have nowhere else to turn for help.
Access to Health Care:
JDC’s prenatal and neonatal programs facilitate reproductive health training, birth preparation groups, infant care education and nutrition consultations, and early childcare services for poor mothers and new babies. In Russia, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro, JDC partners with Susan G. Komen for the Cure® to promote the early detection of breast cancer through targeted education campaigns and communication strategies, increased access to health screenings, awareness-building events and support groups for those who have been diagnosed with or are recovering from breast cancer.
Access to Education and Economic Opportunity:
To break the cycle of poverty and social exclusion, JDC’s mentorship, training, and capacity-building programs equip women and girls with the tools they need to continue their education, to generate a viable income to support themselves and their families, and to become leaders in their community. JDC programs across the globe empower girls to overcome gender barriers and provide the mentorship they need to stay in school, develop leadership abilities, and build professional skills.
JDC’s innovative model programs target women as key players in “good development” and are impacting lives in more than 70 countries around the globe today.
