Executive Summary

Never before has the world been so united in rejecting violence against women. Yet, even as #metoo and #timesup galvanize global commitment and the evidence of what works grows, progress remains elusive for women across Sub-Saharan Africa. CARE’s PowerUp program will change that, engaging 13 million people across Africa’s Great Lakes region, enabling millions of women and girls to live lives free from domestic violence and accelerating regional momentum. The program’s unique power comes from advancing women’s economic empowerment through sustainable, self-replicating savings groups while also engaging couples and communities in activism that rejects violence against women and girls. Already proven to reduce rates of violence by 55% in Rwanda, PowerUp will scale this approach by activating CARE’s existing regional network of 2.2 million savings group members, leverage media and technology to empower local change agents, partner with world-class non-profits and work with public and private initiatives to institutionalize change.

COVID-19 Response

CARE is adapting the proven PowerUp approach, which reduces gender-based violence and advances women’s economic empowerment, to support COVID-19 response and recovery. We have already shifted the approach by launching digital initiatives to engage with women and girls in savings groups with critical communications emphasizing cash transfers to get people the money they need to survive; prioritizing the health, education and safety of adolescent girls and boys, and;  promoting women’s leadership and participation in local decision-making. In a moment when lockdowns and movement restrictions have the potential to increase tensions, gender based violence and the burden of unpaid care work women carry, CARE is supporting intra-household and community-level dialogue about long-held inequities and the need for change. These adjustments reflect CARE’s experience during the successful Ebola response, which illustrated that multi-level solutions working with both women and men, are required to successfully reduce GBV, sexual exploitation and abuse while minimizing health impacts of the disease.