After completing the Graduation programme, Forty and Chrissy received a cash grant from Concern to help them kick-start a small sustainable tailoring business. They invested it in a sewing machine and now mend and tailor clothes in their local community.
As well as putting the sewing skills he learned to good use, Forty also shares everyday household duties, and helps with the seasonal task of drying corn they have harvested.
George attended gender equality training as part of the Graduation programme in Manono Territory, Democratic Republic of Congo. There, Concern promotes gender equality through male role models and dialogue sessions for couples.
In the DRC, women are frequently excluded from making key decisions about the household, have limited or no financial independence and bear large burdens of physical work.
For George and Natalie, the training has been successful, with George now committed to taking an active and equal role in the home. He works in the fields, digs cassava, cuts firewood, prepares cassava leaves for meals, helps to carry water to the house, and lights the fire in the kitchen - things he never did before.
He admits that it has been a major transformation: "I now consider my wife to be my equal".