Women in Action: Week 1 - Education
Kibera School for Girls: the slum’s first free primary school for girls in Kibera
Kibera School for Girls, the slum’s first free primary school for girls in Kibera
Switzerland / On a mission to stamp out stereotypes in early education
According to the guide book for staff La poupée de Timothée et le camion de Lison (Timothy’s doll and Lison’s truck), boys tend to demand more attention from adults than girls, and to dominate in conversations.
South Africa / Winning Women - Women’s Rights: Another Chapter
Itumeleng Makgato and Boikhutso Mokoto, both Bachelor of Commerce final-year students at Wits University in Johannesburg, are on a mission to empower any female student who feels she needs help in making herself heard.
Senegal / In Senegal, science experiments encourage young girls towards STEM
The Centre for Science, Education, Exchange for Sustainable Development (SeeSD) is home to a group of educational mentors, working hard to kindle an interest in science, technology and innovation amongst schoolchildren—notably young girls.
PanAfrica / Educating young women for a better future
We at the Graça Machel Trust know that girls face a distinctive set of barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education, such as lack of financial resources, sexual abuse, poor hygiene and unsafe school environments. Until now, education initiatives have not been multi-dimensional enough and are still found wanting in relation to the competencies they deliver. Most are still focused on the narrow mainstream educational skills of literacy and numeracy, leaving out personal, social and economic proficiencies that many women and girls need to survive and secure stable livelihoods. Moreover, if basic education is to be inclusive, the barriers that prevent enrolment and cause school dropout must be eliminated.
Nigeria / In Lagos, a social enterprise trains struggling women in slums to become financially independent micro-entrepreneurs
The slums of Lagos are dotted with single-parent households, most of them headed by strong-willed women facing widespread discrimination as a result of divorce, separation or widowhood.
India / “Solar Mamas” power up women's development
“It is time we focus on women.” These are the renowned words of Sanjit “Bunker” Roy, the founder of Barefoot College. Set up in 1972, this extraordinary college located in the village of Tilonia, 110km south-west of Jaipur, India, teaches rural women—many of them illiterate—how to fabricate solar panels, lights and photovoltaic circuits. With these new capabilities, accredited “Solar Mamas” return home to shed light on their communities.
Rêv’Elles: the association that’s empowering young women to get their lives on track
It’s now been four years since Athina Marmorat decided to take on the fight against social inequality at her own level by founding Rêv’Elles. This association supports and mentors young women from deprived areas and helps them tap into their potential.
Training women in agroecology yields results in West Africa
As well as educating and training on traditional agricultural methods, ‘We are the solution! Celebrate African family farming’ works in other domains; helping to set up local networks and empowering rural women to take key roles in promoting and changing the mentality towards natural products. In doing so, the movement promotes agro-ecological farming and women’s rights. Dao is convinced that if women step up the the plate, they could persuade and rally men into accepting agro-ecological practices, especially in farming families.
Cyber Attorokkha: How education and training have changed the online experience for Bangladeshi women
With the use of internet and social media surging, Bangladesh has experienced a rise in gender-based cyber harassment. Despite comprising only about one-fifth of the nation’s social-media users, in 2016 alone, 73 percent of Bangladeshi women and girls online fell victim to this type of cybercrime.
