Our trustees, in a search led by Asif Ali, have been working with a number of other charities who work in Malawi, and invited them to bid for Think Malawi support to fundraise for an education-focussed project. The high quality of the projects submitted made the work of Think Malawi trustees very difficult. We needed a project that fits with our objectives of promoting access to education. As our supporters know, financial sustainability and working with the local community are key to our work.
The unanimous decision was to choose a project which addresses the issue of many girls missing up to five days of school per month when menstruating, because they do not have access to sanitary pads or a place to change at school. This will be addressed by providing training and equipment, so members of the Mothers' Groups can make reusable sanitary pads. We also aim to fund construction of six changing rooms for girls to use at primary schools near Lilongwe in Malawi.
Our partners on the ground in Malawi who proposed and will carry out this project are African Vision Malawi (known in Malawi as Landirani Trust), and the six schools that we are supporting are part of a bigger network of schools which African Vision eventually aims to reach. We thank the other projects who submitted applications.
We have named the project Her Education Matters. To enable training to begin ASAP and to show our commitment, the Think Malawi trustees have agreed to fund £1,000 from our reserves. We now have less than six months to find the remaining £4,000 needed.
How you can help and stay up to date on our progress
If you would like to give Malawian girls the best chance of completing their education by enabling them to stay in school during their periods, please make a donation on our crowd funder page at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/her-education-matters.
Another way you can help is by simply telling a friend, colleague or family member about this project or by sharing it on social media.
You can also find out more about this project and how it will work on this page which provides further background and info on the project.
Stay up to date with our Her Education Matters project and our other work by signing up to our newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/gbvyBT
Thank you for your continued support!
Two of the ladies from the M'teza Mothers group.