Happy International Women’s Day!
Every year on March 8th we celebrate International Women’s Day. This day recognises achievements in gender equality, raises awareness for gender biases and calls for action on equality. Aidlink is committed to working for gender equality and we are on the frontlines educating, empowering and enabling women and girls from some of the poorest communities in Africa.
This International Women’s Day, we are asking you to join Team Aidlink at the VHI Women’s Mini Marathon on Sunday 31st May 2020 to raise awareness and funds for women and girls in Kenya and Uganda. (more info below!)
Today, 130 million girls between the age of 6 and 17 are out of school and 15 million girls of primary school age- half of them in sub-Saharan Africa- will never enter a classroom.
Educating girls benefits entire families, communities and nations. Better educated women are healthier, participate more in the formal labour market, earn higher incomes, have fewer children and marry at a later age, enabling better healthcare and education for their own children. World Bank research shows that each additional year of quality education can increase a girls’ future income by 14%.
Focusing on the furthest behind first, Aidlink targets some of the most isolated and marginalised communities in Africa, the nomadic pastoralist Masai and Turkana in Kenya and the Karamajong in Uganda, and focusses particularly on women and girls within these communities. In these patriarchal societies, women and girls have little or no agency over their lives and face many challenges and barriers to education.
Our work focuses on making school more accessible for girls and we know that our approach works. We have seen a 27% reduction in absenteeism among girls and a 46% increase in the number of girls completing school in our target schools in Kajiado County, Kenya and we can see that attitudes towards education and girls’ rights are changing in the communities we work with.
Read more about our work empowering women and girls!
You can make a difference!
This International Women’s Day, we are asking you to join us at the VHI Women’s Mini Marathon to raise awareness and funds for Aidlink’s vital work.
Aidlink is a small organisations, but our impact is mighty! All funds raised will go towards our work empowering women in some of the world’s poorest and most isolated communities in Kenya and Uganda, focusing on the most basic needs: water, education, health and food.
You do not need to register with the mini marathon website, Aidlink will book places for the group. To sign up, fill out the registration form below or contact info@aidlink.ie/call 01-4736488.
There is a €25 registration fee and details on how to pay this will be sent to you after registration. Your race number and Aidlink T-shirt will be available to collect at the meeting point before the race on race day!
The Race
Date: Sunday 31st May 2020
Race Start Time: 14:00
Meeting Point: TBC
Meeting Time: 12:30
Mini Marathon Registration Form
