#Save the Girl Child Advocacy Africa

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Girl-Child Day: Special Monitoring Mission Activities, Delta State

Girl-Child Day: Special Monitoring Mission Activities, Delta State October 11, 2023As part of activities marking International Girl Child Day 2023, October 11, the International Human Rights Commission-IHRC Special Monitoring Mission in the South-South Region led by Fidelis Onakpoma, visited some schools – Champions Preparatory Academy and Orhuoka Grammar School both in Delta State. During the…

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#Fidelis Onakpoma #Ogunti Emmanuel #Save the Girl Child Advocacy Africa

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Women-centered charities and foundations

A list of some domestic and international women-focused charities and foundations to support if you can! Broken down by category for simplicity sake.

Reproductive Rights/Health Services

Planned Parenthood - PP  delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women worldwide.

Center For Reproductive Rights -  Since 1992, the Center for Reproductive Rights has used the power of law to advance reproductive rights as fundamental human rights around the world.

Pathfinder International -  For 60 years, Pathfinder International has been a global leader in sexual and reproductive health and rights, bringing essential health services to the world's most impoverished communities.

Helen Keller International - Founded in 1915, Helen Keller International is dedicated to saving and improving the sight and lives of the world's vulnerable by combating the causes and consequences of blindness, poor health and malnutrition. Currently has more than 120 programs in 20 African and Asian countries.

Fistula Foundation -  Fistula Foundation was founded in 2000 as an all volunteer organization to support the pioneering Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia. Our success between 2004 and 2008 enabled us to dramatically expand our mission to fight fistula globally. As a result of this rapid expansion, we have now supported fistula treatment in 31 countries at sites on two continents, Africa and Asia. We fund more obstetric fistula surgeries globally than any other organization.

Innovating Health International - is a non-profit dedicated to treating chronic diseases and addressing women's health issues in developing countries. Working with local partners, we aim to increase access to treatment and education services for chronic diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes and injuries. Current projects include a Women's Cancer Center, a large cancer awareness program, opening a pathology laboratory, and helping to build a national comprehensive cancer program

The Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) - works to ensure that the health and population policies of international institutions promote women's reproductive and sexual health. CHANGE advocates for increased funding of voluntary family planning programs and services, exposes the detrimental effects of funding restrictions through face-to-face meetings between policy makers and women from Africa, Latin America, and Asia and trains and mobilizes U.S. grassroots leaders to be a voice for change in U.S. foreign policy debates that affect sexual and reproductive health and rights

WomenHeart: The National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease - the only national organization solely dedicated to advancing women's heart health through advocacy, community education, and patient support. As the leading voice for the 48 million American women living with or at risk of heart disease, WomenHeart advocates for equal access to quality care and provides information and resources to help women take charge of their heart health.

Breast Cancer Research Foundation -  The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF), founded in 1993 by Evelyn H. Lauder, works to achieve prevention and a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime by providing critical funding for innovative clinical and translational research at leading medical centers worldwide, and increasing public awareness about good breast health. 

Homeless Prenatal Program - HPP works with individuals but also addresses the larger issues in society to create change; HPP is committed to fight against racism, poverty, sexism and homophobia and all forms of oppression. Some of our services include: housing assistance; prenatal and parenting education program that teaches women about pregnancy and birth and how to raise a healthy child; on-the-job paid internship; community technology center; ESL classes; mental health services for parents and children; substance abuse services; family violence prevention services; and immigration support services.

National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association -  The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA), founded in 1971, is a membership organization established to ensure access to voluntary, comprehensive, and culturally sensitive family planning and reproductive health care services and to support reproductive freedom for all. NFPRHA advocates on a range of issues related to family planning and sexual health, including: protecting Title X funding, health care reform, contraceptive coverage, sexuality education, STD and HIV prevention, and abortion care.

Dr. Susan Love Foundation for Breast Cancer Research - challenges the status quo to end breast cancer and improve the lives of people impacted by it now through education and advocacy. The Foundation drives collaborative, cutting-edge research with nontraditional partners, brings to light the collateral damage of treatment and seeks ways to diminish it, and interprets science to empower patients. Fast, flexible, and project-based, the Foundation actively engages the public in scientific research to ensure that it produces accurate and meaningful results.

United Nations Population Fund -  UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. 

Ibis Reproductive Health - an international nonprofit organization with a mission to improve women's reproductive autonomy, choices, and health worldwide. Our core activity is clinical and social science research on issues receiving inadequate attention in other research settings and where gaps in the evidence exist. Our agenda is driven by women's priorities and focuses on increasing access to safe abortion, expanding contraceptive access and choices, and integrating HIV and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services. We partner with advocates and other stakeholders who use our research to improve policies and delivery of services in countries around the world.

International Women's Health Coalition (IWHC) - advances the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and young people, particularly adolescent girls, in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. IWHC furthers this agenda by supporting and strengthening leaders and organizations working at the community, national, regional, and global levels, and by advocating for international and U.S. policies, programs, and funding. IWHC builds bridges between local realities and international policy by connecting women and young people in the Global South to key decision-makers. In doing so, IWHC brings local voices to global debates and in turn, makes global processes and policies more understandable and actionable at the local level.

One Heart World-Wide's - our mission is to decrease maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity in remote, rural areas. We started our work in Tibet in 1998 before working in Mexico, and now we are fully-focused on scaling our successful programs across Nepal. We work in five remote districts of Nepal to deliver access to lifesaving maternal and neonatal healthcare. Through our technical assistance program, we have also helped other organizations develop Maternal and Child Health programs in Mainland China, Liberia, and the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance (OCRA) - the leading organization in the world fighting ovarian cancer from all fronts, including in the lab and on Capitol Hill, while supporting women and their families. As the largest non-government funder of ovarian cancer research, OCRA's ongoing investments in the most promising scientific research is funding discoveries, creating new treatments, and hastening desperately needed breakthroughs. We are the voice for the ovarian cancer community, working with legislators to ensure federal ovarian cancer research and education, patient safety, and access to high-quality care are protected on Capitol Hill. Our programs help women navigate their diagnosis and support patients and their families when and where they need it most

Pathfinder International - Since 1957, Pathfinder International has maintained an unwavering belief in the right of women and families to have access to contraception and to quality reproductive health care. Pathfinder works in remote locations, under the most difficult conditions, serving the most vulnerable people. We collaborate with governments, NGOs, and community- and faith-based organizations to make contraception available and provide the quality care needed to ensure safe childbirth and healthy families. Working in countries with high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, we provide a continuum of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services and are expanding the integration of these services into reproductive health and family planning programs.

National Abortion Federation (NAF) - our mission is to ensure safe, legal, and accessible abortion care to promote health and justice for women. NAF is the professional association of abortion providers in North America. We are unique among pro-choice organizations because we represent the providers who make reproductive choice a reality. Our work supports these three fundamental aspects of our mission: providing our members with the education and professional support they need to provide the highest quality abortion care; providing the medical, provider, and patient perspectives in debates about abortion policies; and providing women with the resources they need to make informed decisions about their pregnancies.

National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) - seeks to protect the rights and human dignity of all women, particularly pregnant and parenting women and those who are most vulnerable including low income women, women of color, and drug-using women. NAPW uses the lessons learned from the experiences of these women to find more effective ways of advancing reproductive and human rights for all women and families. Our work encompasses legal advocacy; local and national organizing; public policy development, and public education. NAPW is actively involved in ongoing court challenges to punitive reproductive health and drug policies and provides litigation support in cases across the country. NAPW engages in local and national organizing and public education efforts among the diverse communities that are stakeholders in these issues, including the women and families directly affected by punitive policies, as well as public health and policy leaders. By focusing on the rights of all pregnant women, whether they seek to have an abortion or go to term , NAPW is broadening and strengthening the Reproductive Justice and other progressive movements

Equality Now - founded in 1992 to work for the protection and promotion of the human rights of women around the world. Working with national human rights organizations and individual activists, Equality Now documents violence and discrimination against women and mobilizes international action to support their efforts to stop these human rights abuses. Through its Women's Action Network of concerned groups and individuals around the world, Equality Now distributes information about human rights violations; takes action to protest these violations; and brings public attention to human rights violations against women.

Education/Employment

Days For Girls - Days for Girls increases access to menstrual care and education by developing global partnerships, cultivating social enterprises, mobilizing volunteers, and innovating sustainable solutions that shatter stigmas and limitations for women and girls.Together, we're creating a world with dignity, health, and opportunity for all.

The Institute for Women's Policy Research (IWPR) - conducts rigorous research and disseminates its findings to address the needs of women, promote public dialogue, and strengthen families, communities, and societies. IWPR focuses on issues of poverty and welfare, employment and earnings, work and family issues, health and safety, and women's civic and political participation. The Institute works with policymakers, scholars, and public interest groups around the country to design, execute, and disseminate research that illuminates economics and social policy issues affecting women and families, and to build a network of individuals and organizations that conduct and use women-oriented policy research.

CARE -  CARE is a not-for-profit organization working in India for over 65 years, focusing on alleviating poverty and social injustice. We do this through well planned and comprehensive projects in health, education, livelihoods and disaster preparedness and response. Our overall goal is the empowerment of women and girls from poor and marginalized communities leading to improvement in their lives and livelihoods.

Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW) - prepares, trains, and places women in careers in the skilled construction, utility, and maintenance trades, helping women achieve economic independence and a secure future. Founded in 1978, NEW is a sector-based workforce development program that prepares women for careers in the construction, transportation, energy, and facilities maintenance industries. NEW focuses on skilled, unionized jobs in the trades with starting wages averaging $17 per hour, benefits, and a path to higher-wage employment. NEW primarily serves low-income minority women from all five boroughs in New York City.

CAMFED -  Camfed tackles poverty and inequality by supporting marginalised girls to go to school and succeed, and empowering young women to step up as leaders of change.

AGEAfrica -   Advancing Girls’ Education in Africa’s mission is to provide life-changing opportunities to young women in Malawi through targeted initiatives in education, mentoring, and leadership development.

Women For Women -  Women for Women International supports the most marginalized women in countries affected by conflict and war. Our programs enable them to earn and save money, improve health and well-being, influence decisions in their home and community, and connect to networks for support. By utilizing skills, knowledge, and resources, women are able to create sustainable change for themselves, their family, and community.

The National Women's History Museum (NWHM) - founded in 1996, is a nonpartisan educational institution dedicated to preserving, interpreting, and celebrating the diverse historic contributions of women, and integrating this rich heritage fully into our nation's history. Our mission is to build the first ever national museum in Washington, D.C., dedicated exclusively to women's history. It will be centrally located near the world's most prestigious museums and monuments in our Nation's Capital. Until legislation passes in Congress designating a permanent museum in Washington, D.C., the NWHM promotes women's history through its temporary exhibits, special events, Cyber Museum, and online educational materials.

The National Women's Law Center (NWLC) - We are passionate champions of national and state policies and laws that help women and girls achieve their potential throughout their lives-at school, at work, at home, in their families, and in their communities. We are committed advocates who take on the toughest challenges, especially for women who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and women who are low-income - and we make change happen. We are proud to have been on the front lines of virtually every major advance for women since 1972, benefiting women, their families, their communities, and the nation.

New Moms - serves young moms and children in Chicago who are experiencing poverty and homelessness. We exclusively serve this unique population, providing comprehensive supports and long-term coaching in the areas of stable jobs, safe homes, and strong families. Services include: Housing: housing & supportive services for homeless families (serves ~90 families annually). Family Support: home-based parent coaching; child health & development monitoring; doula services supporting healthy pregnancies; and weekly parent support groups (serves ~200 families annually). Job Training: career planning; education re-enrollment assistance; job-readiness training; paid transitional jobs at our social enterprise candle company, Bright Endeavors; and permanent job placement assistance. All services are designed to serve both generations simultaneously--helping families to stabilize and plans for economic and housing independence--breaking the cycle of multi-generational poverty.

The National Women's Health Network (NWHN) - founded in 1975 to give women a greater voice within the healthcare system. NWHN is a membership-based organization supported by 8,000 individuals and organizations nationwide. We do not accept financial support from pharmaceutical companies, tobacco companies or medical device manufacturers. The National Women's Health Network improves the health of all women by developing and promoting a critical analysis of health issues in order to affect policy and support consumer decision-making. The Network aspires to a health care system that is guided by social justice and reflects the needs of diverse women.

Just Associates - JASS builds women’s collective power for justice. We equip and accompany women leaders from all walks of life, and help bring diverse activists, organizations and networks together to identify critical injustices and act collectively to solve them. We call this feminist movement building. Through regional teams in Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, and Mesoamerica—which consist of local activists with ties to diverse groups and movements—JASS trains local leaders, strengthens community organizing, builds broad alliances, and helps link grassroots solutions to global advocacy. Using creative communications and documentation strategies, we publicize the innovative ways women are addressing serious global issues that are impacting their daily lives—from HIV/AIDS, homophobia, indigenous land rights and, inequality, to violence against women and women human rights defenders.

Violence Prevention

28 Too Many -  28 Too Many is a registered charity in England and Wales (1150379), established in 2010 by Dr Ann-Marie Wilson to undertake research and provide knowledge and tools to those working to end Female Genital Mutilation in the countries in Africa where it is practiced and across the diaspora worldwide.

Girls Education and Mentoring Services (GEMS) - (GEMS) was founded in 1998 by Rachel Lloyd, a young woman who had been commercially sexually exploited as a teenager. GEMS is the only organization in New York State specifically designed to serve girls and young women who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. GEMS advocates at the local, state, and national level to promote policies that support young women who have been commercially sexually exploited and domestically trafficked.

Girls Not Brides -  Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of more than 1000 civil society organisations from over 95 countries committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfill their potential.

RAINN - RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline in partnership with more than 1,000 local sexual assault service providers across the country and operates the DoD Safe Helpline for the Department of Defense. RAINN also carries out programs to prevent sexual violence, help survivors, and ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice.

Invisible Girl Project -  Invisible Girl Project (IGP) is a non-profit, 501(c)3 organization based out of the U.S. that seeks to END the atrocity of gendercide in India. IGP raises global awareness concerning the loss of female lives in India, pursues justice for the lives lost, assists Indian organizations in the rescue of and care for Indian girls, and empowers women.

FORWARD (Foundation for Women's Health Research and Development) -  We are a leading African diaspora women’s campaign and support organisation. We work through partnerships in the UK, Europe and Africa to transform lives, tackling discriminatory practices that affect the dignity and wellbeing of girls and women. Our focus is on female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage and obstetric fistula.

BRAC USA - the North American affiliate of BRAC, a global development organization, founded in Bangladesh and now active in 11 countries, implementing cost-effective, evidence-based poverty innovations in extremely poor, conflict-prone and post-disaster settings. These include initiatives in education, healthcare, microfinance, women and girls' empowerment, agriculture, human and legal rights, and more. BRAC USA - provides comprehensive support to BRAC around the world by raising awareness about its work to empower the poor and mobilizing resources to support programs. BRAC has been rated the world's #1 non-governmental organization by NGO Advisor, due to its innovation, impact, and sustainability.

Orchid Project - Founded in 2010  by Julia Lalla-Maharajh OBE and gained official UK charitable status in April 2011. Julia was volunteering in Ethiopia when she first came across the practice of FGC, and was galvanised into taking action.Dedicated to stopping the practive of FGC/FGM.

Acid Survivors Foundation -  ASF was formed in 1999 with the growing concern of the rising trend of acid violence in Bangladesh. Acid violence is a form of gender based violence that reflects and perpetuates the inequality of women in society. Gender based violence is a common scenario in Bangladesh. This form of violence cuts across cultural and religious barriers and impede on women's right to fully participate in society. It has the effect of denying women important rights such as economic well being, social well being, political participation, personal fulfillment and self worth.

V-Day - Founded in 1998, V-Day is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls. V-Day is a catalyst that promotes creative events to increase awareness, raise money and revitalize the spirit of existing anti-violence organizations. V-Day generates broader attention for the fight to stop violence against women and girls, including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation (FGM) and sexual slavery. Through V-Day campaigns, local volunteers and college students produce annual benefit performances of 'The Vagina Monologues and artistic works' to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities. In addition V-Day stages large-scale benefits and produces innovative gatherings, films and campaigns to educate and change social attitudes towards violence against women.

Shared Hope International (SHI) - exists to rescue and restoration of women and children in crisis. We are leaders in a worldwide effort to prevent and eradicate sex trafficking and slavery through education and public awareness. For over two decades, Shared Hope International has served the world's most destitute. We work diligently across the world, partnering with local groups to help women and children enslaved in the sex trade by providing them with shelter, healthcare, education and vocational training opportunities. Our three-pronged strategy- prevent, rescue and restore- is producing hope. We will not give up. We will continue to invade the darkness, rescuing and restoring young women and precious children- one life at a time.

MADRE - an international women's human rights organization that works towards a world in which all people enjoy the fullest range of individual and collective human rights; in which resources are shared equitably and sustainably; in which women participate effectively in all aspects of society; and in which people have a meaningful say in decisions that affect their lives. MADRE uses human rights to advance social justice. We partner with women in communities worldwide to meet urgent, local needs and create long-term solutions to the problems that women face. Our program areas are: peace building; women's health and combating violence against women; and economic and environmental justice.

Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services (ADWAS) - provides comprehensive services to deaf and deaf-blind victims/survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking. ADWAS believes that violence is a learned behavior and envisions a world where violence is not tolerated. ADWAS was founded in 1986 and is located in Seattle, Washington. The ADWAS model has been replicated in 19 Deaf communities across the United States. ADWAS established the nation's first transitional housing, A Place of Our Own. We are committed to providing accessible and safe housing for Deaf and Deaf-Blind women and their children.

Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights - a global women's fund that protects, strengthens and sustains women and transgender human rights defenders at critical moments. We intervene quickly when activists are poised to make great gains or face serious threats to their lives and work. We use online, text and mobile funding applications to respond to requests from women's human rights defenders within 72 hours and have funds on the ground within 1-7 days. Urgent Action Fund builds the resilience of women's rights and LGBT rights movements in three ways: (1) rapid response grantmaking; (2) advocacy and alliance building; (3) global consortium of Urgent Action Sister Funds. Since its founding, Urgent Action Fund has awarded more than 1,700 rapid response grants, totaling more than $7 million, to advance women's and LGBTQ human rights in 110 countries worldwide

The Julian Center - an agency providing counseling, safe shelter, and education for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other life crises. Through outreach and consultation, we also seek to educate the community about the issue of domestic violence and its impact on all our lives. Since 1975, women have chosen The Julian Center as a source of strength and a place of refuge in dealing with life's challenges. Our programs and services are designed to contribute to a significant reduction in the incidence of violence against women and their children, to support survivors in healing, and to help break the intergenerational cycle of abuse.

Sarah's Circle - a non-profit organization with a mission of serving women who are homeless or in need of a safe space. Located in Chicago's Uptown Community, Sarah's Circle has provided support for thousands of women since 1979. Today Sarah's Circle has a Daytime Support Center open to any woman in need, a 50-bed interim housing (shelter) program for women who are currently homeless, and permanent supportive housing for women who have a disabling condition and have been chronically homeless. Across programs Sarah's Circle staff use best practices and provide case management and supportive counseling to help women achieve their goals.

Abby Kelley Foster House, Inc. (Abby's House) - opened in 1976 as one of the first overnight emergency shelters for women -- with or without children -- in the U.S. Since 1976, Abby Kelley Foster House, Inc. (Abby's House) has provided more than 14,000 homeless women and children with a safe place to stay, regroup, and rebuild. With 79 units, Abby's House is the largest provider of affordable, supportive housing in Worcester designed to meet the needs of women and children. Abby's House is committed to ending homelessness.

For 42 years, Partnership Against Domestic Violence (PADV), the largest nonprofit domestic violence organization in Georgia, has provided professional, compassionate, and empowering support to battered women and their children in metro Atlanta. PADV works to end domestic violence by: offering safety and shelter for battered women and their children; restoring power, self-sufficiency and control to domestic violence survivors; and educating the public on the dynamics of domestic violence

I have done my best to research and vet each charity via CharityNavigator, but please let me know if I missed anything!

#radical feminism #radfem #women's rights #charities #misogyny #female empowerment #female liberation

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*CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS* ...Application for Volunteers with Save the Girl Child Advocacy is ongoing. *Deadline: July 31st, 2021* *Applications for Volunteers are opened for:* _Everyone advocating for Girl-child Education, and interested in the task of helping adolescents especially the girl child, go through one of the demanding times of their lives._ *Also:* 1. Feminists 2. Young Leaders at Community, Church, and Students Levels can apply. Interested Applicants are to reply Office of the Directorate Save the Girl Child Advocacy Africa via WhatsApp: [phone] or Email: [email protected] With: *Name:* *Phone (What'sapp) number:* *Address:* *Email:* *Occupation:* *Institution/Department/Level:* _Upon acceptance of your application, you will be communicated further with the information needed._ *Signed:* Fidelis Onakpoma Directorate Save the Girl Child Advocacy https://www.instagram.com/p/CReYf4tlyk_/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Women in Nigeria face a caustic landmine of political advocacy online

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Women in Nigeria face a caustic landmine of political advocacy online

#BringBackOurGirls and #ArewaMeToo reshaped political activism in Nigeria

Members of the Mother's Savings Club, Nigeria. Image by Karen Kasmauski/USAID in Africa via United States government work, public domain.

In Nigeria, the political advocacy sphere is a caustic landmine. Politics and advocacy usually get filtered through a religious and ethnocentric prism. Advocates with a strong social media presence — especially on Twitter — have to develop a tough skin to deal with the avalanche of gbas gbos (Nigerian Pidgin for “throwing punches”) in digital spaces.  Nigerian female advocates — in addition to weathering this identity-driven harmful content — also face the added reality of gender-driven attacks.   How do female advocates in Nigeria cope with the bitter online terrain such as trolling, hate speech and targeted misalignment of their messages? How do they forge ahead to make sure that these attacks do not simmer their resolve or eclipse the message of their movement? Two online social media movements in Nigeria lend powerful insights into the experiences of advocacy and gender: The #BringBackOurGirls movement, led by Dr. Oby Ezekwesili; and #ArewaMeToo, led by Fakhriyyah Hashim, both experienced gendered political hatred that greatly affected the integrity of their messages.  

#BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) movement

Six years ago, on April 15, 2014, about 200 school girls between the ages of 15 and 18, were forcefully abducted by Boko Haram, an Islamist terrorist group, from Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok near Maiduguri, in northeast Nigeria.  The kidnapping of the Chibok girls ignited an international outcry. The BBC reported that in April 2014,  the #BringBackOurGirls trended on Twitter with over 3.3 million tweets, 27 percent of the tweets came from Nigeria, 26 percent from the United States and 11 percent from the United Kingdom. 

Dr. Oby Ezekwesili answering a question during a UN Women event with #BringBackOurGirls Campaign Coordinators. Image by UN Women/Ryan Brown, September 14, 2014. (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Dr. Obiageli (Oby) Ezekwesili, a former vice president of the World Bank, and one-time minister of education in Nigeria, started tweeting about the Chibok girls the day they were kidnapped. She was motivated to take action due to a previous attack on schoolboys at the Federal Government College of Buni Yadi in Yobe State, northeastern Nigeria on February 25, 2014. Fifty-nine boys died from gunshots or knife wounds, while the others were burnt to death.   However, it was not until April 23, when, as a guest at a UNESCO event in Port Harcourt, in the oil-rich Niger Delta region, did her cry for the release of the schoolgirls grab national and international attention: 

Lend your Voice to the Cause of our Girls. Please All, use the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls to keep the momentum UNTIL they are RESCUED. — Oby Ezekwesili (@obyezeks) April 23, 2014

And on May 7, 2014, former American first lady Michelle Obama posted an image of herself on Twitter holding a sign with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls. She also released a video a few days later from the White House — making it a global sensation. It would take two years before the Nigerian army rescued one girl, in May 2016. By October 2016, 21 girls were reunited with their families. And by May 2017, Boko Haram militants released 82 girls from captivity. However, about 112 girls remain missing and 13 are presumed dead, according to a 2018 report. Ezekwesili co-founded the #BBOG movement that mobilized a global protest for the release of the Chibok girls. The movement later transformed into a formidable social movement organisation that has withstood the harsh Nigerian civic space. But the success of this movement occurred at great personal cost to Ezekwesili.   The kidnapping of the Chibok girls occurred on the threshold of the 2015 presidential election, and Ezekwesili's online advocacy was viewed through the prism of partisan politics by some. Her personal integrity was not only questioned but shredded. Some alleged that her #BBOG was merely a front to gain political capital.  Reno Omokri, a former presidential aide, accused Ezekwesili of being used by the then-opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), to “undermine” the government of President Jonathan, thereby paving the way for APC’s “rise to power.”  Supporters of former President Jonathan and the Peoples’ Democratic Party spread “all manners of falsehoods” online against Ezekwesili in 2014:  “I was actually being insulted, maligned…” said Ezekwesili in a live Twitter video broadcast on April 14, to mark the sixth anniversary of the abduction.  Ezekwesili was falsely accused of being bitter for not gaining a ministerial appointment under Jonathan. According to her, some of her online attackers thought “that the reason we kept on with the advocacy of Chibok girls was that I wanted to be made a minister.”  “How could I want to be made a minister when I rejected the request to be a minister way before the Chibok girls were abducted three years later? How could I?” Ezekwesili said in the live Twitter video broadcast.  She became a 2018 presidential contender, but later withdrew from the race.  Live on Twitter, Ezekwesili recalled her grief: “It was a very sad thing for me to bear the thought that children who went to school were so killed and brutally murdered to the point where parents could not recognise their children.”  But her grief and rage was eclipsed by the political maligning she endured to get the #BBOG message out. 

#ArewaMeToo and NorthNormal 

On February 3, 2019, a young woman named Khadijah Adamua found the courage to tweet about the physical abuse inflicted by her ex-boyfriend. Adamua, who lives in Kano state in northwest Nigeria, had previously blogged about her horrific experiences.  Fellow Nigerian Fakhriyyah Hashim tweeted her support for Adamua with the hashtag #ArewaMeToo: 

Neglecting his victims will only fuel this culture of rape and sexual harassment, and it will be a slap in the faces of victims that have bravely come out to tell of their haunting experiences. We all know the social dynamics of the North that demonises victims. — Fakhrriyyah (@FakhuusHashim) February 10, 2019

#ArewaMeToo became northern Nigeria’s version of the global #MeToo movement. (Arewa is the Hausa word for “North”) — igniting a storm of online discussion on rape and other forms of gender-based violence. Violence against women is rampant throughout Nigeria. However, Relief Web asserts that between November 2014 and January 2015, northeastern Nigeria, especially Borno State, recorded the most violence against women. In the Muslim-majority north, discussions about these taboo topics are difficult, often forcing victims into silence.  The online rage of #ArewaMeToo propelled the NorthNormal offline protests in Bauchi, Kano, Niger. Sixteen days of NorthNormal protests occurred in November last year across eight northern Nigerian states and Abuja. They were largely positive and state legislators “were receptive of young indigenes” for taking “the baton to push for the VAPP,” Hashim said.  However, in Sokoto State, “government played a role in harassing and arresting NorthNormal campaigners,” Hashim said. The police manhandled a local leader of the movement. Thereafter, protests were banned by the Sultan of Sokoto, head of Nigerian Muslims.    According to Hashim, NorthNormal grew out of the #ArewaMeToo hashtag, and has two objectives: advocating for “the domestication of the Violence against Persons Prohibition Act (VAPP),” and championing the conversation on “various forms of gender-based violence and rape culture across northern Nigeria.” The Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015 was signed into law on May 23, 2015. Under the VAPP Act — an improvement on the provisions of Nigeria’s penal code — acts of violence against women are punishable offences. This includes rape, spousal battery, forceful home ejections, forced financial dependence or economic abuse, harmful widowhood practices, female circumcision or genital mutilation, and/or child abandonment. 

In Nigeria, rape is punishable with life imprisonment. A minor can face up to 14 years in prison. In cases of gang rape, offenders are jointly liable to 20 years imprisonment without the option of a fine.

However, Section 47 of the VAPP Act stipulates that this legislation applies only in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. NorthNormal and other organisations have been campaigning for all 36 state legislative assemblies to domesticate this act.  Backlash against advocates  One year after sparking the #ArewaMeToo movement, Hashim told Global Voices that although their advocacy exposed the “rot within society,” it also took its toll.  Hashim experienced major online harassment when her group confronted “an alleged serial abuser of minors” who works at the finance ministry as part of their online advocacy. She told Global Voices: 

We launched a campaign against him [the serial abuser], demanding that he be sacked by the minister; some people did not like that so they orchestrated an online targeted harassment campaign to delegitimise ArewaMeToo.

According to Hashim, harassers attempted to delegitimise ArewaMeToo by “associating ArewaMeToo with LGBTQ [lesbians, gay, bisexual transgender and queer people] and “their strategy worked as online harassment gained momentum,” Hashim said.  In Nigeria, gay marriage is illegal and under Sharia and penal legal codes, sodomy and lesbianism are punishable in some states.  By associating Haashim's movement with LGBTQ rights, online trolls distorted their message and framed #ArewaToo and NorthNormal as illegitimate.  However, Global Voices was not able to independently verify tweets that pinned Hashim's movement to LGBTQ rights. Still, Hashim posts messages of hope on Twitter:

To every young girl out there that’s hurting, that’s yearning to find a voice, it was all for you. For those innocent young girls and boys that were touched and silenced, this voice is yours and no one can take that away from you. #ArewaMeToo — Fakhrriyyah (@FakhuusHashim) February 23, 2020

Fakhriyyah Hashim, co-founder of #ArewaToo and NorthNormal (Image used with her permission).

She said all these experiences helped her grow a “really thick skin”:

In my experience of being loud on political Twitter for good governance, I’ve grown a really thick skin, but even that didn't prepare me for the amount of backlash we got through ArewaMeToo and NorthNormal. Though I mustered all of that and did not retreat to any cave, I did begin feeling demoralised about Northern Nigeria’s governanace and response to sexual violence…After every episode of attacks, we did gather more strength and energy to push back because the backlash made us see how society enforced the culture of silence and if we allowed our lips to be sealed then that would be the real tragedy. 

Sadly, Hashim and Ezekwesili still struggle with the excruciating “lack of empathy” that characterises discourse about gender-based violence on- and offline.  According to Hashim, this “deliberate maligning of a cause that only seeks better for victims of sexual violence” is incredibly difficult to grasp. 

This article is part of the project, “the identity matrix: platform regulation of online threats to expression in Africa”. These posts interrogate identity-driven online hate speech or discrimination based on language or geographic origin, misinformation and harassment (particularly against female activists and journalists) prevalent in the digital spaces of seven African countries: Algeria, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia and Uganda. The project is funded by the Africa Digital Rights Fund of The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA).

Written by Nwachukwu Egbunike · comments (0) Donate · Share this: twitter facebook reddit

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Give Good, Get Good: Gifts that Give

Gift giving is my love language.

Seriously. I LOVE to find the perfect gift for the people in my life. I love to surprise them and see the look on their face when I get it right.

But there is a little something else I love to do: give back.

I have a fairly robust list of people I gift –  between family, my tribe of friends, colleagues and people I like to surprise spoil. That means I’m constantly on ‘gift alert’…..what would they LOVE? But I also ask myself another question, “Is it possible to spoil the people I adore (or surprise them) AND make the world a little better at the same time.

Why yes, it is.

Because this matters to me, I’ve curated some of my FAVORITE places you can buy for the people you love AND give back at the same time. You’ll find jewelry, t-shirts, accessories and a slew of options your family can commit to – from easing the burden of a family with a sick child, to sponsoring a child in another country to helping to feed little ones right here in the United States to supporting the efforts of a family in a third world country to pull themselves from poverty.

Give Good, Get Good: Gifts that Give

Brave New World Designs– Have I told you that I have brilliant, kind, compassionate friends who are working DAILY for a better world? My friend Christine Koh is one of them. This past year she started Brave New World Designs. I will allow her beautiful words to describe her mission, “Brave New World Designs is on a mission to make the world a little better each day by giving voice to the virtues of creativity, humor, wisdom and love. Our work is part poetry, part adventure, part advocacy and part silly.” I have three of her t-shirt designs in my closet and my small girl has a favorite as well. She wore her ‘Love Fiercely’ shirt to school for picture day and it is PERFECT.

The Giving Keys – Such a beautiful, simple concept that grabbed my heart and attention a few years ago. Keys, on chains, necklaces, bracelets – stamped with a word that resonates with you. When you feel that word has seeped into your soul – you pay it forward, or give it to another, so they can feel that same power. The first one I purchased from them says, “gratitude”and I’m getting ready to pass it on. Additionally, The Giving Keys creates jobs in Los Angeles for people transitioning out of homelessness. “With each job, we offer benefits, paid time-off for housing, education and case management appointments, and a supportive environment that cares for the whole person.“

Pura Vida – Have a cause that matters to you? I’m fairly confident Pura Vida has you covered in their charity bracelet collection. You can support animal awareness, education, mental health, cancer, diabetes, the military, Parkinson’s disease and SO MUCH MORE. Each and every bracelet is handcrafted by artisans from all over the world. The bracelets are worn by millions of people around the world (I have a DOZENS!) and provide full time jobs to more than 150 artisans around the globe. They are partnered with more than 190 charities around the world and have donated more than $1.5 Million dollars. And they have more than just bracelets. They are a go-to for gifts for me. Ohhh – and they have a subscription service!!

Chavez for Charity – I have told you I know extraordinary people, yes? Julie Marie Chavez is a fellow University of San Diego Alumni and someone I knew in my time at the University. She graduated and created the magic that is Chavez for Charity. As with Pura Vida, you can support some of the causes and organizations that mean the world to you. From the Matthew Shepard Foundation to the Malala Fund and Erin Brockovich Foundation (and so many more) – the purchase of each and every bracelet means you are making a difference. And the options are gorgeous. I regularly give them as gifts.

I am Just One. – If you have  ever thought, ‘but I am JUST ONE PERSON…how can I better the world?” – you aren’t alone. I AM JUST ONE is built on the premise that yes, yes! you can make a difference. Just One has the beautiful goals of offering hope, raising awareness and creating advocates. They are offering fair trade jewelry that subscribes to the notion of a ‘hand up’ not a ‘hand out’ so that you know, with each and every gorgeous purchase you are helping to allow a beautifully talented artisan to support themselves and maintain their dignity.

Cause Box –  You know I LOVE subscription boxes. This is one that offers not only a series of gifts for the receiver, but each and every item in the box has a story and makes the world a better place. The boxes are curated for women and each item you receive is either in partnership with CauseBox or comes as a limited edition product from a socially conscious company. Boxes arrive quarterly and subscriptions are about $50/quarter if you pay annually. I LOVE MINE. The products may be jewelry, art work, fashion, apparel, accessories or beauty products. There also have a limited edition box for men for the holidays.

Intangible Giving

The benefit of giving the intangible – you are blessing someone you love (and possibly that ‘person who has everything’) with the gift of having helped someone in need by your gift in their honor.

St. Jude – You are likely not a stranger to St. Jude’s Research Hospital in Memphis. I bet you know it is committed to saving the lives of children living with rare forms of cancer. But did you know the doctors, nurses, and staff treat each child and each parent like family?

The atmosphere is warm and inviting, it does not smell like a hospital (despite being a thoroughly sterile environment), the walls are painted with kids in mind and decorated with heartfelt art work created by the kids living there.

Though there are only 78 beds on campus, there are three different housing options available based on how long a child will need treatment – from a week to a handful of years.

No matter how long a child receives treatment, no matter how long their family must live in St. Jude’s housing, no matter how far they must travel for the life-giving, life-saving treatment they need, they will never receive a bill – not for medical care, not for housing, not for food and not for travel.

It costs $2.2 MILLION dollars A DAY to keep this miracle in Memphis open and saving lives…and it all comes from donations. (That’s SIXTY-SIX million dollars a month for those of you doing the math). Here’s another fact that just might blow your mind – 75% of the money that comes in is from individual donors and the average gift is a beautiful and heartfelt $35. Think about this fact the next time you head out to dinner, or pay your monthly gym membership.

Here’s a thought –  You can join my family and I – and THOUSANDS of others -by joining the  #ThisShirtSavesLive movement

$35 is life giving. 

No Kid Hungry – I have long been committed to ending child hunger. It shouldn’t even be A THING. And yet, it is. ONE in SIX children in the United States don’t get the food they need. That makes learning, living, just being a kid nearly impossible. Share Our Strength is an organization working to make sure all kiddos get the food they need where they live, where they learn and where they play. I’m happy to join friends like Tim McDonald who have been advocates for this cause for years.

Additionally, through its Cooking Matters program, the No Kid Hungry campaign educates and empowers low-income families to stretch their food budgets so their kids get healthy meals at home.

Take a look at their work here.

World Vision – My life is richer for the time I spent in Uganda with World Vision last year – bearing witness to the incredible work they are doing each and every day, in countries around the world.

With a primary mission to help communities to lift themselves out of poverty (for the last 65 years) and make sure the children are granted the gift of experiencing childhood – they have a commitment to the promotion of justice, community development, public awareness, partnering with churches and creating public awareness.

I was gifted the opportunity to meet both of the incredible boys we sponsor – Samanya and Aolyisus.

You can certainly add a child to your extended family this holiday season, but there are so many other ways to give as well – from straight donations to a gift catalog of gifts given in a loved one’s honor.

Popular choices include everything from medicine, to goats and chickens to soccer balls for play.

Some are as little as $25, while others – benefitting an entire community, like a well for water, run $150.

Unbound – This is a gift you can do as a family – sponsoring a child in need in another country. A portion of Unbound’s mission is to ‘see potential, not poverty’. By sponsoring a child as we have (Karen and Jacqueline both live in Guatemala), my small people are learning not only about another culture as they can communicate with both girls, but also what is means to truly give to someone else.

In order to qualify for sponsorship, Jacqueline and Karen, (like all other children) must be enrolled in school. Dropping out at any time prevents them from being sponsored. Now that my family has committed to both of them, the folks at Unbound sit down with the family and determine how the sponsorship could most benefit them – food, clothing, school supplies and items that can help them break the cycle of poverty – like pigs, chickens, seeds for farming and trees for growing fruit – are all options.

The $60 ($30 each) we spend each month to sponsor these two girls clearly provides much needed financial assistance for their families, but it is equally beneficial for us: My children are seeing good works and love in action, they are learning about another culture, and they have a connection to another child who is opening their eyes to an entirely different way of life.

Power of 5 – Two years ago, I visited Zambia, Africa as part of the Power of 5 Program and that experience has never left my soul. There is so much I take for granted. My small people have enough food to fill their bellies every day. They have electricity and education. I sat with mothers who worry daily their children may not make it to the age of five. They worry….are their children getting the nutrients they need to grow and thrive?

It is heartbreaking that in many cases, that answer had been no, but Amway™ and its Nutrilite™ Power of 5 Campaign are making great strides, one child, one family at a time. As the largest vitamin distributor in the world, Amway provides a micronutrient supplement to families with great need in five different areas around Lusaka (as well as ten other countries around the world.)

This micronutrient is mixed with a child’s food once a day in order to provide the nutrition they need.

Every 30 days, the families I met, along with 200+ other families trek to one of five distribution centers in Lusaka, Zambia to listen to an educational talk, see their children weighed and measured for tracking and pick up their monthly nutrition, their Little Bits, for their little ones.

Amway is doing this work in nearly a dozen countries – with a commitment to continue expanding.

Consider supporting them?

Heifer International – This is a beautiful way to gift a tangible item that is life-changing for a family in need. For 70 years now, they have been working to combat poverty in some of the areas that need it the most (125 countries around the world) – but not simply by  – if you will allow the adage – giving men and women fish, but actually teaching them how to fish. Their goal has long been to provide farmers with the opportunity to learn skills and change their circumstances rather than strictly benefitting from gifts from others.

A goat can be purchased for $120 and once given to a family, not only will it be a source of food for them – milk, cheese and yogurt, but these products can be packaged and sold at market, helping the family to earn an income they so desperately need. Other animal gift options include a heifer (naturally) for $500, an alpaca for $150, a pig for $120, rabbits for $60, honeybees for $30, a flock of chicks for $20 and so many more. If the amount you would like to give is less, you can also gift a portion of any of these animals. They also support women’s empowerment and there are ways you can give specifically to this category.

As part of their core mission, Heifer supports Passing on the Gift – this means the families who are gifted don’t allow that gift to stop with them. They share the training they receive and pass on the first female offspring of their livestock to another family.

Check out their gift catalog.

Shop Compliment – (THEY ARE CURRENTLY ON SABBATICAL  THROUGH FEBRUARY 2020, but file them away – AMAZING.) I have a personal policy of complimenting ANYONE I find deserving. Have a kind heart, beautiful eyes, lovely manners? I will tell you. My friend Melissa has built a beautiful business with the same mission. She and I actually found each other here online and I’ve been addicted to her heart and commitment to offering education for girls ever since. 5% of each purchase from ShopCompliment goes to a scholarship fund for girls. It is magic. And so are Melissa’s products. She started with jewelry – and each piece comes with a personal ‘compliment’…but she has expanded to inspirational coffee mugs, candles, notebooks and so much more.

How do you give back this time of year? I would love to hear any additional ideas you would add to this list.

Happy Holidays! And happy giving.

    The post Give Good, Get Good: Gifts that Give appeared first on Pretty Extraordinary.

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[nilority-blog]

See this story at CaribbeanLifeNews.com.

By Vinette K. Pryce

Come rain or shine, on Sept. 29, a galaxy of stars will shine on the Great Lawn at Central Park during the annual Global Citizen Festival to ensure that 17 goals of bettering the world’s population are closer to meeting the 2030 deadline agreed by the United Nations.

Super-achiever and pop star Janet Jackson is expected to dazzle a planetary lineup of celebrity citizens which include The Weeknd, Shawn Mendes, Cardi B and Janelle Monáe.

Along with singer John Legend, actor Hugh Jackman and his wife Deborra Lee-Furness, the star-studded showcase is expected to engage more than 60,000 citizens with live performances while millions more tuning in around the globe will be updated about progress being made in ensuring throughout nations in the developing world.

The festival serves as a platform from which millions of people demand that the world’s leaders fulfill their obligation to achieve the UN Global Goals for Sustainable Development and end extreme poverty by 2030.

“This year, Global Citizens will be taking action toward ensuring people don’t suffer needlessly from preventable diseases; giving every child access to a quality education; getting US states to banish child marriage with new laws; making sure all people have access to enough nutritious food and clean drinking water; prioritizing menstrual hygiene; reducing the amount of single-use plastics that are used; eliminating bail bond programs that unfairly target the poor; and more.” Liveforlivemusic.com

First held Sept. 29, 2012, the Global Citizen Music Festival coincided with the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly attracting world leaders and ambassadors who agreed at that time to set 17 goals with a deadline of the year 2030 as the marker to solving some of the biggest problems plaguing developing nations.

“These goals have the power to end poverty, fight inequality and stop climate change. Guided by the goals, it is now up to all of us, governments, businesses, civil society and the general public to work together to build a better future for everyone. No poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, clean affordable energy, decent work and economic growth, climate action, peace, justice and strong institutions.”

Since 2015, the goals of the festival have been closely aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which include 17 tasks to end extreme global poverty by 2030. Reportedly, to date, Global Citizen has gathered commitments and policy announcements from leaders valued at almost $38 billion, affecting the lives of more than two billion people.

This year as world leaders gather for the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly the SDGs will again be topical with fundraising events slated and added commitments from like-minded new and emerging nations.

Extreme poverty has been cut in half, millions of children’s lives have been saved and people are living longer and healthier lives than ever before.

Last year the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation started Goalkeepers, an added initiative to meeting the SDGs. The billionaires said that “despite remarkable advances in the fight against poverty, inequality and disease, the job is not yet finished.”

“Progress is possible,” the couple said “but it is not inevitable and that’s why Goalkeepers was designed. It is a catalyst for action, bringing leaders from around the world to share what is working, what’s not and to forge new partnerships for action.”

At the inaugural event a diverse group of global leaders met for an inspiring day of assessing progress, relating stories and implementing actions.

Along with entertainers, advocacy groups, and armies of volunteers throughout the world offering service and input, talk-show host Trevor Noah, Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and other world influencers committed to advancing the SDGs.

“We are investing all our resources in that fight. But that doesn’t mean every dollar spent on development has maximum impact. And that must be our goal,” the Gates’ said in a statement.

“If we don’t reaffirm the commitment that has led to so much progress over the past generation, that world will remain out of reach. Leaders everywhere need to take action now to put us on the path we set for ourselves just two years ago.

“The decisions we collectively make in the next couple of years are going to have a big impact on the shape these curves take. Of course, it’s not really about the shape of the curves. It’s about what the curves signify: whether or not millions or even billions of people will conquer disease, lift themselves out of extreme poverty, and reach their full potential.

Speakers included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, President Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize winners Leymah Gbowee and Malala Yousafzai who all shared stories of bold leadership and innovative solutions that are driving progress on the Global Goals.

“We have to stand up for each other, recognize that progress is never inevitable, that it often can be fragile, it’s in need of constant renewal, and our individual progress and our collective progress depends on our willingness to roll up our sleeves and work,” the former US president said.

“This year as the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly opens, both the event and the report will focus on youth population growth that will affect future world progress. If countries invest in the health and education of their young people, we will unlock productivity and innovation, cut poverty and generate further prosperity. But if we ignore young people’s potential, we risk jeopardizing the progress that has been made. As world leaders gather for the UN General Assembly, we will host the second annual Goalkeepers event in New York City on Sept. 25 and 26,” a statement from the organizers said.

Hopefully, speakers from around the world will attend the two-day event, share their stories, ideas and challenges in an effort to advance the 17 SDGs that were agreed to by 193 world leaders Sept. 2015.

In addition to the Central Park concert, Global Citizen Festival Mandela 100 will be held on Dec. 2 in Johannesburg, South Africa with a lineup that represents numerous nations and genres.

Already billed are: Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Cassper Nyovest, D’Banj, Ed Sheeran, Eddie Vedder, Femi Kuti, Pharrell Williams, Chris Martin, Sho Madjozi, Tiwa Savage, Usher, Wizkid.

The concert will celebrate the life’s work and lasting legacy of Nelson Mandela.

Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 will be held at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium for three days prior to the fifth anniversary of the passing of the human rights activist, leader and revolutionary on Dec. 13, 2013.

Model Naomi Campbell, Sir Bob Geldof, Gayle King, Tyler Perry and Forest Whitaker are the hosts.

Oprah Winfrey will deliver a keynote address for the event which serves as the culmination of Mandela’s 100th birthday.

Throughout Mandela’s centenary year, the Mandela 100 campaign launched numerous activist-driven events throughout the world with the ultimate goal of ending extreme poverty. Mandela 100 aims to raise $1 billion for initiatives working to end hunger, increase access to good nutrition for adolescent girls, reduce HIV/AIDS transmission rates, advocate for quality education, provide funding for women’s health, ensure access to clean water and safe sanitation worldwide and more. At least 50% of that sum will go towards efforts to improve the lives of women and girls around the world.

Beyonce headlined the New York concert in 2015.

The following year Rihanna took the spotlight position.

Last year Stevie Wonder delivered a stellar showcase and in solidarity with footballer Colin Kaepernick took a knee for America.

The concert will begin at 2 p.m. and broadcast live on MSNBC.

It will also be streamed live on their MSNBC.com web portal until 10 p.m.

The festival will also be live-streamed on social media outlets YouTube and Twitter.

To get tickets, one must earn points on the Global Citizen website through interactive questionnaires, videos, and present projects, suggestions and acts of good deeds pertaining to the less fortunate.

Although with only days left to the event and little time to accumulate points, early responders who have secured amounts will be enabled admission tickets to the free ticketed concert.

Catch You On The Inside!

Comment on this story.

Go to Source Global citizens unite to sustain UN’s 2030 goals See this story at CaribbeanLifeNews.com. By Vinette K. Pryce Come rain or shine, on Sept. 29, a galaxy of stars will shine on the Great Lawn at Central Park during the annual Global Citizen Festival to ensure that 17 goals of bettering the world’s population are closer to meeting the 2030 deadline agreed by the United Nations.

[avantgardistes]

SDG4 - Quality Education

"In some parts of the world, students are going to school every day. It's their normal life.  But in other parts of the world, we are starving for education... it's like a precious gift.  It's like a diamond…" - Malala Yousafzai

This is the fifth installment of the SDGs spotlight series.  Sustainable Development Goal 4 is to “ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.”  

What is “quality education”?

According to the UN Global Compact, education is the delivery of learning opportunities.  It’s a lifelong process that happens at home, in school, or with members of your community.  Learning is knowledge, skills, and values acquired through an education.  It’s critical to lifelong success and empowerment and occurs both inside and outside of school.

Despite progress towards MDG2 – “achieve universal primary education” by 2015 – in 2013, 59 million primary-school aged children were still out of school.  In the same year, 65 million children of lower secondary-school age were still out of school.

The business argument for improving education is that it “expands business opportunities, creating new markets and customer bases.  It also results in a more skilled workforce, increasing productivity, and driving business growth.  A more educated workforce leads to better wages and more disposable income for consumer spending.”  According to The State of the World’s Children 2016 Report, each additional year of education a child receives increases their adult earnings by about 10%.

It also yields benefits to the entire population: Each year of schooling completed, on average, in a country helps its poverty rate fall by 9%.  Access to education builds sustainable societies, saves lives, promotes economic growth, strengthens the local workforce, expands business opportunities, and boosts wages.

Student proficiency: Learning achievement helps to measure school and school system progress and identify areas for improvement: For example, in 2013, in six of 15 Latin American countries, fewer than 50% of 3rd graders had a minimum level of proficiency in math, and in three countries, fewer than half were proficient in reading.  In 2014, 40-90% of children in 10 African countries failed to achieve minimum proficiency in reading; and 40-90% of children in nine of those countries failed to achieve minimum proficiency in math.

The end of lower secondary education often coincides with the end of compulsory education.  In the majority of 38 developed countries, at least 75% of young people achieved at least a minimum proficiency in reading and/or math, while the same was true for only 5 out of 22 developing countries.

Completion: Completion rates for both primary and lower secondary education has been rising steadily since 2000, exceeding 90% in both developed and developing regions in 2013.  The gap between developed and developing regions at the lower secondary level has narrowed substantially, but remained at nearly 20 percentage points in 2013 (91% for developed regions versus 72% for developing regions).

Disparities: Worldwide, in 2013, two thirds of the 757 million adults (ages 15+) who were unable to read and write were women.  One in 10 girls were out of school, compared to 1 in 12 boys.  Children from the poorest 20% of households are nearly four times more likely to be out of school than their richest peers; and these disparities are mirrored in urban vs. rural comparison and among children from households headed by someone with less than a primary education.

Staffing: Nearly 26 million new primary school teachers are needed by 2030.  In Africa, nearly 7 in 10 countries experience acute shortages of trained primary school teachers.  In 2013, only 71% of teachers in sub-Saharan Africa and 84% in Northern Africa were trained in accordance with national standards.

Resources: ODA for educational scholarships totaled $1.1 billion annually from 2011 to 2013 and $1.2 billion in 2014, with Australia, France, and Japan as the largest contributors.

SDG4 Targets

The targets set for SDG4 are:

By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes

By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care, and preprimary education so that they are ready for primary education

By 2030, ensure equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education, including university

By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs, and entrepreneurship

By 2030, eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, and children in vulnerable situations

By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy

By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development

Build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability, and gender sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive, and effective learning environments for all

By 2030, substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small-island developing states

Interestingly, one of the SDG4 targets is set for 2020 (only three years from now!):

By 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrollment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering, and scientific programs, in developed countries and other developing countries

What can we do?

The UN Global Compact’s report, The Smartest Investment: A Framework for Business Engagement in Education breaks down into four categories the ways in which actors can engage with the SDGs: core business, social investment/philanthropy, advocacy/policy engagement, and partnerships/collective action.  With respect to SDG4:

Core business:  Companies can address education challenges in the communities where they operate by considering human resources and sourcing policies as well as produce and service development.  Also called an “inclusive business” approach companies can engage the so-called “bottom of the pyramid” to improve access and grow markets, taking a long-term perspective on education by investing in educational infrastructure and workforce training.

Social investment and philanthropy:  Actors can offer financial support to multilateral agencies, communities, and NGOs for education and skills-building programs on the ground.  Companies can also contribute functional expertise through volunteering efforts, thought leadership, and in-kind gifts, with the possibility of linking these social investments to their core business.

Advocacy and policy engagement:  Education, or lack thereof, can impact companies’ ability to operate in particular markets; these challenges include limited talent pools, a lack of educational services for employees’ children, or unsafe learning environments.  Business’s political weight can bring the necessary attention to these issues and effect valuable change through public policy engagement.

Partnerships and collective action:  In addition to unilateral action, companies can engage in educational partnerships with governments and education organizations to be more effective and have a more lasting impact.  Dr. Michael Hopkins adds that companies can “work with [the] public sector to ensure supply of appropriate skills and education and better coordination in provision of information on labor markets.”

Some activities that help deliver social and business value are:

Pilot new, open-source technology to improve education access for hard-to-reach communities.

Apply design thinking to reach bottom-of-the-pyramid communities by developing low-cost learning materials.

Sponsor entrepreneurship competitions to identify innovative product and commercialization ideas.

Develop skill certifications in cooperation with providers and governments using corporate training curricula.

Leverage analytical expertise to measure the impact of education programs.

Support innovative teaching methods and tools that foster creative and entrepreneurial thinking.

Who’s taking action?

Multilateral initiatives:

The UN Global Compact, the world’s largest CSR initiative, joined partners including UNESCO, UNICEF, and the UN Special Envoy for Global Education to work on advancing education around the world.  They created a framework to help businesses advance education goals, allowing companies to invest in institutions, outreach programs, job training, and apprenticeships.  The Global Compact also has various resources for its 13,000 members interested in tackling SDG4, including the Children’s Rights and Business Principles and the Principles for Responsible Management Education.

The Global Business Coalition for Education (GBC-Education) “believe[s] their core business assets, social responsibility and philanthropy, when used in collaboration with government and other stakeholders, can be a powerful tool to expand education opportunity for all.”

UNICEF Innovation is a collaborative initiative to identify and support technologies that improve the lives of children worldwide.  Current programs in Brazil, Ethiopia, Ghana, Peru, and Sudan are working on improving learning outcomes and advancing international equity.

Enactus empowers students around the world to improve the world through entrepreneurship.  Student teams create community development projects that improve the lives of people in their local communities while learning leadership skills.  Last year’s Enactus Nigeria national team designed a project that set up schools in several camps for Internally Displaced Persons.

UNHCR Innovation “partners with people inside and outside of UNHCR to innovate with and for refugees.”  The initiative hosts labs, supports projects, offers fellowships, and crowdsources ideas to encourage innovation around complex refugee challenges, including education.  For instance, they use online classrooms and mobile learning to connect refugee children with educational opportunities. 

Global Partnership for Education (GPE) is a multilateral PPP that works to deliver quality education to children – particularly the poorest and most vulnerable – in nearly 60 countries.  The broad coalition coordinates resources to implement education plans.  In the last 10 years, GPE has mobilized more than $3.5 billion, helped nearly 19 million children go to school for the first time, supported the construction of over 37,000 classrooms, and trained over 400,000 teachers.

Nonprofits/NGOs

Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) is an international nonprofit that works with “educators in high-need schools to re-engage students in learning, introduce them to business concepts, and open up their possibilities for the future.”  Students in 23 locations in 10 countries learn about entrepreneurship, business, STEM, and presentation skills.

Girl Up is a UN Foundation campaign that engages girls around the world and empowers them to act.  “Led by a community of nearly half a million passionate advocates raising awareness and funds, our efforts help the hardest to reach girls living in places where it is hardest to be a girl.”  One of the org’s signature programs is the WiSci STEAM Camp, which works to close the gender gap in STEM through access to education, mentorship, and leadership training.

Private sector*

Pearson VUE, the computer-based testing company, is working on SDG4 through its primarily through its core business activities but also through social impact programs, campaigns, advocacy, and partnerships.  For instance, to drive learning outcomes in Nigeria, in a $90 million PPP with the World Bank and Lagos State, Pearson has provided professional development to over 400 secondary school educators to improve teaching quality and foster instructional excellence.  Pearson has also partnered with UNESCO for Project Literacy.

CEMEX, a Mexican construction company, partners with local schools and Mexican program Patrimonio Hoy to improve school infrastructure in the country.  So far approximately 500 school infrastructure projects have been completed, improving school safety, sanitation and learning environments for children.

Unilever/Persil (a laundry detergent brand) partnered with UNICEF for its “Learning for Tomorrow” initiative, which helped 10 million children access education and new learning experiences across India, Vietnam and Brazil in 2015.

Microsoft, the global software and computing solutions company, focuses on digital inclusion, “where the short-term investment costs are expected to have positive future returns.”  By addressing the digital divide and connecting more people, Microsoft is also introducing its products and services to new markets.  One example of its work is the 4Afrika Initiative, through which Microsoft is installing White Space (an alternative to wifi) to areas in Africa.  So far this initiative has led to $24 million of software donated and support for over 600 non-profits, 625 startups, and over 2,500 students.

*For more examples of private sector engagement in SDG4, see the UN Global Compact and Global Business Coalition for Education’s report, Investing in Education: Lessons from the Business Community.

Individuals and companies alike can donate to Global Impact’s SDG Fund, which is a philanthropic nonprofit that supports charities working on the SDGs.  Donations to this goal's fund will support the following charities: Compassion International, Salvation Army World Service Office (SAWSO), Save the Children, and The U.S. Fund for UNICEF.

#SDG4 #QualityEducation #education #sdgs #globalgoals #globaldev

[gbenro]

CHIEF OF PARTY - RURAL RESILIENCE #Vacancy

CHIEF OF PARTY - RURAL RESILIENCE

21 Mar 2017

Abuja, Nigeria

Full-time

Program Development & Quality

sav-37265

Apply Now

Summary

Save the Children is recruiting an experienced Chief of Party (COP) for the anticipated USAID-funded Rural Resilience program aimed at increasing the resiliency of vulnerable households in Nigeria, particularly those impacted by climate change. The COP will work with Save the Children’s existing country office, but will be solely responsible for the overall management of this USAID award. S/he will provide strategic and operational leadership to develop and implement a successful and integrated multi-sectoral program that builds upon existing USAID and Government of Nigeria investment and that will achieve sustainable outcomes. All posts are contingent on the issuance of USAID funding and the selection of applicants is subject to USAID approval.

Essential Duties, Responsibilities and Impact

The COP will be the primary relationship manager for USAID/Nigeria, Government of Nigeria representatives, Save the Children’s Headquarters and Country Offices, as well as partner organizations and external stakeholders. The COP will be the principal representative of the program and will ensure adherence to overall technical and programmatic quality in implementation, compliance with USAID rules and regulations, and the timely submission of all deliverables to USAID, including annual work plans, performance monitoring plans, semi-annual reports and annual reports as may be required. The COP will be responsible for the overall direction and coordination of the activities of any sub-recipient partners under this grant.

This key position will require travel across the country to program areas. Responsibilities will include:

Lead the program’s strategic, financial, and operational planning, including the annual work planning process and development of an appropriate exit strategy.

Establish and guide overall technical direction of the program.

Act as principal representative and liaison to all external stakeholders, including but not limited to USAID/Nigeria and the Government of Nigeria.

Oversee the timely submission of all deliverables to USAID.

Provide oversight and coordination with international and national sub-recipient partners.

Supervise key program staff, both technical and managerial, and oversee the hiring process of all local personnel.      

Serve as primary liaison with Save the Children partners and any local sub-grantees.

Provide overall coordination of the institutional/organizational and technical capacity building of local partners and stakeholders.

Ensure that efficient systems to support all aspects of the program including sub-grant management, financial, capacity building and performance monitoring and reporting are in place and support the effective use of program resources in compliance with USAID regulations and Save the Children policies.

Required Background and Experience, Skills and Behaviors

Masters Degree in international development, micro-enterprise development, management, agriculture, economics or related field.

Minimum of 10 years of prior experience managing USAID-funded assistance programs of a similar size and scope in developing countries; experience managing multi-sectoral programs including livelihoods, agricultural development, resilience, market-based approaches to economic development, climate change, food security, field-based experience managing large and complex overseas, multi-partner development programs, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.

At least five years of experience managing large scale USAID funded program(s) at a senior level.

Demonstrated knowledge of and familiarity with USAID policies, regulations, and procedures.

Experience in managing large agriculture-based and rural development programs for an international NGO.

Demonstrated skills in strategic and program planning and understanding of resiliency and livelihoods interventions.

Demonstrated skills in leadership and supervision of staff and teams.

Extensive experience working in Sub-Saharan Africa; specific work experience in Nigeria or the region is desirable.

Proven experience building capacity of local NGOs and government bodies.

Proven ability in building relationships and collaborating closely with host governments, donors, other donor-funded programs and stakeholders, local organizations, and partners.

Excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to lead and work effectively in team situations.

Excellent oral and written communication skills.  Fluency in English required.

Save the Children invests in childhood – every day, in times of crisis and for our future. We are dedicated to ensuring every child has the best chance for success. Our pioneering programs give children a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. Our advocacy efforts provide a voice for children who cannot speak for themselves. As the leading expert on children, we inspire and achieve lasting impact for millions of the world's most vulnerable girls and boys. By transforming children's lives now, we change the course of their future and ours.

Save the Children is committed to conducting its programs in a manner that is safe for the children it serves and helping protect the children with whom Save the Children is in contact.  As a humanitarian agency, Save the Children is obliged to create and maintain an environment that aims to prevent the sexual exploitation and abuse of children and promote the implementation of its child safeguarding policy.  All representatives of Save the Children – employees, volunteers, interns, consultants, Board members and others who work with children on Save the Children’s behalf – are expected to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation.

Save the Children provides an attractive benefits package including competitive salaries, a matching retirement plan, health and welfare benefits, life insurance, an employee assistance program, generous time off and much more. We provide equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, ancestry, sexual orientation, national origin, age, handicap, disability, marital status, or status as a veteran. Save the Children complies with all applicable laws.

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[daniellesmithtv]

Give Good, Get Good: Gifts that Give

Gift giving is my love language.

Seriously. I LOVE to find the perfect gift for the people in my life. I love to surprise them and see the look on their face when I get it right.

But there is a little something else I love to do: give back.

I have a fairly robust list of people I gift –  between family, my tribe of friends, colleagues and people I like to surprise spoil. That means I’m constantly on ‘gift alert’…..what would they LOVE? But I also ask myself another question, “Is it possible to spoil the people I adore (or surprise them) AND make the world a little better at the same time.

Why yes, it is.

Because this matters to me, I’ve curated some of my FAVORITE places you can buy for the people you love AND give back at the same time. You’ll find jewelry, t-shirts, accessories and a slew of options your family can commit to – from easing the burden of a family with a sick child, to sponsoring a child in another country to helping to feed little ones right here in the United States to supporting the efforts of a family in a third world country to pull themselves from poverty.

Give Good, Get Good: Gifts that Give

Brave New World Designs– Have I told you that I have brilliant, kind, compassionate friends who are working DAILY for a better world? My friend Christine Koh is one of them. This past year she started Brave New World Designs. I will allow her beautiful words to describe her mission, “Brave New World Designs is on a mission to make the world a little better each day by giving voice to the virtues of creativity, humor, wisdom and love. Our work is part poetry, part adventure, part advocacy and part silly.” I have three of her t-shirt designs in my closet and my small girl has a favorite as well. She wore her ‘Love Fiercely’ shirt to school for picture day and it is PERFECT.

Shop Compliment – I have a personal policy of complimenting ANYONE I find deserving. Have a kind heart, beautiful eyes, lovely manners? I will tell you. My friend Melissa has built a beautiful business with the same mission. She and I actually found each other here online and I’ve been addicted to her heart and commitment to offering education for girls ever since. 5% of each purchase from ShopCompliment goes to a scholarship fund for girls. It is magic. And so are Melissa’s products. She started with jewelry – and each piece comes with a personal ‘compliment’…but she has expanded to inspirational coffee mugs, candles, notebooks and so much more.

Pura Vida – Have a cause that matters to you? I’m fairly confident Pura Vida has you covered in their charity bracelet collection. You can support animal awareness, education, mental health, cancer, diabetes, the military, Parkinson’s disease and SO MUCH MORE. Each and every bracelet is handcrafted by artisans from all over the world. The bracelets are worn by millions of people around the world (I have a few dozen!) and provide full time jobs to more than 150 artisans around the globe. They are partnered with more than 190 charities around the world and have donated more than $1.5 Million dollars. And they have more than just bracelets. They are a go-to for gifts for me. Ohhh – and they have a subscription service!!

Chavez for Charity – I have told you I know extraordinary people, yes? Julie Marie Chavez is a fellow University of San Diego Alumni and someone I knew in my time at the University. She graduated and created the magic that is Chavez for Charity. As with Pura Vida, you can support some of the causes and organizations that mean the world to you. From the Matthew Shepard Foundation to the Malala Fund and Erin Brockovich Foundation (and so many more) – the purchase of each and every bracelet means you are making a difference. And the options are gorgeous. I regularly give them as gifts.

I am Just One. – If you have  ever thought, ‘but I am JUST ONE PERSON…how can I better the world?” – you aren’t alone. I AM JUST ONE is built on the premise that yes, yes! you can make a difference. Just One has the beautiful goals of offering hope, raising awareness and creating advocates. They are offering fair trade jewelry that subscribes to the notion of a ‘hand up’ not a ‘hand out’ so that you know, with each and every gorgeous purchase you are helping to allow a beautifully talented artisan to support themselves and maintain their dignity.

Cause Box –  You know I LOVE subscription boxes. This is one that offers not only a series of gifts for the receiver, but each and every item in the box has a story and makes the world a better place. The boxes are curated for women and each item you receive is either in partnership with CauseBox or comes as a limited edition product from a socially conscious company. Boxes arrive quarterly and subscriptions are about $50/quarter if you pay annually. I LOVE MINE. The products may be jewelry, art work, fashion, apparel, accessories or beauty products. There also have a limited edition box for men for the holidays.

Intangible Giving

The benefit of giving the intangible – you are blessing someone you love (and possibly that ‘person who has everything’) with the gift of having helped someone in need by your gift in their honor.

No Kid Hungry – I have long been committed to ending child hunger. It shouldn’t even be A THING. And yet, it is. ONE in SIX children in the United States don’t get the food they need. That makes learning, living, just being a kid nearly impossible. Share Our Strength is an organization working to make sure all kiddos get the food they need where they live, where they learn and where they play. I’m happy to join friends like Tim McDonald who have been advocates for this cause for years.

Additionally, through its Cooking Matters program, the No Kid Hungry campaign educates and empowers low-income families to stretch their food budgets so their kids get healthy meals at home.

Take a look at their work here.

Unbound – This is a gift you can do as a family – sponsoring a child in need in another country. A portion of Unbound’s mission is to ‘see potential, not poverty’. By sponsoring a child as we have (Karen and Jacqueline both live in Guatemala), my small people are learning not only about another culture as they can communicate with both girls, but also what is means to truly give to someone else.

In order to qualify for sponsorship, Jacqueline and Karen, (like all other children) must be enrolled in school. Dropping out at any time prevents them from being sponsored. Now that my family has committed to both of them, the folks at Unbound sit down with the family and determine how the sponsorship could most benefit them – food, clothing, school supplies and items that can help them break the cycle of poverty – like pigs, chickens, seeds for farming and trees for growing fruit – are all options.

The $60 ($30 each) we spend each month to sponsor these two girls clearly provides much needed financial assistance for their families, but it is equally beneficial for us: My children are seeing good works and love in action, they are learning about another culture, and they have a connection to another child who is opening their eyes to an entirely different way of life.

St. Jude – You are likely not a stranger to St. Jude’s Research Hospital in Memphis. I bet you know it is committed to saving the lives of children living with rare forms of cancer. But did you know the doctors, nurses, and staff treat each child and each parent like family?

The atmosphere is warm and inviting, it does not smell like a hospital (despite being a thoroughly sterile environment), the walls are painted with kids in mind and decorated with heartfelt art work created by the kids living there.

Though there are only 78 beds on campus, there are three different housing options available based on how long a child will need treatment – from a week to a handful of years.

No matter how long a child receives treatment, no matter how long their family must live in St. Jude’s housing, no matter how far they must travel for the life-giving, life-saving treatment they need, they will never receive a bill – not for medical care, not for housing, not for food and not for travel.

It costs $2.2 MILLION dollars A DAY to keep this miracle in Memphis open and saving lives…and it all comes from donations. (That’s SIXTY-SIX million dollars a month for those of you doing the math). Here’s another fact that just might blow your mind – 75% of the money that comes in is from individual donors and the average gift is a beautiful and heartfelt $35. Think about this fact the next time you head out to dinner, or pay your monthly gym membership.

$35 is life giving. 

Power of 5 – Two years ago, I visited Zambia, Africa as part of the Power of 5 Program and that experience has never left my soul. There is so much I take for granted. My small people have enough food to fill their bellies every day. They have electricity and education. I sat with mothers who worry daily their children may not make it to the age of five. They worry….are their children getting the nutrients they need to grow and thrive?

It is heartbreaking that in many cases, that answer had been no, but Amway™ and its Nutrilite™ Power of 5 Campaign are making great strides, one child, one family at a time. As the largest vitamin distributor in the world, Amway provides a micronutrient supplement to families with great need in five different areas around Lusaka (as well as ten other countries around the world.)

This micronutrient is mixed with a child’s food once a day in order to provide the nutrition they need.

Every 30 days, the families I met, along with 200+ other families trek to one of five distribution centers in Lusaka, Zambia to listen to an educational talk, see their children weighed and measured for tracking and pick up their monthly nutrition, their Little Bits, for their little ones.

Amway is doing this work in nearly a dozen countries – with a commitment to continue expanding.

Consider supporting them?

Heifer International – This is a beautiful way to gift a tangible item that is life-changing for a family in need. For 70 years now, they have been working to combat poverty in some of the areas that need it the most (125 countries around the world) – but not simply by  – if you will allow the adage – giving men and women fish, but actually teaching them how to fish. Their goal has long been to provide farmers with the opportunity to learn skills and change their circumstances rather than strictly benefitting from gifts from others.

A goat can be purchased for $120 and once given to a family, not only will it be a source of food for them – milk, cheese and yogurt, but these products can be packaged and sold at market, helping the family to earn an income they so desperately need. Other animal gift options include a heifer (naturally) for $500, an alpaca for $150, a pig for $120, rabbits for $60, honeybees for $30, a flock of chicks for $20 and so many more. If the amount you would like to give is less, you can also gift a portion of any of these animals. They also support women’s empowerment and there are ways you can give specifically to this category.

As part of their core mission, Heifer supports Passing on the Gift – this means the families who are gifted don’t allow that gift to stop with them. They share the training they receive and pass on the first female offspring of their livestock to another family.

Check out their gift catalog.

How do you give back this time of year? I would love to hear any additional ideas you would add to this list.

Happy Holidays! And happy giving.

    The post Give Good, Get Good: Gifts that Give appeared first on Pretty Extraordinary.

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