When we support the education of women and girls, we change the world; and this isn’t just an idealistic statement. According to UN Women, educating women and girls leads to a faster reduction in poverty, improved health outcomes for both children and pregnant people, greater HIV prevention, and reduced rates of gender-based violence.
Yet, at our current rate of education equity, girls across the globe are not guaranteed to complete their primary school education for another 50 years. This is due to various socioeconomic barriers—barriers that organizations such as Stella Girls' Empowerment Foundation Ltd work to break down.
Thanks to funding provided by KEF’s community of generous donors, we were able to provide Kapadia Education Foundation (KEF) alumna, Stella, with the financial support she needed to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. After graduating, Stella pursued her passion and launched the Stella Girls' Empowerment Foundation Ltd. The foundation aims to keep girls in Uganda and surrounding African countries in school by providing them with the resources they need to be successful—from sanitary products and textbooks to encouragement and motivational support.
According to Stella, young women and girls face many barriers in Uganda and surrounding African countries that keep them from pursuing primary and secondary education. Those challenges include becoming pregnant at a young age, societal pressure to stay home and marry, not having access to sanitary products, and their families not being able to afford to send them to school.
KEF provides women and girls like Stella with the chance to pursue an education regardless of their socioeconomic circumstances.
One way we do this is through our partnership with the Juan Felipe Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Colombia whose goal is to break the poverty cycle among young mothers. Their two-year 360 Degrees Model consists of whole-health services, quality education, and integration into the formal labor market.
Since 2017, KEF has helped fifteen Juan Felipe Foundation participants a year accomplish hospitality or cosmetology technical training in Cartagena. Thanks to the support of our community, though, this year—2023—we are supporting 25 young women pursuing a career through our partner foundation!
According to María Laura, Deputy Director of Projects, this support makes a world of difference. By providing the young mothers of the Juan Felipe Foundation with new life opportunities, KEF, and its donors, are helping to break the systemic cycles of poverty they would experience otherwise—and this not only benefits the women in their program but their families and their children, too.
But the Juan Felipe Foundation can’t do it all, which is where we come in.
“One of the main things we’ve come to realize is that, in order to have a sustainable, system impact, we have to have activated all of the actors of the ecosystem,” shares María. “It can’t just be the Juan Felipe Foundation [doing] everything. All of us are responsible for attending to these issues and bringing solutions to the table.”
By contributing to our mission, you can help connect bright and dedicated students in low-income countries with mentorship and financial resources to pursue higher education and affect positive change in their communities. You are a part of the solution.
This Mother’s Day, we are leaning on our community to help us meet our $7,500 goal to continue funding young women through our Women & Mother's Leadership Fund. For every $2,000 we raise, another seven students whose dreams of pursuing a formal education come true.
Together, we can change the narrative and provide girls and young women, regardless of their circumstances, with the opportunities they want, need, and deserve, and break down barriers along the way.