Kickstart Leadership Centre Partners for Girls - EUR 52,167 (28 May 2024)
Funding sanitary facilities at the Centre - EUR 10,000 (28 May 2024)
Supporting a third group of students – EUR 60,350 (2 December 2024)
The Partners for Girls Africa Foundation in Butula offers a home to girls who easily get entangled in traditional patterns with little chance on a good and independent life. Giving them the chance to follow education does kickstart not only her career but also holistic regional development. The centre provides quality professional training in leadership and presentation skills, coding and green energy transition skills to cohorts of 60-70 students. Awareness on the risks of early marriages and teen pregnancies and personal development are two other pillars. Agri-preneural and harvesting skills are applied, the girls grow their own food. The centre cultivates arrow roots and bananas and has a fishing pond.
The first graduation ceremony (see short) of 60 girls took place in August 2024. Graduates presented different projects. Five girls set up an e-health platform that allows patients to make appointments in advance with a doctor of their choice in the neighbourhood or a specialist at the nearest hospital, 4 hours away. By doing so, after a long journey, patients do not need to wait in line and can be helped immediately. After their exams 20 girls got accepted as in-house trainees at Zone01, an IT development institute based in Kisumu. Another 3 students continued their studies at the university and 3 became trainees in a green energy business. Traineeships usually open the door to a paid job, the dream for any girl. Within 7 months after the opening of the centre has served 3 cohorts of students and the lives of 200 girls were affected positively. They could follow their dreams.
Inspiring and motivating guest speakers enter debates on environmental conservation and climate change, encouraging the girls to become respected discussion partners inside the community. Staff spread community hygiene programmes in villages around Butula and visited the flooded areas. A toilet block with 8 units was built, and in addition a solar system that supports uninterrupted water supply and power during outages.
To guarantee continuity, an additional amount of 60,350 euros was granted on December 2, 2024. Applications for the third group of students attracted attention far beyond the borders of Busia County. The demand doubled and came from 5 different counties. There was intense debate about access criteria, and about how to increase access for girls from remote villages. Reproductive health became even more important in the course. Also menstruation eco pads - AFRIpads - were provided for the girls. For some of them travel expenses or temporary housing were arranged for and paid. Girls who found a subsequent job were sponsored during their first months because they only received their first payment after three months.
