the womanity foundation newsletter

the
womanity
foundation
newsletter
April 2015
Pledge your support
to women’s
empowerment
Celebrating 10 years
of the Womanity Foundation
content
Womanity in 2014 P1
“Worth 100 Men”
Radio Fiction Series P2
Great Strides
in Advancing Girls’
Education
in Afghanistan P3
Breaking news P4
Want to meet Womanity
in 2015? P4
This year, the Womanity Foundation turns ten. We celebrate a decade of
passionate, creative and innovative work; ten years of learning, exploring
and growing; and, most of all, we pay tribute to our numerous enriching
collaborations. These partnerships have helped us to reach hundreds of
thousands of women, girls, men and boys to further gender equality and
women’s empowerment in Afghanistan, Brazil, Haiti, India, Israel, Morocco,
Palestine, Lebanon and across the Middle East. Moreover, our willingness to
take risks in exploring new ideas, and our ability to act on what we learn from
our research have been key drivers of our success.
In the coming decade, Womanity will continue to develop innovative
programs that push the boundaries in the field of women’s empowerment and
also collaborate at the grassroots with visionaries, activists and innovators,
creating opportunities for women to realize their aspirations and reach their
full potential in society.
Today, we are asking you, our valued partners and supporters, to contribute
towards this community of innovators and social actors by making a personal
pledge for women’s empowerment. Through the course of the summer, we
will publish your pledges on a virtual Pledge Wall at womanity.org to voice
our combined commitment to a fairer, safer and more equitable world for
women and girls.
You can pledge:
•
Action by taking part in an activity to further women’s empowerment
(e.g. creating a useful connection, contributing to a campaign, etc.);
•
Expertise to lend support to an organization or individual working for
women and girl’s rights (e.g. to mentor, advise, provide pro-bono support
etc.).
•
Funds by donating funds towards Womanity’s pioneering work with
women and girls.
As for me, I humbly pledge to continue investing time and resources to keep
developing innovative models to give women and girls the same chances that
men and boys are given.
Thank you for your continued inspiration and dedicated support. Together,
we can empower girls and women to thrive.
Yann Borgstedt
Founder and President - The Womanity Foundation
Please send your pledges to info@womanity.org or contact the Womanity
team for ideas for pledges. Once your pledge has been made, you may
want to tweet it to @forWomanity and motivate others to join in under
#Womanitypledge.
April 2015
2015 newsletter
Womanity
in 2014
2014 was a year for growth, learning and developing
more opportunities to invest in accelerating
progress for women and their communities.
Here’s a snapshot of our achievements in 2014:
23,003
children (mostly girls) in 12 public
girls’ schools across Afghanistan accessed a
quality education in improved environments.
3,830 at risk children have been sensitized
to the dangers of child domestic labour in
Morocco.
934 (mostly female) teachers received
training to ensure a better quality education for
girls (and boys) at the schools where they teach
in Afghanistan.
Over 7,500 women artisans in India
and 812 in Brazil were supported by
WomenChangeMakers Fellows.
Listeners to Radio Nisaa now make up 9% of
the audience share in the Palestinian Territories.
10 radios in 9 countries ; Egypt, the Palestinian
territories, Jordan, Yemen, Saudia Arabia and
Bahrain, Morocco, Iraq and Syria, broadcast
the pioneering Arabic radio fiction series
Worth 100 Men on women’s role in society
to millions of listeners; over 130,000
people followed the debates around the series’
topics on social media and hundreds took
part in live debates in Cairo and Amman.
The first Womanity Award to prevent violence
against women was awarded to Promundo
(Brazil) and Abaad (Lebanon) to adapt a
successful approach developed by Promundo
for positively engaging boys and men for
gender equality and women’s empowerment.
9 social entrepreneurs and their teams working
on women’s empowerment in Brazil and
India are being supported, and their impact
enhanced, by the Womanity Foundation and
its professional partners.
The Womanity Foundation P1
April 2015
2015 newsletter
“Worth 100 Men”
Radio Fiction
Series
“ I am brave and Worth 100 Men
3.
„
and in times of distress I fight back These lyrics from the theme tune sung by music
star Nancy Ajram set the scene for the powerful
Arabic radio fiction Worth 100 Men launched in
2014. The 30 episode series was broadcast across
the Middle East engaging women and men in
breaking down gender barriers by introducing
the story of Noha, a young, ambitious Egyptian
journalist who defies the obstacles many women
face on a daily basis. Worth 100 Men has now
been aired in 9 countries across the Middle East
and North Africa (MENA) and received critical
acclaim.
In 2014, Womanity achieved the
objectives through Worth 100 Men:
following
1. Featured a positive role model of women’s
empowerment by showcasing a strong, smart
and assertive female hero.
Drove
opinion-shifting
discussions
on
women’s role in society. On air, social media
and during live debates, the series fuelled
conversations on domestic violence, sexual
harassment, early marriage, equal professional
opportunities, women and leadership, etc.
Interviews with women and men participants of
Radio Listener Clubs organised by local women’s
organisations with the support of Oxfam Novib in
the Palestinian territories, showed that where 46%
initially believed that ‘violence against women is
justified when it is done to preserve the family
unit’, this ratio decreased to 16% following the
discussion on the radio drama. A female listener
testified that she learned that:
“ women have a right to many things;
she has the right to work; and she can
play a role in all parts of life. The role of
„
the woman is effective and dynamic (Consult the final report on the project here.)
2. Produced and distributed entertaining,
educational and engaging media content for a
broad audience, thus connecting Womanity to
a valuable network of media partners, activists
and women’s organisations in the region. As
well as being broadcast on 10 radio stations
so far, the series engaged the public on social
media and in real life settings. On Facebook,
followers grew to over 130’000 in 6 months.
Womanity
believes
that
“edutainment”
productions like Worth 100 Men can unleash
fruitful discussions on sensitive topics, positively
influence attitudes and opinions and provide a
constructive channel to women and girls to voice
their aspirations. Therefore, we are presently
exploring creative ways to build on this positive
experience in 2015. Stay tuned!
The Womanity Foundation P2
April 2015
2015 newsletter
Great Strides
in Advancing Girls’
Education
in Afghanistan
©Farzana Wahidy
Education empowers women and girls, and
educated women and girls enrich their society. In
Afghanistan, girls’ schooling is a cornerstone to
an improved personal and social status. In 2014,
Womanity’s School in a Box programme, initiated
in 2007 to develop primary and secondary public
model schools, achieved important targets in
advancing girls’ quality education:
1. Increased girls’ attendance. 23,003
pupils (mostly girls) in 12 public schools
continued their education up to grade 12 and
the number of permanent absentees (i.e. likely
drop-out rate) decreased by 10% between
2013 and 2014;
2. More favourable learning environments.
Womanity installed science and computer
labs, libraries, sports’ facilities, hygiene and
sanitation facilities and clean water in each
school;
4. Better hygiene behaviour, resulting in
improved health, greater learning capacity
and less absenteeism. By ways of Womanityled basic health education in all 12 schools.
5.
Increased opportunities for academic
and professional careers. In partnership
with Afghanistan Libre, tutoring classes
were provided to 663 students in grade 12 to
prepare for the entrance exam to University.
Womanity also offered pilot vocational
training in accounting, CV writing and jobhunting to 43 students.
3.Enhanced teaching skills and expertise.
Which led to 44% of students across all
schools to score a mark higher than 70 in their
end-of-year exams. 934 teachers were trained
on skills development and subject- specific
learning.
The Womanity Foundation P3
April 2015
2015 newsletter
Breaking news:
Womanity Partners Radio Nisaa and
Educate Girls honored by esteemed
Schwab and Skoll Foundations
The Womanity Foundation saw two of its partners
receive considerable recognitions testifying to the
considerable work that they do to accelerate progress
for women and girls.
On 30th March, the Schwab Foundation announced its
2015 cohort of Social Entrepreneurs, among whom is
the stellar Maysoun Odeh Gangat, Managing Director of
Nisaa.
The nomination gives Maysoun Odeh access to an
outstanding network of social entrepreneurs, to high
quality consulting services, scholarships and education
opportunities; as well as invitations to take an active
part in the regional and global meetings of the World
Economic Forum.
Under the leadership of Maysoun Odeh Gangat, Nisaa
uses media as a tool to promote gender parity and
women’s empowerment, and to train and employ
women in the media.
On 13th April, the Skoll Foundation announced its
2015 Social Entrepreneur Awardees. Safeena Husain,
the ground-breaking Founder of Educate Girls and a
WomenChangeMakers India Fellow, was among those
selected for recognition.
The Skoll Foundation invests in its Awardees and
connects them to a robust global network of social
entrepreneurs,
innovators,
and
corporate
and
government leaders.
For more information on Safeena and Educate Girls:
www.educategirls.in
www.womanity.org/womenchangemakers
Read more here:
www.radionisaa.ps
www.womanity.org/96-nisaa-fm
The Womanity Foundation P4
April 2015
2015 newsletter
Want to meet Womanity in 2015?
15 - 17th April
@ Skoll World Forum & Marmalde,
Oxford (UK).
In the presence of Antonella Notari Vischer (Director of Womanity) and Servane
Mouazan (Womanity Award Project Manager). Register to any or both of these two
events:
http://goo.gl/qiZJ8w
http://goo.gl/67NHkc
28th April
@ University of St. Gallen
(Switzerland)
Apply to attend here: Income first? Generating social impact through access
to the labour market.
Antonella Notari Vischer (Director of Womanity) will be speaking at a
conference about the importance of women’s access to the labour market.
1st May
@ Geneva, Switzerland
(details to follow)
The Womanity and Cartier Foundation will host a lunch in honour of Safeena Husain
and her work with Educate Girls.
20 - 22nd May
@ The European Foundation Centre Annual Conference,
Milan (Italy)
Antonella Notari Vischer will be representing Womanity at the conference
in Milan.
10th June
@ TEDxWomen Barcelona
(Spain)
One of Womanity’s Awardees, Abaad, represented by Anthony Keedy will be
speaking at TEDxWomen in Barcelona.
16th June
@ Friends of Womanity USA
in New York (USA)
Details to follow.
The Womanity Foundation P5
April 2015
2015 newsletter
“The Womanity Foundation works to accelerate progress for women and their
communities.
It empowers girls and women to shape their future and contribute
to their equal and full social, economic and political participation in society.”
www.womanity.org
t
@forWomanity
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the.womanity.foundation
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WomanityFoundation
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The Womanity Foundation
51/55 Route des Jeunes
1227 Carouge
Switzerland
+41 22 544 39 60
info@womanity.org