Donate today to deliver transformative engineering projects supporting women and girls this International Women’s Day.
The fight for gender equality goes on. This International Women’s Day, we are reminded that at current rates of progress, it will take until the year 2158 (133 years) to reach full gender parity.
We want to accelerate this action.
Across the Engineers Without Border movement, we are actively working with communities to build the infrastructure and strengthen capacity for sustainable clean water, quality sanitation, reliable energy, and safe spaces; key foundations that unlock the potential of people to improve their quality of life, in particular women and girls who often bear the burden of lack of access to key infrastructure.
We’re aiming to raise $100,000 (USD) to fund seven critical projects focused on delivering a better tomorrow for women and girls.
You can make that happen. Our partner, Bentley Systems, has already committed a donation of $15,000, with your donation we can achieve our goal to make a lasting and tangible change to the lives of women and girls around the world.
The projects:
Safe spaces for children supporting mothers to work, Argentina.
For the community of Kilómetro 13, a vulnerable neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, the 40 year old child care centre is a lifeline. A group of courageous women came together with a shared vision: to create a safe, nurturing space for children, in particular girls, who had nowhere else to go and today support over 120 children every day. But space is running out and the facilities are becoming dilapidated, limiting the center’s ability to expand its programs and provide safe, dedicated spaces for multiple ages. EWB Argentina proposes to construct a 50m² covered space for early childhood activities, an additional 70m² partially covered area and improvements to the existing buildings. These improvements will allow the center to provide essential educational and recreational opportunities for children growing up in vulnerable conditions, and with their children safe and cared for at the center, mothers can work, study, or earn an income, lifting her family out of extreme vulnerability and ensuring a better future for her children.
Female entrepreneur leading plastic waste revolution, Ghana.
Afua Opare-Baidu is on a mission to repurpose plastic waste to support girls’ education. She founded TrashSmart after experiencing the negative impacts of uncollected waste in her community. Her startup turns plastic waste into bricks to build school toilet blocks with girls’ needs in mind. 10% of girls miss school each month due to lack of quality sanitation facilities. As a result their career prospects are limited with many falling into informal work—such as selling water or snacks on the streets. To get up and running Afua needs investment, yet 70% of women-led businesses in Ghana report difficulty in securing bank loans or other formal credit—often receiving significantly smaller loan amounts than male entrepreneurs. EWB The Netherlands are partnering with TrashSmart to build their first school toilet block from plastic waste; building the proof case that will attract further investment, and addressing the sanitation challenges faced by school girls, reducing absenteeism, improving academic performance, and empowering girls to complete their education.
Sustainable farming vocations for girls, Ghana.
High levels of poverty coupled with poor educational infrastructure create a cycle of poverty that is hard for young people, in particular girls, to break free from. As a result school dropout rates, youth unemployment and teenage pregnancy are key challenges across the Upper East Region of Ghana. Trax, a youth empowerment non profit, has been working in the area for 30 years focusing on educating girls in sustainable farming practices alongside their primary education, But their current facilities limit their capacity to support the number of girls who want a skilled vocation. The HOPE project (Harvesting Opportunities, Promoting Education) is a collaboration between Trax and EWB Norway to build an additional three greenhouses and a cold storage facility, quadrupling the capacity of the existing Trax center, enabling them to train up to 40 girls at a time and support them to complete their education.
Reliable water supply for girls school, Kenya.
St Joseph’s is a boarding school for girls in rural Kenya. Half those attending are from underprivileged backgrounds or are orphaned with their fees covered with support from donors. The school lacks a safe, reliable water supply and the girls frequently walk to help collect water; a chore taking up to 3 hours, valuable hours lost from learning. In partnership with the Association of Consecrated Women in Eastern and Central Africa (ACWECA) who run the school, EWB Luxembourg plan to install water collection, treatment and distribution infrastructure and provide training for staff and community leaders, reducing the time girls spend sourcing water.
Freedom from water collection for women and girls, Malaysia.
Walking 2-3 km to collect water is traditionally tasked to the women and girls of Kampung Ayer Hitam in Pahang, Malaysia. A strenuous chore taking valuable time that could otherwise be put to productive use and gaining an education. Through partnership with the village, EWB Malaysia have worked to identify the most appropriate water provision technologies that fit with the climate, topography and local capabilities of the Jakun Orang Asli people in the village, alongside promoting sustainability and efficient resource management. As a result EWB Malaysia proposes to build a gravity feed pipeline and complimentary rainwater harvesting system to bring water to the village.
Supporting women and girls to leave addiction behind, Sierra Leone.
Godwin Vocational Training Center was established in 2011 to train women disadvantaged by poverty, sexual abuse, drug addiction, teenage pregnancy, and/or domestic violence. The center provides vocational training in multiple fields helping them build careers, start businesses, and become community leaders. Without this opportunity, many go into or go back to prostitution and drug use. The center has since expanded into a full educational institution, serving 300 students across preschool, primary, and middle school levels, but the school’s infrastructure has not kept pace with this expansion endangering students’ attendance. EWB Sierra Leone is proposing to increase the storage and filtration capacity of the existing system so that it is big enough to support the growing success of the training center and school as well as the 1,300 people that live in the local Rokel community who currently lack a safe clean water supply.
Reinsuring hope and trust in a local school, Zimbabwe.
Mahetshe School has had a 0% pass rate for the last decade. Years of insufficient funding have resulted in substandard and uninspiring school buildings and facilities. Girls in particular have been impacted. A single row of pit latrines is available for both boys and girls, there is nowhere to dispose of sanitary products and no privacy. As a result many girls stay home during menstruation, losing valuable hours of learning. Without education, future prospects for local girls are bleak. Boys can seek work in local mines but girls mainly stay home, marry young or become pregnant at an early age by migrant workers from the local mines, with high exposure to sexually transmitted diseases. EWB The Netherlands are working in partnership with the Masakhaneni Trust and have already designed a new masterplan for the school. With funding support, they can start the rehabilitation of two school buildings, construct a third, install a new water reticulation system and new sanitation facilities geared towards female hygiene, providing more privacy, disposal of sanitary pads, and flush toilets.
The impact of your donation goes beyond just numbers. Your contribution provides girls and women with the opportunity to see their potential, imagine a future in which they lead and innovate, and give them the tools to make that future a reality.
Donate now and #AccelerateAction for women and girls this International Women’s Day.
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For more information about partnering with us, please email partnerships@ewb-international.org