*** Breaking news: Faith in Water's Dignity for Girls project
wins a £245,000 grant from the British Government ***
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We are delighted to announce that our Dignity for Girls programme has been awarded a £245,000 grant from the UK's Department for International Development. This is a really significant boost for the programme which aims to keep Ugandan girls in school by helping them manage their periods better (see more about why this is such an important but, until recently, hidden issue below). It is also a major achievement given the intense competition for UK Aid Direct funds.
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Dignity for Girls: Helping girls to stay in school and build a BETTER future
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Imagine having no sanitary pads when your period starts, just old rags or leaves. No one has taught you about menstruation. And the school latrines don't have doors or water for washing. That's the reality of life for many girls in poorer countries. No wonder so many girls drop out of school early – putting them at high risk of teenage pregnancy, child marriage and a much poorer future.
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Many girls in poor communities face great difficulties in managing their periods because of lack of information, lack of resources (such as sanitary pads or clean, private school toilets) and a crippling sense of stigma and shame.
Studies show that a significant proportion of girls often miss school every month and some even drop out altogether. This has a serious impact on girls' future prospects as well as their health and wellbeing. Girls who drop out of school early are more likely to become teenage mothers or child brides and remain trapped in a cycle of poverty. Our Dignity for Girls Uganda programme is the first project to work with faith groups to tackle |
this problem and help keep girls in education. We are working with three faiths in Uganda – the Catholic Church, the Church of Uganda and the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, which are all major providers of education and key influencers of opinion.
Our aims are to:
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Did you know...?Girls in sub-Saharan Africa miss an estimated 10%-20% of school time because of difficulties managing their periods.
Fewer than two thirds of Ugandan girls complete primary school and even fewer secondary. Children of uneducated mothers are nearly three times more likely to die before age five than those born to mothers with secondary education. |
The crisisDiseases caused by contaminated water and poor sanitation kill children and blight lives. Around one in ten people lack clean, safe drinking water and one in three don't have adequate sanitation, causing people to become trapped in poverty and illness.
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Why work with faiths?Faith groups are the biggest organised element of civil society and often the most trusted and influential. They have massive outreach through youth groups, Sunday schools and madrassas, and they play a major role in education.
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Harvesting water out of airCould we get our drinking water from the air? It's still a long way off from becoming widely available but one US tech firm is using solar panels to do just that. And the long-term promise is to go from 'water scarcity to water abundance', says Zero Mass Water.
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Faith in Water works with all the major faiths to inspire them
to give greater priority to water, sanitation and hygiene issues
in their schools and communities. We also help to build powerful
partnerships between secular and faith groups.
to give greater priority to water, sanitation and hygiene issues
in their schools and communities. We also help to build powerful
partnerships between secular and faith groups.
What we do
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Faith in Water grew out of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), which was founded in 1995 to help the world's major faiths develop environmental programmes based on their beliefs.
Our faith partners told us that water and sanitation problems were the biggest environmental, social and health issues in their schools. Given that faiths play such a big role in education worldwide, and that water and cleanliness have spiritual significance in many religions, we realised that working specifically with faith schools could have a significant impact. Faith in Water has a long experience of engaging faith communities. We also understand how secular groups work and what they need. By building closer relationships between faith and secular organisations, we aim to help each group to work more effectively with each other – for the benefit of people, nature and the planet. |
'The biggest change to many of the activities |
Support us!
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Can you help us TRANSFORM LIVES by bringing clean water, safe sanitation and good
hygiene to some of the world's poorest communities? Support us with a one-time donation or a regular payment. Simply scroll down to the Charity Checkout button below to be taken to Faith in Water's secure online donation page. Thank you! |
Christ has no body but yours, no hands, no feet on earth but yours.
St Teresa of Avila
St Teresa of Avila
Image credits, from top, left to right: Zata school well, Ethiopia, by Gary Edenfield. Red ribbons by Dan Lundmark. Bangladesh pond filter, by Shawn.
Children at Vrindavan, by Victoria Finlay, ARC. Rain drops, by Michael Johnson; Kenyan smile, by Brad Ruggles, Ugandan girl, by Susie Weldon.
Children at Vrindavan, by Victoria Finlay, ARC. Rain drops, by Michael Johnson; Kenyan smile, by Brad Ruggles, Ugandan girl, by Susie Weldon.
