When the social workers and psychological counselors from Midwife-Led Community Transformation (MILCOT) organization did an assessment of the young women in their community of Nansana Municipality, Uganda, they found an alarming number of girls who were in violent relationships and experiencing forms of sexual coercion. MILCOT is a SIA partner and community-based organization with the mission to take midwifery services out of the clinic setting and bring it direct to the comm

Thank you to the 13 people who donated to our Giving Tuesday Facebook campaign! You can still donate to that campaign here, or on our website here. Robinah Muganzi has a big job. A child, only five years old, was dropped off at her doorstep. Other orphans and girls escaping violent home situations come to her and she does what she can to accommodate them. Robinah is a social worker and director of Set Her Free, which provides safe space and vocational training for vulnerable

“A place of discovering our potential.” This is how one of the vocational students at Set Her Free Uganda described the supportive environment training centre. Set Her Free is one of SIA grant partners and we visited their site last week in Kampala. MC at the Set Her Free Fashion Show with students modeling their tailoring class projects! Robinah, a social worker and the director of Set Her Free, helps children and teens who have experienced extreme sexual violence or who hav

You’ve probably seen the simple messaging. If you give $xx amount per month, a girl in another country will get the gift of education. But it’s not as easy as just money or desks or school buildings. The Malawian organization Hope for Relief, assisted by a Spirit in Action Community Grant, uses a holistic approach to girls’ education in their community. 1. Meetings with Parents Last year the team at Hope for Relief held two engagement meetings with parents, teachers, and comm

When you think of the work of girls’ empowerment, you might not think of bathrooms. But a changing room and bathroom is exactly what Hope for Relief – a youth-led, grassroots organization in Malawi – knew would help keep girls in school. Before the changing room was built, it was common for girls to stay home when they were on their periods. There is a stigma attached to being at school while bleeding and also the practical challenge of not having good material for pads. “Whe

Today is about giving back! After Black Friday and Cyber Monday Giving Tuesday invites us to put our thanksgiving gratitude into action by helping others. Spirit in Action giving happens everyday. Giving between neighbors in rural Malawi. Giving between grandparents and children in Meru, Kenya. Giving between students and teachers at schools in Eldoret, Kenya. Giving between donors and families ready to start businesses in Uganda. In this season of giving, here are just 3 of

Girls and boys in the community where CIFORD works. I’ve been pretty convinced for a while now that change will only happen in a community when the members themselves are leading the movement. It rarely works to fly into another country, encounter a culture for the first time, and successfully convince them to adopt a totally new practice. And so it makes sense that the best way to eliminate the traditional practice of female circumcision as a rite of passage is to have the c