Africa’s new generation is using social media to push change
Enter the “Cheetah Generation,” a group of grassroots movers and shakers ready to reshape the state of their continent by utilizing the world of social media. Hungry for change, these young innovators are seeking to turn around the all-too-common story that gets told whenever Africa comes into conversation: a war-torn, impoverished continent. Opportunities are brewing as these young go getters make their voices heard via Twitter and other powerful social networking tools, standing up for the country they are proud to call home. Read more here…
School ‘pays dowry’ to save girls from childhood marriage
It is not uncommon for a girl born into a Kenyan tribe to be booked for an early marriage at birth. However, a school in Kenya’s Rift Valley is working to aid the destructive practice of child marriage to keep the Maasai girls in school longer. The Naning’oi Girls Boarding School, opened by Childfund International, offers to “pay the traditional dowry of livestock or gifts that is usually paid to a young girl’s father by her future husband.” The alternative dowry system is an attempt to prevent the girls from goin through things they are too young to handle: child marriage, early pregnancy, female genital mutilation and her becoming an outcast in her society when she becomes pregnant before marriage. Read more here…
WFP gives scholarship to 129 girls
A total of 129 girls from three regions in Ghana will benefit this year from a scholarship given out by the World Food Programme to prevent school drop-out rates. This initiative is meant to improve the state of equal access to education while closing in on Ghana’s completion of Millennium Development Goal 2, at the 80% mark in 2008. Part of the program includes a takeaway for girls who attend school over 85% of the time: a package of cereal, vegetable oil, and iodized salt for their family. Read more here…
