Photo caption: Girls walking home from school, Kibera slum
“Your donations are supporting Polycom and other Womankind partner organisations to understand the impact COVID-19 is having on the women in their communities and adapt the ways they work to meet to the needs of the most vulnerable women.”
Thanks to our Radio 4 appeal presented by Nikki Amuka-Bird, your generous listeners donated a fantastic £20,093 towards our work in supporting women’s rights organisations as they adapt and respond to the devastating impact COVID is having on women’s lives.
Our appeal featured the ‘Talking Boxes’ project in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, Kenya. The boxes give young girls a way to anonymously post their problems into boxes secured around their school, breaking their silence about the sexual abuse they have experienced. With COVID-19 closing schools in Kenya as has happened the world over, our partner organisation, Polycom, who are delivering the project, needed to find another way to reach the girls.
Talking boxes have been placed in central places in the community and at hand washing stations where girls are shown how to wash their hands, and are given soap and sanitary products. By making sure girls can still access the talking boxes, and by providing socially distanced safe spaces where mentors could bring together small groups of girls to discuss their issues, Polycom have reached over 500 girls since the pandemic began.
Thank you for standing with women and girls in their moment of need.
You can find out more about our charity .