The winners of the Girl Rising Creative Challenge have been announced. There were 882 entries from 110 countries. While there were only 12 winners, each of the 882 entries showed that the world will be in a better place if the obsolete patriarchy can be nudged aside and replaced with true gender equality and equity. See all the details at https://girlrising.org/challenge/

• African Educational Trust: a program that is providing flexible educational opportunities in South Sudan
• All Girls Code: a program in Lebanon that is preparing girls to work in IT careers
• Bright Future: prepares girls for careers through mentoring and skills development
• Brown Girls Do Ballet: promotes diversity in the arts by providing annual scholarships, a mentor network, and community programs to empower young girls.
• Building Tomorrow: improves access to child-friendly, community-supported schools by providing an inclusive, quality education for underserved children in East Africa
• Days For Girls: is changing the status quo, through menstrual care solutions, health education, and income-generation opportunities. In some countries, girls are not allowed to attend school during their monthly period.
• Fatima Gebi: is an 18-year-old woman who hosts seminars and community workshops and tirelessly advocates for girls’ education
• Free Women Writers: Afghan women promote gender equality through encouraging women authors
• Girl Pride Circle: a Nigerian program that teaches self-defense to girls
• Lucy Sananai:  is a Maasai girl champion trained to speak up and advocate for the rights of the girls under the Girls Voices Initiative. She educates girls in Kaijado about their rights and the effects of FGM as well as advocates for the eradication of FGM in Kenya
• Remnant International: provides vocational training and holistic support to Congolese women who have been brought to Uganda as soldiers’ wives and then abandoned. See their video.
• Zenafri Limited: creates apps that use African themes to educate children about life situations.

The Girl Rising Creative Challenge was supported by HP. I applaud HP for helping to spread the word about these valuable programs.

Love to all,

Ron