A new path for a former child soldier

Florence Akidi was abducted as a child. After her release, she joined a program aimed at former child soldiers, which enabled her to deal with her traumas. Eventually, she became the female leader of her village community.

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Girls are changing the world – happy girls’ day!

International Girls’ Day, on 11th of October, aims to support girls: to remind them of their rights and to create opportunities for them to live without discrimination and violence. We work every day to make girls’ rights to education, health and safety a reality.

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Jane escaped female genital mutilation and now she helps women to raise their voice

When Jane Naikumi was nine years old, she fled from her remote home village in Kenya. She was to undergo female genital mutilation. The procedure would make her eligible for marriage. Jane explains: “This is a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. Even though only a child, the right to be a child is taken away. Your parents will no longer look after you.” Jane ran away to another village.

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Temppeli vuoristossa Bhutanissa.

Why on earth would you go back there?

I was asked this question by a new acquaintance in Bangkok when I told them about the soon expected quarantines restrictions in Bhutan. The question kept haunting me: Why voluntarily go into the midst of Bhutan’s corona restrictions when life in Finland would be much easier?

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Back to school? – When school doesn’t start after the restrictions

The global education crisis has deepened due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As many as 1.5 billion children have been out of school during the pandemic. Long-time school closures have caused a setback on education. 50 million children are at risk of dropping out of school permanently. UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 is to guarantee universal, equal, and high-quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. How do we reach our goal despite the challenges? Answers were sought together in the Fida, Church Aid, Save the Children, and Plan webinar, Back to School?

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