Jack Dorsey’s #StartSmall Initiative Provides Transformative Grant to ZanaAfrica
New York - March 14, 2022
Today we are thrilled to announce that we have received a $750,000 grant from #StartSmall, Jack Dorsey’s philanthropic initiative.
This is one of the largest single gifts that we have ever received and will make a profound difference in the lives of those we serve, strengthening our ability to provide life-saving health and rights education, pads, and social and behavior change content to youth across Kenya.
This gift comes at a time of great need for our programs, as girls and women across Kenya have been disproportionately affected by the social and economic impacts of Covid-19, evidenced by staggering rates of sexual and gender-based violence, adolescent pregnancy, and transactional sex for commodities like sanitary pads.
#StartSmall’s investment will fuel the ongoing efforts of ZanaAfrica’s Uwezo initiative, an endeavor to scale ZanaAfrica’s proven intervention of pads + rights-based reproductive health education across Kenya over the next two years, through government and community partners.
With #StartSmall’s support this year we will:
● In collaboration with government stakeholders, develop and pilot a national school-based teacher training program, both online and in person, to scale our proven impact;
● Continue research into the barriers that teachers face when delivering sexual and reproductive health education;
● Deliver ongoing support to adolescents through our intervention of sanitary pads + rights based reproductive health education.
“#StartSmall’s investment in our work is a testament to the effective solution we have developed over the past 15 years by listening to and learning from girls as we co-create health and rights solutions that meet their needs. We are so grateful for this support and the impact it will help to achieve,” said Megan Mukuria, Founder of ZanaAfrica. This incredible gift, which builds up on previous support from our network of individual donors and institutional partners including the Gates Foundation and Grand Challenges Canada, will ensure that more girls are in the driver’s seat of their own lives—helping hundreds of thousands of adolescents to flourish and have more control over their bodies, their decisions, and their futures.”
We are so grateful to our community of supporters who have walked alongside us and supported ZanaAfrica’s efforts every step of the way. Today we celebrate and share this milestone with each of you. Thank you for all you have done and continue to enable our efforts and drive our impact forward. We look forward to continuing our partnership with each of you as we co-create the change we wish to see for girls in Kenya, and around the world.