"If we are going to see real development in the world then our best investment is women” Desmond Tutu

Today is International Women's Day, a day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women and to pledge to continue to do everything we can to close the gender gap. 
Our world is made up of men and women, girls and boys and both have equally important roles to play in making society a safe, productive, enriching place to live in.  Where women and girls are left out of society, where they don’t have the same opportunities as boys and men, where they are not nurtured and protected those societies are less stable, less secure and problems follow. 
In Kenyan homes, the role of women is central to all of the housekeeping and family rearing tasks.  This is the tradition within the Kenyan culture and is a model that is familiar to households all over the world.  Society is made up of families and it follows that the more secure a family is the more secure a society will be.

Supporting Women in Londiani

Friends of Londiani's work is about people – connecting people to people within local communities, between local communities and between Kenya and overseas – together we are all helping to create better futures in Londiani and surrounding villages.
Londiani is a remote, rural area where it is a common occurrence for a mother to lose her life in child birth and for babies to die within their first two years of life.   It is an area where less than 50% of the population have access to a clean, safe source of water – this leads to girls and women spending a lot of time collecting water from sources further from their homes.  Cooking is done over open fires and wood is the most common source of fuel – collecting wood is another task for girls and women to accomplish as part of their daily routines.
FOL has been working with people in these communities since 2002 to improve access to health, education and water and to support a climate of economic empowerment that will create lasting, sustainable changes to their lives.
We acknowledge the vital role that women play in the villages that we work in and how stronger women will build stronger communities.  The programmes that we have developed put in place interventions to protect girls and women during key moments in their lives from birth through to adulthood. These include:

• Improved maternal health
• New born health care
• Healthy Schools
• Education Bursaries
• Alternative Rite of Passage to end FGM
• The role of girls and women in family life
• Lifeskills peer education courses
• Economic empowerment

International Women’s Day provides an opportunity to highlight how supporting girls and women is central to developing strong communities and why this is so important.
Please share our new infographic showing how stronger women help build stronger communities.
You can find out more about how we're working to support communities here>>