Empowering women through education

Women for Change has worked with Kakenya’s Dream since 2016 to provide tertiary scholarships to over 100 young Maasai women, including five studying in Australia. Dr Kakenya Ntaiya grew up in a village in the Maasai Mara where child marriage and FGM were the norm. She became the first Maasai woman from her village educated at a university in the United States — then returned home and built a school for girls that now supports thousands of students.

We support graduates of that school into tertiary study in Kenya and, for those with leadership aspirations, in Australia.

In 2023 we established a key-talent program with the SPRJ Kanyashala Trust, a Mumbai educational not-for-profit operating since 1924, supporting 20 young women. It funds subsidised tuition and stipends for competitive courses in IT, business, accounting and journalism — fields with clear career pathways.

Because internships are decisive in India, the program also arranges internship experience, plus mentoring (locally and by video link from Australia) on interviews, presentation and workplace confidence.

With Australian teacher Pat Price and the Karuna Private Educational Trust, we’re helping create a new college providing tertiary education to young women from across Nepal — with a particular focus on the Dalit caste group, who often struggle to access education. Heartland provides tuition, tutoring, pastoral care and career counselling on site.

Recognising that education alone isn’t enough, we’re also supporting a new centre for women’s physical and psychological health.

We partner with Teach Her, a nonprofit supporting vulnerable young women who have aged out of orphanages in India and Nepal. Without relatives or support to fall back on, without a marketable skill, and often without proper documents, these young women leave their institutions at 18 incredibly vulnerable. Together we work to give them education and a pathway to economic independence.

The Vikash Educational Charitable Trust (VECT) has worked in Odisha, India since 1993, supporting academically talented but economically disadvantaged students in a region where poverty rates far exceed national averages. Founded by former Indian Revenue Service official Sri Subhas Chandra Choudhury, VECT aims to bring transformational change to underprivileged families and communities through education.