W4’s work was featured in an article by Anne-Marie Rocco (in the French economic magazine Challenges), following a speech in which W4 Founder Lindsey Nefesh-Clarke shared her experiences and insights after more than 10 years in the field of humanitarian work.
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Lindsey gave her speech on April 8, 2015 at a Paris conference co-organized by the Amanjaya Foundation and W4’s field partner Passerelles Numériques.
The conference focused on education and vocational training as powerful vehicles of social change and improvement in living standards in some of the world’s poorest communities.
Lindsey was keen to convey her conviction—a profound belief, which inspired her to create W4—that investing in girls’ and women’s potential is one of the most effective keys to development.
With deep emotion, she described her experience in the Philippines, where she worked with a large community of families living in the cemetery of Carreta, in the city of Cebu: “In these communities (…) there was nothing: no water, no electricity, no sanitation. We created a children’s drop-in center next to the cemetery, providing basic necessities and services. Girls owned nothing other than the clothes we were giving them. And yet, despite the difficulties, I witnessed their wonderful achievements at school and at university. Not only do these girls succeed brilliantly at their professional integration, but they also use their newfound income to finance the education of their brothers and sisters, creating a virtuous cycle of improved well-being. This is what we call the Girl Effect.”
W4 is dedicated to the empowerment of girls and women around the world. We work to increase the impact of the Girl Effect by helping to finance innovative local initiatives, sensitively and practically coordinated by individuals from the communities in need.
Click here to learn about our projects around the world and make your own contribution to the Girl Effect!
