The dormitory at the Kitenga School for Girls is $20,000 closer to being finished thanks to a fantastic grant award from the Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls Education. One of only two grants awarded, the funds will go directly towards the construction of the dormitory – an essential piece of infrastructure for a boarding school to open!
Here’s a link to the posting on the World Food Programme site:
http://usa.wfp.org/blog/catherine-bertini-fund-expanding-opportunities-girls-through-education
When Ms. Bertini was Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program, 1992-2002, she drove new levels of attention toward meeting the needs of women and girls. She has continued that legacy with her current contributions to the United State’s Feed the Future initiative. When she won the World Food Prize in 2003, she donated the prize -$250,000- to start a fund dedicated to supporting girls education.
This grant award is an incredible honor for us. Ms. Bertini grasps the power of work done well at the grassroots & community level. (Hopefully) opening next January to the first 100 girls, the school will eventually teach, support and house 1,500 girls. We are thankful to Ms. Bertini for helping us march towards raising the funds we need to open the school.