International Women's Day

"Create safe spaces for women" | "Tell the girls and women that the sky is the limit" | "Speak our voice as women" | "To be a leader and a good example in my community" | "Express ourselves as women" | "Empower women in my community" | "Remove dependency syndrome" | "Stand firm and be confident as women" | "Bring women together to share untold stories" | "Become a force that can't be broken"

Happy International Women's Day! Above are just some of the hopes and intentions achieved by women on our Women Are Medicine cohort of workshops. As a women-led project with a team spread across three countries, we celebrate International Women's Day every day.

We are lucky enough to teach and support our wonderful participants, so many of whom are women, the skills necessary to plan and realise a sustainable community project. Many of these participants have created fantastic video proposals which address social inequality and sustainability in their communities, and we at Make It Grow wholly support their cause and implore you do too.

These grassroot projects are as important as ever, especially since the UN found that climate change affects women the most, demonstrating the stark intersection between climate change and gender inequality. Similarly, our own research found that women were disproportionately filling unpaid caregiving roles and had less access to the internet than their male counterparts, trends which were only exacerbated with the Covid-19 pandemic. It is therefore incredible to see our own participants challenge these norms and gender inequalities in their communities.

Our Women are Medicine series of women-only workshops was designed to empower women in Zimbabwe by teaching them digital skills, paving the way for the digital revolution which is not possible if the current gender digital divide continues. Participants of these workshops collaborated and worked to develop their digital and leadership skills in a safe, empowering space.

In light of the continuous hard work of women all over the globe, but particularly in Zimbabwe where our project is based, let's make every day International Women's Day, and do our bit to ensure that the future for girls and women is bright, equal, safe and sustainable!