Project Luangwa’s Gender Support Manager recently spoke at the important Climate Change Conference held in Poland where she highlighted the connection between education, gender and climate change.
Project Luangwa (PL) is a comparatively small NGO based right next to
South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. The area is beautiful and one of the best locations in Africa for seeing wildlife, but it can be a harsh place to live for the local people. There are few jobs and most families are subsistence farmers, but a whole year’s crops or a garden of vegetables can be destroyed overnight by a hungry elephant. Life is hard for women, particularly for those who have not had the chance of an education. Girls face issues of early marriage, abuse and early pregnancy - even in primary school. Poor families are more likely to educate a son rather than a daughter and girls who are able to go to school often miss around 25% of their lessons as they have no access to menstrual hygiene products. Unsurprisingly low self-esteem amongst girls is rife.
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