Website helps donors invest in women and girls
Supporters can help establish a milk-banking system in South Africa, and other projects. Photo: Wendy Stone.
Our supporters now have a chance to contribute directly to selected projects to improve the health of women and children. A new website called Catapult (www.catapult.org) aims to harness financial and social support to tackle gender inequity and achieve basic human rights for women and girls. Catapult uses a concept called “crowdfunding,” which attempts to fund projects by attracting donations of any size from many people.
PATH is one of the first partners to participate in Catapult, which was designed and built by the global advocacy organization Women Deliver. Launched in October 2012, Catapult now has more than 30 partner organizations and features 74 different projects. The website has raised more than $US68,000 in donations so far.
Three PATH projects are highlighted on the Catapult website:
- Banking breast milk for babies. We are establishing a human milk-banking system in South Africa to safely collect and store donated breast milk for newborn babies whose mothers are HIV-positive and unable to breastfeed.
- Promoting “girl talk” among Burmese migrants in Thailand. Through group discussions, we’re connecting young migrant women in Bangkok with important reproductive health services.
- Supporting women and families facing tuberculosis (TB). In Vietnam, we’re training volunteers to educate TB patients and their families, especially female caregivers, on improving nutrition and adhering to treatment to enhance recovery and prevent illness.
We hope you will track and support our projects and others featured on Catapult—and invite your friends and families to do the same—to make a significant difference in the lives of girls and women.