CHILDREN IN CROSSFIRE AND ECHIDNA GIVING LAUNCH NEW PARTNERSHIP FOR INNER-CITY GIRLS IN TANZANIA

We are thrilled to announce a hugely significant new partnership with Echidna Giving, through which we will support access to education for young girls growing up in Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Echidna Giving is a private funder whose mission is ‘to get more girls into better schools to live better lives’:

“Investing in girls pays dividends for us all: what she learns in school can transform her life, her family, her community, and her nation for generations to come. That’s why we’re committed to funding up to $700 million in the next forty years to bring quality, gender-responsive education to both girls and boys in lower-income countries. Because when all kids learn equally, our world becomes more equal, too.”

Their mission dovetails very well with our goal of maximising access to early years’ education for the most vulnerable children in Tanzania and Ethiopia.

Over the next three years, Echidna Giving will provide funding of $890,000 (around £663,000) to Children in Crossfire. In close collaboration with UVIWADA, the day care centre union in Dar es Salaam, we will invest this money in transforming day care provision in inner-city Dar es Salaam, ensuring a high-quality start in education.

Craig Ferla, Children in Crossfire’s Tanzania Country Director, said:

“We are deeply grateful to Echidna Giving for providing this vital funding and supporting our groundbreaking work in inner-city Dar es Salaam. Over recent years, we have been developing a new programme focused on transforming day care provision in some of the most impoverished communities in Tanzania. This grant from Echidna Giving will enable us to turbo charge change and deliver a life-changing difference for thousands more children.

“Working hand in glove with UVIWADA, the body that co-ordinates day care centres, we will help to build capacity, improve quality and give girls and boys the start in life and in education all children deserve. We are especially excited to be placing a very strong emphasis on supporting the most vulnerable children growing up with the greatest need.

“Over the coming years, Children in Crossfire, UVIWADA, Echidna Giving and other generous funders are determined to deliver a programme that positively impacts on a sector, on communities, on families and on children who may otherwise remain overlooked.”

Children in Crossfire Chief Executive, Richard Moore added:

“We are extremely grateful to Echidna Giving for their generous support – and for their faith in Children in Crossfire. This partnership underlines our credibility as leaders in the field of early childhood development in Tanzania and is a credit to our wonderful team there.

“We are building a highly innovative programme in Dar es Salaam which will empower us to reach many more vulnerable children – especially girls. By working in day care centres as well as schools, we are fulfilling our goal of helping as many vulnerable children as possible to fulfil their potential despite the injustices of poverty they face.”

We look forward to updating our supporters on this programme in the months and years ahead.