Women’s Empowerment

Building skills and entrepreneurship
There are few better ways to enhance a girl’s
opportunity to thrive in life than to provide her
with a good education. However, many girls in
poorer emerging markets communities enter
adulthood without even the most basic literacy
and numeracy skills. Even more attend school
when young but drop out early in their academic
life: it is estimated that only around 1 in 100 girls
in rural India reaches the final year of school.
Women who have received some form of
education up to secondary school level benefit
from higher incomes (on average up to 20%
more throughout their lifetimes) than girls
without schooling. They also tend to have
better health outcomes. Many parents across
all cultures and demographics recognise the
benefits of an education for girls as well as boys
and do all they can to equip their children with
the skills needed to become economically
active in the modern world.
However, even with supportive and willing
parents, access to education beyond basic
primary teaching is very difficult for many
children in low- and middle-income countries.
Schools can be remote or expensive and
teaching resources scarce.
Mobile can increase access to quality education,
especially for people in remote areas. The
Vodafone Foundation is a global pioneer in
developing innovative digital teaching and
remote learning technologies for deployment
among some of the most isolated and vulnerable
social groups in emerging markets including
refugees in camps in Sub-Saharan Africa. The
Foundation is championing the education of
refugees, targeting a potential three million
young people in refugee camps across the
countries in which we operate by 2020.
“All girls are entitled to an opinion,
your voice matters in society.”
Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
and Malala Fund co-founder
Connecting refugees with education in Kenya
Connecting refugees with education in Kenya
Children in refugee camps are being given
an opportunity to learn through a series of
innovative Leadership Lessons run by the
Vodafone Foundation.
A series of inspirational speakers share their
experience, thoughts and stories via live video
links over Vodafone’s networks – and using
our Instant Network technology – directly
into the camp’s school. In March 2015, Nobel
Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai used her
lesson to share her life story and emphasise
the importance of education when she spoke
to young people in Dadaab, Kenya, the largest
refugee camp in the world. They in turn asked
questions and shared their aspirations, which
included becoming magistrates, lawyers
and doctors.
Other speakers have included business leaders
such as the Coca-Cola Company Chairman and
CEO Muhtar Kent, Huawei Chairwoman Sun
Yafang and Vodafone Group Chief Executive
Vittorio Colao. The Leadership Lessons are part of
the Vodafone Foundation and the United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Instant Network Schools programme which
provides tablet-based teaching in schools in
refugee camps.
The Vodafone Foundation’s focus on reaching
up to three million young people in refugee
camps, in countries where we operate, by 2020
is part of our commitment to the UN Women
HeForShe programme. Using our technology and
our networks, we are overcoming the confines
of a traditional classroom by giving students the
chance to engage directly with inspiring leaders
and experts around the world.
Women’s Empowerment | Vodafone Group Plc Sustainable Business Report 2015 -16 13