Celebrating African Motherhood - Amref

ITALY NETHERLANDS
Many people in developing countries have a profound and daily experience
of poverty but lack access to information and an avenue to address social
injustice. Millennium News, a news documentary project made with the
support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Aff airs, Municipality of Milan
and Water Right Foundation, seeks to close that gap by explaining the
problems of those who are living in poverty.
Eighty boys and girls from the slums of Nairobi – between eight and 20
years old – all involved in AMREF’s Children in Need Project for rehabilitation
of street children, produced a newspaper and eight episodes of ‘street
news’ about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The children
become street journalists and talk openly and spontaneously about the
harsh realities they face every day. They talk about the drugs, violence and
loneliness that fi ll their young lives, but also about the dreams, thoughts
and creative solutions to their problems.
RAI Tre – the third largest national television channel – broadcast the
eight ‘street news’ in a programme for young viewers. Eight electronic
newsletters on AMREF’s activities and the MDGs have been sent out
by e-mail, while the Millennium News documentaries will be shown
in Italian secondary schools. The schools that join AMREF’s Millennium
News campaign will receive a free dvd of the street news, the newspaper
and several teaching units to help them analyse the topics discussed in
Millennium News.
In spite of the economic crisis, 2009 proved to be a successful fundraising
year for AMREF in the Netherlands. The National Postcode Lottery was once
again one of AMREF’s main donors, with a donation of one million Euros.
The Lottery has been a constant and long-term supporter of our activities.
AMREF entered into a long-term partnership with VvAA, the leading Dutch
fi nancial service provider for health care professionals. VvAA will give funds
as well as management and health care expertise to AMREF. QNH, a market
leader in business integration in the Netherlands, committed to a threeyear
partnership with AMREF. QNH will fi nance part of the AMREF Virtual
Nursing School through a salary donation programme.
As for private fundraising, AMREF in the Netherlands registered our
35,680th donor in 2009, a 4.2 per cent increase from 2008. The Dutch
public’s willingness to contribute to development organisations appears
to be stable, even as the country experiences the consequences of the
fi nancial crisis.
In 2009, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Aff airs again contributed to AMREF’s
programme for Reproductive Health among Nomadic Youth in Kenya,
Ethiopia and Tanzania. The programme was launched in 2007 and runs up
to 2011. Total funding for this period is Euro 7,991,402.
In March and April, Mapenzi Tamu, the performance about love in a time
of HIV by children from the Dagoretti Children in Need project successfully
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