Economic Empowerment of Africa’s Next Generation of Women

WIBF and KPMG are delighted to host a panel discussion on the impact of educating girls in Africa, the importance of building entrepreneurship skills and access to micro-finance, and the role we can play in addressing these social issues.

Claer Barrett, Personal Finance Editor at the Financial Times and editor of @ftmoney, will chair the discussion and invite speakers Dr Rachel Linn and Olivia Hills from PEAS (a charity and rapidly growing, multi-award winning secondary school network) and Minaho Shiraishi, Partner at KPMG, to share their thoughts on the importance and impact of educating girls in developing countries, and the interventions that PEAS has implemented in their schools, that not only enable girls to enrol and stay in school, but to flourish.

About PEAS

Twenty million children in Africa do not have the opportunity to go to secondary school, and yet education is the most powerful route out of poverty and is essential to building the foundations for successful societies.

PEAS is delivering a life-changing education to over 16,000 children (52% of whom are girls) across 30 schools in Uganda and Zambia. They have landmark public private partnerships with the Ugandan and Zambian Governments, which allows PEAS’ schools to meet their own running costs, guaranteeing their long-term future and ending reliance on foreign aid.

About the speakers

Dr Rachel Linn is a specialist in impact assessment. She has a PhD in International Politics and has worked in developing country contexts across Africa and the Middle East. Rachel leads PEAS’ monitoring and evaluation team, which looks after data and evidence across the organisation along with commissioning external research.

Olivia Hills is the Head of Education at PEAS. She oversees the design and delivery of PEAS’ education programmes in Uganda and Zambia, and supports PEAS’ government advocacy work. Olivia is a Teach First ambassador and a qualified Advanced Skills Teacher.6 pm