Help Samusocial International buy a four-wheel drive vehicle to reach girls and young women living on the streets of Bamako, Mali.
Why we care: Girls and young women living on the streets are over-exposed to violence and often socially excluded from accessing many existing services.
How we’re solving this: Providing street-based health and social care to girls and young women.
In Bamako, a city of nearly 2 million inhabitants, Samusocial Mali operates an outreach team for street girls and young women. This team provides street-based health care, information, and prevention and counseling sessions, as well as refers and accompanies girls and young women through the existing continuum of services, especially in the field of sexual and reproductive healthcare.
Having a four-wheel drive vehicle will help us drive to some of the hardest to reach areas in Bamako and bring direct care and medical treatment to girls and young women living on the street.
The girls and young women Samusocial Mali serves are often dropped out of school or been forced to leave home because of early pregnancy. With few economic prospects, most girls and women living on the street are extremely vulnerable to contracting sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS and having unwanted pregnancies.
As a result of social exclusion and stigmatization, many have developed mistrust towards existing services. For example, Amy, an 18-year-old told Samusocial Mali, “We cannot confide to law enforcements agents when we are abused because often they abuse us. We are simply without protection. Where can we go for help? Even in health services they insult us like we are responsible for what happened to us […]. We are illegal, so they say.”
This situation is nowadays compounded by the ongoing conflict in Northern Mali which causes many displaced people to arrive in the streets of Bamako, traumatized by the violence of the conflict.
Samusocial International is supported by the Kering Foundation, which combats violence against women and promotes their empowerment. Launched in January 2009, the Foundation supports community-based projects and encourages employee involvement to sustain women’s causes around the world. Through four programmes, it supports local and international NGOs as well as social entrepreneurs, helps raise awareness and establishes joint projects with the Kering brands. In 2012, more than 80,000 women benefited from its support in 16 countries. *In line with PPR’s change of name, the PPR Corporate Foundation for Women’s Dignity and Rights will become the Kering Corporate Foundation, subject to approval at the Foundation’s board meeting on 26 June 2013. www.keringfoundation.org @KeringForWomen