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One in four young people in Africa (approximately 72 million) are not in formal education, employment or training, and 60% of that number are women and girls(opens in new window). There are many reasons why women and girls are disproportionately affected:
Poverty, leading to the prioritisation of boys’ education(opens in new window).
Cultural norms around early marriage and pregnancy – leading to girls dropping out of education. Every year, 12 million girls are married before they turn 18(opens in new window).
Unpaid care work limiting their opportunities -, 28% of women outside the labour force in Africa, cite care responsibilities as their reason for non-participation(opens in new window), compared with only 3% of men.
In an effort to support more women and girls to access education, training or employability programmes, and to contribute to our Gender Justice funding focus; Comic Relief has joined the Sport for Education and Sustainable Livelihoods in Africa program (SESLA) initiative alongside Laureus Sport for Good, the International Olympic Committee - IOC, Agence Française de Développement (AFD), and key African sport and social development institutions.
Launched in January 2024, SESLA is providing grant funding, training, peer learning opportunities and research, with the aim of leveraging the power of sport to enable young people to access education, training or employability programmes. Comic Relief is contributing to the programme, to increase the impact and to enable it to reach more women and girls.
Image credit – Laureus
