I remember meeting with a Self Help Group in Rwanda. I had been interviewing the women for university research over the course of three years and it was coming to an end. So I ended my last meeting by telling them, ‘I promise that when i share your stories, I will not speak about your frailties and poverty. I will speak about your achievements and strength and courage’. At this they jumped to the feet to cheer and dance and celebrate.

I learned something from that moment. I learned that people want to be seen for who they are today not where they started, celebrated not pitied.

This is the commitment of the Foxglove Project.

To find the best in women and girls around the world that can change their circumstances and then help them to bring it to their personal world, their families and their communities.

When we do this, we practice the adage we all know to be true:

“Give a woman a fish and you feed her for a day; Teach a woman to fish and she feeds herself for a lifetime.”