The Amina Myrén Foundation (AMF) is a registered Non-Governmental Organization dedicated to being a voice for the African girl child and to raising a strong generation of women in East Africa.
To raise awareness on issues affecting girls’ education and create a safe and equal world for everyone
To empower girls through education and to fight poverty and inequalities in our world
We take a rights-based approach to women’s & girls’ education, focused on enabling women & girls to pursue their right to education
AMF is dedicated to empowering the girl child to get an education that will help pull them out of the poverty cycle and for women in local communities to engage in sustainable income generating activities to help lift households out of poverty.
AMF is committed to the goal of achieving the SDG target of universal primary and higher Education and to specifically keep more girls in school. We believe that education is the most powerful tool to achieve sustainable development across the globe. We are dedicated to building education facilities that provide safe and effective learning environments for all students and to provide mentorship programs that the young girls can draw inspiration from.
AMF’s call to action is to ensure that more women are empowered to grow to a point of influencing decision making and leadership in the work place, government and the community as a whole. Our aim is to fight inequalities, discrimination, and violence against women through our projects that touch on menstrual health, gender-based violence especially forced early marriages and anti-female genital mutilation. We believe that both males and females have a right to access sexual rights, reproductive health, education and technology.
Young girls and Women are disproportionately affected by the water crisis, as they are often responsible for collecting water. This takes time away from work, school and caring for family. The lack of water and sanitation locks women in a cycle of poverty. Lack of access to clean water in most parts of Kenya is a problem we are trying to solve using our projects to drill boreholes and to build a water supply system powered by renewable solar energy.
Our Founder, Ms. Fatima Mohamud Higander is a woman from Samburu, who grew up in a society marred by oppressive cultural practices such as female genital mutilation, forced child marriages and not giving value to education. However, her mother fiercely protected her from these societal evils and allowed her to access proper education that has afforded her a life she’s proud of. Looking back in retrospect, she can clearly see how education made a difference in her life compared to her peers who got sucked up into the broken system.
When her daughter Amina Myrén passed on in 2020 at the age of 26, her intention was to carry on her daughter’s legacy and to keep her spirit alive. That’s how we renamed from The International Women’s Organization to The Amina Myrén Foundation. The Foundation was born with an intention to continue making a change in Kenya using education and advocacy on issues affecting young women and girls such as menstrual health, poverty and Gender based violence (GBV).
Amina Myrén had a great talent and a strong passion for music. To honor that, the Foundation supports musically talented youth in Sweden through its stipendium of the Amina Myrén Young Artist Award. The Foundation also recognizes that there are talented youth in Kenya from low-income families who often lack the funding for private lessons, master classes, quality instruments and performance experiences to horn their skills. These musicians miss out on the creativity and stimulation that comes from being surrounded by an ensemble of talented peers sharing high music aspirations. And that’s why we are also extending this to the talented Kenyan youth.
In Kenya, we have mentorship programs to nurture young girls and connect them to good role models. We participate in numerous collaborations and advocacy campaigns supporting girls’ education and women’s rights. At AMF, we also work to raise awareness on issues affecting girls’ education and assist in efforts to encourage governments and policy makers to support education for all and to ensure a safe environment.
