BETTY MAKONI RECEIVES BEFFTA HUMANITARIAN AWARD

BETTY MAKONI RECEIVES BEFFTA HUMANITARIAN AWARD

BEFFTA awards UK team are please to honour CNN Hero and philanthropist Betty Makoni with a special honorary award; BEFFTA HUMANITARIAN AWARD. Betty Makoni`s experiences shaped her to be the advocate and champion for girls rights she is today. Orphaned at age 9, she grew up as one of the most poorest and marginalised African girls in the early 1980s and the education she attained up to degree level was through the Work For Your Education program where she became a child labourer at a middle girls` catholic school in Zimbabwe and it is this experience that shaped her to be the humanitarian she is today. In 1998 she founded the Girl Child Network in her home country and gave her time fundraising in order to build Girls Empowerment Villages that rehabilitated over 70 000 girls sexually abused. Realising what she had done to empower herself as a poor girl , she went back into the poorest areas of Zimbabwe with a leadership and mentorship program that inspired, motivated and empowered over 350 000 girls in school based clubs. Today Girl Child Network is a model replicated in six African countries with her volunteer time to train, nurture and support many leaders. Even though many associate Betty Makoni with formation of Girl Child Network only, she has many organisations she formed like Ray of Hope in Zimbabwe which supports survivors of domestic violence at grassroots level. Her life was spent volunteering to shape policies and strategies of other big organisations like Oxfam Novib, UNAIDS and currently she is dedicated to supporting the work of Restored UK as a Trustee to ensure there is a strong global alliance to stop violence against women. Girls round the world have expressed gratitude to Muzvare Betty Makoni as they passionately call her by writing her story and making it a life donation that has inspired and empowered many girls round the world. One of her girls she admires the most Memory Bandera set up Girl Child Network Uganda where she helps many girls.

For all her hard and passionate work she has been featured by major television stations and global newspapers like Metro UK just recently as Woman of Courage, CNN, BBC, Huffington Post, Channel Five UK, New York Times, Marie Claire, Voice of America, The South African to name but a few. The world has responded by documenting the success of her work and the many beneficiaries whose lives were saved or transformed. CNN, Dalai Lama, World Children`s Prize and My Hero`s Project awarded Betty Makoni as a hero. Zimbabwe Institute of Management awarded their first national contribution to Betty Makoni. Her tribe where she is a royal officially conferred the Title Muzvare- Her Royal Highness The Princess to Betty Makoni for saving girls lives. To her name are 34 global awards from the most Prestigious organisations in the world making her the most awarded African women where with the Decade Global Child Rights hero she became one of the honorary winners alongside President Nelson Mandela. Despite the challenges, persecutions and trials and tribulations, Betty Makoni has not stopped her humanitarian work to rescue and protect the most vulnerable women and children wherever she sees them suffering. She has become the spokesperson and advocate of the voiceless. She recently published her second book entitled Never again, not to any woman or girl again and has gone to inspire and speak to many women round the globe on the need to strengthen their work and build sustainable income at grass-root level to support whatever innovative strategies that alleviate poverty and violence. Her efforts are focused in creating the Girls Empowerment and Education Fund to be managed by Girl Child Network Worldwide ensuring marginalised girls in Africa get support for their projects without bureaucracy and delays leading to loss of lives and human potential. She is developing her career as a gender based violence expert hence recently she was selected to be part of the Team of experts to work on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict an initiative by Foreign office. She says that for her life she will work to save the most vulnerable and powerless women and girls and those invisible.

On bestowing this special honour to a special woman, Pauline Long who is BEFFTA founder said, “this is a fitting tribute to a special woman who has dedicated her entire life to being a voice for abused women and girls, we are pleased to honour Betty Makoni.”

Betty will pick up the BEFFTA HUMANITARIAN AWARD on 25th October at the grand BEFFTA UK  AWARDS celebration at Hippodrome, Golders Green in the presence of an international audience. Previous recipients of BEFFTA special honorary awards include the legendary broadcaster Sir Trevor McDonald OBE, Nollywood superstar Omotola Jalade Ekeinde, international designer Adebayo Jones and many more.