WARREN, New Jersey — Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, announced the birth of their daughter, Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, on June 6, However, in lieu of gifts, the couple asked for charity donations to multiple organizations. Two of these organizations are CAMFED and the Myna Mahila Foundation. These organizations focus on girls’ education and providing health services to women, respectively. They can be found on the couple’s website, Archewell. These specific organizations uplift women in order to honor the birth of their first daughter.
Archewell’s Charity as an Organization
Archewell’s charity goes beyond the few organizations that the couple listed in their birth announcement. Archewell has three different ventures: Archewell Foundation, Archewell Production and Archewell Audio. The Archewell Foundation focuses more on global issues working to “uplift and unite communities.” Archewell lists four different projects as part of their charity. Three of them benefit organizations within the United States, focusing on technology and mental health. The fourth project will contribute to reducing hunger.
Archewell Foundation’s charity venture, the World Central Kitchen, is a partnership with Chef Jose Andres to build four Community Relief Centers in locations most impacted by hunger. The locations include Dominica and Puerto Rico. These centers will be service kitchens during emergencies. During non-emergency times, the centers can function as schools, gathering areas and clinics.
About CAMFED
In addition to the charity work that Archewell Foundation provides on its own to end global poverty, the couple also included charity donations to CAMFED in the birth announcement for Lilibet Diana. Since 1993, CAMFED has worked to put girls in school across sub-Saharan Africa. Its philosophy is that helping more girls go to school will reduce child and maternal mortality rates and help lift people out of poverty.
“CAMFED supports girls in 6,787 government partner schools across 163 districts.” The organization also helps lead girls from school to successful adulthood through its “peer support and leadership network” known as the CAMFED Association. To date, CAMFED has helped “4.8 million children” go to school across Africa, including “Zimbabwe, Ghana, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia.”
About the Myna Mahila Foundation
Along with CAMFED, the Duke and Duchess asked for donations to the Myna Mahila Foundation, which provides health services and job opportunities for women living in global poverty in India. Since 2015, the foundation has employed women to manufacture and sell sanitary pads, This has provided women with the chance to work and have access to hygienic menstrual products.
The foundation also teaches women how to sew and make bags to sell on its website as well as provides daycare for the women’s children. The foundation employed more than six million women. It is currently collecting donations to support mobile clinics in India to alleviate the effects of COVID-19. So far, the foundation’s COVID-19 relief has reached more than 84,000 people.
The Archewell Foundation’s work includes the initiatives the foundations itself created as well as uplifting other organizations. The Myna Mahila Foundation and CAMFED are just two women-focused organizations that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have brought attention to in honor of the birth of their daughter.
– Sana Mamtaney
Photo: Flickr