ZIMBABWE: She Matters Enough
When 13-year-old Daisy asked if she would ever matter enough for someone to sponsor her education, Pretty Moyo heard the silent cry of countless girls across Africa. This is her urgent message about what happens when funding for women-led movements disappears, and what becomes possible when we invest in girls like Daisy.
“When aid to women-led movements is cut, progress doesn’t just slow; it reverses.”
"Sis, do you think that it's still possible for me to become a Software Engineer? Do you think I will ever matter enough for someone to sponsor my education? Do you think the world will accept me, value me, and respect my opinions if I finally become one?"
This is a flow of questions I was asked as I hugged the last one of the teenage girls I had just finished sharing a mentorship session with.
She looked at me with eyes full of uncertainty, curiosity, and fear as these questions flew continuously out of her mouth through her dry lips.
Her name is Daisy. She’s 13 years old, brilliant, and curious. She had listened intently throughout the session, sitting in the front row and absorbing every single word. That day, I was sharing with them the importance of education and the effects of child marriages and teenage pregnancies.
When the session ended, she lingered behind and asked the question that echoes in my heart to this day. As I hugged her even tighter before answering her questions, my mind repeated the part of the question that struck me the most: "Do you think I will ever matter enough to someone that they can decide to sponsor my education?"
In her eyes, I saw the fear of a future she did not choose. A future where she could be married off before her next birthday. A future where education is a dream, not a right.
At that moment, I realized Daisy's question is not hers alone. It is the silent cry of countless girls across Africa, and far too often the world answers them with silence.
The elders of their communities tell them they are too loud, too ambitious, too emotional, or that the world is too huge, and they are invisible.
Every year, promising programs collapse due to a lack of funding. Safe learning spaces shut down, scholarships disappear, and mentorship programs go dark. With every lost opportunity, another ambitious girl like Daisy slips through the cracks, not because she lacked potential but because the world lacked the will to fund her.
The truth is stark: when aid to women-led movements is cut, progress doesn't just slow, it reverses.
When the lifelines disappear, so do the safe spaces where GBV survivors speak for the first time. Mentorship programs like the one that I make sure I give to these young, brilliant girls in my community every now and then will fade into silence. When funding for girls' education dries up, the consequences are immediate and devastating.
A girl out of school is a girl at risk of child marriage, early pregnancy, or a lifetime of diminished potential.
The cost of silence is steep, and it's paid in lives, in lost potential, in dreams that never get to bloom.
But I have seen what happens when girls find their voices, and it's unstoppable! I have seen what happens when women-led movements are supported like the changemakers they are. I have seen women like Malala Yousafzai build peace in conflict zones with no funding but endless courage. I have seen teenage girls like our very own Zimbabwean girls' education activist Varaidzo (Vee) Kativhu go from victims to peer educators because someone believed in them. I have seen communities transformed not through grand speeches but through grassroots women's groups who refuse to give up.
However, even with all their determination and courage, they cannot do it alone.
There are still thousands of girls like Daisy in remote areas, places that remain invisible because there is no camera that goes there and no resources ever reach. Their dreams are just as valid. Their potential is just as powerful. Yet they are being left behind because they were born in the wrong postcode.
These are the girls who need the most, and yet they receive the least. How can we talk about equity if the most vulnerable are excluded by default?
Women rise daily to carry entire communities, but they are rarely trusted with the resources to lead the change they are already making.
Imagine if we funded women as we believed in them.
Imagine communities free from violence because prevention programs were fully funded.
Imagine a future where every girl finishes secondary school, where she knows her rights and owns her future. Where early marriage is the exception, not the norm. Where girls like Daisy never doubt the possibility of achieving their dreams as they see the way the world shows up for them.
This is not a far-off dream. It's within reach, but only if we act.
Support for women-led initiatives is not charity. It is an investment in lasting generational change. When we fund women, we're not just funding programs, we're funding power. We are shifting the narrative.
We can answer Daisy's questions with a resounding "YES," but only if we choose to act.
Fund women-led movements. Trust grassroots organizers who already understand their communities. Support girls’ education as a long-term investment in peace, equity and economic justice. Refuse to accept a world where a girl’s potential is determined by where she is born.
Governments must protect funding for girls’ education and gender-based violence prevention. Donors must prioritize women-led initiatives that are too often overlooked. And all of us: mentors, educators, advocates, must speak up when support for girls is treated as optional.
The time to fund boldly, to listen deeply, and to believe in the transformative power of women-led movements is now.
STORY AWARDS
This story was awarded as part of the #FundHerNow call for stories and a research project led by World Pulse’s Research and Evaluation Group (REG). They are supported in this effort by Jasmine R. Linabary, Ph.D. (University of Arizona), Meghana Rawat, Ph.D. (Utah Valley University), and Danielle Corple, Ph.D. (Wheaton College).