Ex-Miss World Nakakande’s foundation to keep girls in school

With the growing need to stem the rising incidence of girls dropping out of school, model, speaker and humanitarian, Oliver Nakakande, has launched a foundation whose aim is to identify and address the causes of such incidences.

Nakakande, winner of the 2019-2020 Miss World Uganda beauty pageant, says that the scope of the Oliver Nakakande Foundation also includes empowering teenage mothers who have dropped out of school as she believes strongly in second chances. According to her, getting teenage mothers to return to school is one of her driving forces as now, more than ever, Africa needs to come together to cultivate the power of education.

“Education, especially where the girl child is concerned is not something to be trivialised, that is why I am pooling resources to see that every Ugandan girl remains in school. One of the ways we do that is by ensuring that the issues that cause them to stay away from school are addressed. For instance, every month, there are girls who stay away from school for days due to their menstrual period. By providing sanitary pads for them, we would have curtailed that,” she said.

Speaking further, she notes that though the foundation is targetting girls from Uganda at the moment, there are plans to increase the scope of its operations and make it a continent-wide affair.

“In addition to focusing on health and development of the girl child, it is important to note that keeping girls in school is important not just for them but also for their communities and countries. When girls stay in school, they are less likely to get HIV and STDs and unwanted teenage pregnancies because of the awareness. Education helps them cultivate a healthy environment where they can create job opportunities from the skills they learn. This is in line with the global notion that when you educate a girl and you change the world.”

Launched in February 2022, the Oliver Nakakande Foundation not only focuses on the health and development of the girl child but also seeks to cultivate the power of education in raising a generation of female leaders.

Oliver Nakakande emerged Miss World Uganda in the year 2019 but her reign was extended to 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. She is active on the international stage as a fashion model, speaker, humanitarian and volunteer. Oliver was born in Kampala, Uganda. Oliver is passionate about empowering teenage mothers who have dropped out of school and is an advocate for second chances. She represented her country Uganda at the 69th Miss World and became Miss World Magazine CoverGirl and Fourth Runner Up Miss World Top Model.