Today is International Women's Day. All this week Riders for Health website has been featuring the stories of some of the incredible women who are helping to improve access to health care across Africa.In many ways, I find it depressing that there is still a need for an International Women's Day at all. Its presence in the calendar highlights just how much remains to be done until we achieve equity in health, education, employment, security and access to justice.For me it has always seemed obvious that lasting developing in the countries where we work in Africa can only be achieved with the involvement of women. Their open attitude to learning and teaching encourages the development and transfer of skills that will help to build a practical approach to development.Women have a determination to build skills that can benefit their family, their community, their society. Across Africa, women are not waiting to be invited to help develop their countries; they are taking on that responsibility and grabbing opportunities with both hands.This is why women have always been at the heart of our programmes. The first woman we ever trained to ride in our first programme in Lesotho was only sent to the training session because Barry insisted he would only carry out the training if the group included women.That health worker was Mahali Hlasa, who not only went on to train other women how to ride; she is now country director for our Lesotho programme. Since Mahali was first trained, we have taught hundreds of other women to ride, giving them the skills they need to do their jobs.In The Gambia, Therese Drammeh has been leading the way in training young women to be vehicle technicians, giving young female apprentices the opportunity to enter a world that was previously considered the preserve of men. These women are now acting as role models for girls across The Gambia.We are determined that more women can receive the training that they need to become technicians. It costs just £1,100 to train an apprentice for one year, just £3.45 per day, money which will provide a skill that can be used forever.£3.45 - about the price of a sandwich - is enough to fund one day of an appentice's training. Click here to make a donation.I look forward to the day we can celebrate a day to mark the fact health care finally reaches every man, woman and child, wherever they live. But first, we must recognise the role women across the world are playing in developing their communities.Communication: Andrea Coleman co-founder and CEO of Riders for Health
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