Actress and producer Hilary Swank will be a guest of the Life Ball on 25th May, 2013 and will present the Crystal of Hope Award donated by Swarovski to the project “The Girl Effect“ during the opening ceremony.
The Crystal of Hope Award has been established in 2005 in cooperation with Swarovski – and ever since, the presentation of an outstanding initiative in the response to HIV/AIDS has been the most emotional moment of each Life Ball opening. Ground workers who work in the front line to promote innovative ideas for AIDS research, to improve the lives of people affected or to oppose discrimination and stigmatization have been presented with the award for their special commitment.
At the Life Ball 2013, Hilary Swank will present representatives of “The Girl Effect“ – Lisa T.D. Nguyen from Cambodia, Patricia Suriel from the Dominican Republic, Sulaiman Turay from Cameroon and Sadie St. Denis from Uganda – with the award endowed with EUR 100,000 and sponsored by the company Swarovski.
The Girl Effect – against poverty & HIV in girls
The project focuses on leveraging the potential of adolescent girls to prevent them from becoming the victims of poverty and illness. If you invest in the economic potential of girls by educating them and if you prevent child marriage and teen pregnancy, problems related to HIV/AIDS can be solved and the cycle of poverty can be broken. All donations go into the “Girl Effect Fund”, which distributes the donations equally between 12 girl-focused projects each year that create the global Girl Effect.
For 2013, the Board of AIDS LIFE chose those four projects, which are linked to HIV and AIDS the most:
• One Project in Cambodia, which helps girls escape from sex slavery and provides them with therapy and education.
• A program for the support and training of 100 teenage mothers and for the reduction of sexually transmitted diseases – like AIDS – in Cameroon.
• The MARIPOSA Center for girls in the Dominican Republic, which promotes education and activity of the girls as well as prevention of HIV and AIDS.
• Workshops for girls in Uganda for the reduction of teenage pregnancy and for the health of mothers through information on HIV and AIDS.
Nadja Swarovski, member of the Executive Board, Swarovski Crystal Business: “Swarovski is delighted to help celebrate the 21st anniversary of Life Ball and to support The Girl Effect, a truly inspirational charity. We hope that the Award will enable The Girl Effect to continue its incredible work empowering girls around the world to change their lives for the better.”
Further information on www.thegirleffect.org
Source: http://www.lifeball.org/
