30 years ago, the yacht Maiden gained acclaim as the first vessel to be sailed around the world by an all-female crew, led by Tracy Edwards MBE, in the Whitbread Round The World Race in 1989-90, paving the way for all women.

Now fully restored, Maiden will in 2018 embark on a new global journey to raise funds and campaign for girls’ education.

The Maiden Factor Foundation aims to empower and educate girls around the world by working with charities, including Just a Drop, that focus on the diverse barriers that prevent girls from unleashing their full potential.

To ensure the greatest impact, The Maiden Factor Foundation has teamed up with six charities in a collaborative bid to raise funds and campaign to ‘empower a girl, and change the world’ – uniting Just a Drop, Fields of Life, Orchid Project, Room to Read, The Girl’s Network and Why Comics?

In September 2018, Just a Drop joined our charity partners, Maiden's crew and TRHs' The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall, as guests of Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein – whose initiative ‘Anything is Possible’ supports Maiden’s restoration and global tour - on board Maiden before she embarks on her new journey.

Just a Drop is thrilled to be a partner of the Maiden Factor Foundation. Safe water changes everything. It improves health, education, women’s rights, leads to secure food sources, economic growth and brighter futures. It completely transforms lives, especially those of women and girls.

In Uganda, Just a Drop supports girls through our menstrual hygiene programme. We provide a supply of affordable sanitary pads to girls, and train health educators to deliver menstrual health education and hygiene training in schools and the community, to girls, boys, male and female teachers and their families. This raises awareness and breaks down taboos and discrimination against menstruating girls. Menstrual Hygiene Management enables girls to manage their menstrual cycle with dignity, which helps keep them in school, furthering their education and improving their life chances.

Maiden’s journey will help ensure that we can continue to deliver such life changing work – and help ensure that every girl has the support she needs to reach her full potential, because with that support, anything is possible.