Virginia Wangare Greiner receives international women’s award

Virginia Wangare Greiner, the founder of Maisha e. V., a psychosocial centre in Frankfurt, has been honoured with the prestigious Elisabeth Norgall International Award. She was bestowed with the honour recently by the International Women’s Club (IWC) of Frankfurt in recognition of her efforts concerning the needs and problems of women.

Ms Greiner, who is originally from Kenya, has been honoured by several organizations for her work with Maisha, which offers health counselling for African women and their families in collaboration with the Health Authority of the City of Frankfurt.

Virginia Greiner has been involved in the promotion of the rights of migrant women in various areas and organizations in Europe for many years. She is also one of the three directors of the German National Platform of MigrantWomen (DaMigra) and is currently the Chair and speaker of INTEGRA (the national umbrella organisation that works primarily on FGM/FGC).

The social worker is the first African to receive the German  Federal Order of Merit and has been a member of the Integration Council of the Federal Government for many years.

The award, consisting of a medal and an amount of money, was presented to Ms Greiner during a festive event on 8 March as part of activities of the IWC marking the International Women’s Day.

The IWC bestows the Elisabeth Norgall Award annually in memory of its founder after whom the prize is named. The award is designed to promote understanding among people of different nations as well as supporting and establishing the rights of women both internationally and nationally. Since 1978, the award alternates annually between a German and a foreigner.

Vivian Asamoah

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