20/11/2025

Ahead of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, Milan hosted the third edition of EmpowHER on 19 November at Fondazione Riccardo Catella. The event was promoted by Amref Health Africa. It was an intense and well-attended evening, designed to celebrate voices, projects and choices that are already changing the future, starting from Africa, and to tell the story of an alliance between those who give trust and those who transform it into change. At the heart of the initiative is the EmpowHER Fund, which was created thanks to the EmpowHER Alliance, a group of passionate and ambitious women who joined forces and stood alongside Amref to bring about real change in Africa and Italy in the field of women’s empowerment.

In 2025 alone, thanks to the projects supported by the EmpowHER Fund, Amref was able to strengthen nutrition prevention and maternal and child health programmes, reaching more than 140,000 people; promote education and training for over 11,000 young people and 100 teachers, with new classrooms, laboratories and 90 scholarships awarded; and take action on climate change through a One Health approach involving 300,000 people and 80,000 animals.

The founders — including Lara Ponti, Renata Gorgani, Nicoletta Luppi, Chiara Rota, Beatrice Beleggia, Maria Teresa Minotti, Silvia Negri Firman, Maria Elena Viola and Valeria Panini — have created an alliance that brings together passion and vision, with the goal of raising €600,000 by 2026 to multiply opportunities, health and freedom for thousands of women and girls.

Alongside the founders, the EmpowHER Fund can count on the major donors and philanthropists who support it every day, including Fondazione Cariplo, Fondazione di Comunità Milano, Fondazione AEM Gruppo A2A, MSD, Il Castoro, Pianegonda, Knitting Innovation, Main Solution Energie Rinnovabili, Brightstar, ROL, PayPal and Rotary Club Roma Polis.

For the 2025–2026 two-year period, the Fund will focus resources in Africa and Italy, with targeted interventions in three areas: women’s health, through prevention programmes and access to healthcare services; education and training, with scholarships and professional pathways for young people and vulnerable women; and climate change and access to clean water, with projects that ensure resilience and sustainability for the most affected communities.

After the institutional greetings by Paola Crestani (President of Amref Italia) and Kelly Russell Catella (General Manager of Fondazione Riccardo Catella), an inspiring and collaborative dialogue began.

The evening also featured entrepreneurs, leaders and supporters such as Renata Gorgani, CEO and Editorial Director of Editrice Il Castoro; Stefano D’Avanzo, President of Double Bridge; Silvia Negri Firman, founder and Creative Director of Negri Firman PR & Communication; Claudia Filippi, supporter of Amref Italia; Filippo Scianna, President of the Italian Buddhist Union; Valeria Panini, entrepreneur and President of AIDDA Piemonte and Valle d’Aosta; Elena Giordano, philanthropist and Managing Director of AlTi Tiedemann Global Lugano; Simonetta De Padova Panini, supporter of Amref; Maria Elena Viola, Editor-in-Chief of Donna Moderna; Mehret Tewolde, VP of Le Réseau and CEO of Italia Africa Business Week; Patrizia Farina of the University of Milano-Bicocca; and Eva Sacchi, Ipsos researcher.

The evening was enriched by special messages from Fiorella Mannoia and Alessio Boni, and by a live performance by Awa Fall.

With more than 450,000 lives already reached by Amref’s projects, EmpowHER continues to be a moment that places the value of connections and collective courage at the centre. Investing in women is not only a commitment: it is the concrete choice to shape the future.