The director of the gender equality program of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, Visha Ferrer, stressed on Thursday that “the true empowerment of women” is “having access to education and turning dreams into reality.” “But having access to education does not only mean physical access. Having access to education means first changing the mentality of parents so that they value the education of girls“, he reflected, while emphasizing that “it has been a difficult job for the Foundation for more than 30 years.” “Today, I can say that the education of girls is no longer questioned because it is considered a right and a duty,” he celebrated.
Ferrer received an honorary doctorate from the University of Burgos (UBU) in a solemn academic ceremony held in the Auditorium of the University of Burgos. This appointment was made at the proposal of the Faculty of Education for “her work to achieve the empowerment of women or her fight to alleviate famine in India, mainly during the pandemicwhen a first lockdown was decreed which caused a mass exodus of the migrant population.
Visha Ferrer admitted that the news of the appointment took her “by surprise,” Ical said. “I am always pleasantly surprised”he added, saying he was “proud to see that the work being done in remote towns in southern India can reach this other part of the world.”
In his acceptance speech for the honoris causa award, Visha Ferrer said that “when I reflect on my life and work so far, I realize that it all started with a belief.” “Believe that a better, more equal world is possible. Believe firmly that the world is a place of infinite possibilities. Believe that each of us has the capacity to do good and be part of the change we wish to see,” he reflected.
For his part, Rector Manuel Pérez Mateos indicated that UBU “is committed and will always be committed to a rigorous education in terms of knowledge and training”, but clarified that “an education that is both critical, humanistic and social, committed to creating a more just, equitable and supportive world, because without it the future would be a chimera. “We will try to follow, even from afar, your example of perseverance, generosity and commitment as a source of inspiration for all of us,” he stressed, addressing Ferrer.
Life
Visha Ferrer was born in a village in southern India, in a community where the patriarchal structure, dominant throughout the country, was deeply rooted. He had to face many obstacles to receiving an education and also to be able to marry the man she had chosen, the director of global programs of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, Moncho Ferrer.
RDT (Rural Development Trust), the local counterpart in India of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, has been developing programs since 1982 aimed at eradicating discrimination affecting women and girls.
The projects it manages have demonstrated their effectiveness in increasing the socio-economic level of women, promoting their access to education, protecting their integrity against gender-based violence and making them drivers of change and social transformation.
This recognition also aims to highlight the work of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, an organization that has reduced extreme poverty for more than 3 million people in southern India and has made the achievement of the goals set by the UN 2030 Agenda a reality, in which UBU, as representative of the sustainable development sector at the Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities, is strongly committed.
