Like many young women, Mary came to Ghana's capital Accra in search of work, walking two hours from her village in the north with her infant son to spend the week selling water on the streets of the bustling city. Often she earned no more than £1.60 a day - just enough to buy a pint of milk and loaf of bread.

Every year, thousands of women and girls make the same journey south to Accra escaping the barren north which offers little more than a meagre living from subsistence farming, and a constrained life in a village, where early marriage is common.

Mary was lucky - she came into contact with Street Girls Aid, one of our partners, and joined one of the vocational training projects we deliver together.

Mary has now completed her training as a tailor. She has set up her own business, and has a market stall in the Railway slums of Accra She earns enough money to send her son to nursery while she works, and to send money home to her family.

Your donation is an investment in the skills and ambition of someone who just needs an opportunity. Mary is resourceful and entrepreneurial she wants to design clothes, set up her own shop, and take on an apprentice, but she needed an opportunity to get started, and this was made possible with your support.

As little as £5 will pay for a tailoring kit including needles and haberdashery items. £51 will pay for a complete start up kit, including a hand and electric sewing machine.

We want more people like Mary to learn a skill and change their lives but we need you to make it happen. Please, make a gift today.