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Back to Literacy & Girls' Education

Girls' Education

When Girls Stay in School, Life Improves...for Everyone

Whether or not a girl stays in school has an astounding effect on not only her quality of life, but on her future family’s as well. For a girl in one the most underserved parts of the world, staying in school longer means she is more likely to build a smaller and healthier family, lower her probability of contracting HIV, and earn a higher wage. She is also more likely to marry later and educate her own children — ending the cycle of illiteracy in one generation.

Yet, girls lag behind boys in their completion of secondary school. In the last decade, the world has made significant gains in primary school enrollment but girls in low income countries still drop out at an alarming rate. Out of the 124 million children and young adolescents who are out of school, 52 percent are girls. Girls face serious barriers such as cultural bias and lack of safety. And these challenges can compound as girls transition into secondary school; they include increased school costs, the need to contribute to family income, and pressures to marry and begin a family. Thus, our program includes four core components — life skills, mentors, material support, and community engagement, which we implement based on local conditions, individual need and grade level.

Negotiating a Better Future Through Life Skills

Girls need life skills. Thinking critically, empathizing and relying on themselves help them meet day-to-day challenges and make informed decisions. When girls learn these skills and how to use them daily, they become better equipped to handle the challenges they may face, from gender bias to finding time to study. We help girls to discover their own strength, advocate for themselves, and create a new and different path from the one that might be forced upon them. Our program enables girls to learn and practice life skills through classes, workshops and extracurricular activities.

Rehema's Big Dream: President of Tanzania.

A Role Model to Cheer Girls in Good Times and Bad

Our local mentors, who we call social mobilizers, act as role models, advisors and advocates for girls in our program. In addition to serving as examples of educated, strong women in the community, they support girls emotionally and guide them through both individual and group mentoring sessions.

A Schoolgirl Tells Her Story a Year After the Nepal Earthquake

Offsetting School Costs

The cost of a school uniform or safe transportation often prohibits families from sending their daughters to school. That’s why we provide need-based material support for school costs such as tuition fees, uniforms, bus fare/bicycles and exam preparation services. This way, parents don’t have to choose between putting food on the table and educating their children.

Moved By Her Mother's Hardships, Nirupa Made it to College

Engaging the Family, School and Community

Our work with families, schools and communities aims to create environments that support girls’ success in school and beyond. To engage these stakeholders, we hold workshops and community meetings where parents and caretakers can discuss the importance of sending all of their children — not just the boys — to school, and the challenges they face. Our program alumnae also participate, serving as valuable role models for younger girls, and often contributing as mentors and guest speakers.

Parent Engagement in Girls' Education in Tanzania

Sustaining and Scaling Girls' Education Programs

Create World Change With your support we can scale faster and transform communities across the globe. Together, we have the potential to reach 15 million children by 2020. Transformational Giving

We invest in girls’ education for long-term, systemic change. That means sustaining our programs for years, if not decades, and scaling them to a country’s need. To these ends, we focus on girls’ transitions into and through secondary school — that’s where the biggest and most permanent gaps in gender equality in education take place. We also collaborate with government officials at the local, regional and national levels to promote girl-friendly learning environments. These partnerships ensure that our program is complementary of national efforts, sustainable and nationally scalable.