Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

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Addressing the Global Prevalence of Femicide and Its Causes

Global Prevalence of Femicide
Femicide is defined as the killing of women. It has also been called gendercide and it is the most severe form of violence against women. The global prevalence of femicide is evident within all regions and cultures.

The Current Situation

Four of the five regions with the highest levels of femicide also have the highest rates of overall homicides, but in Eastern Europe and the Russian Federation, femicide rates are disproportionately high in respect to general homicide rates. In India, 8,093 cases of dowry femicide were reported in 2007. In China, female children are twice as likely to die in their first year of life compared to male children and the risk of death is three times higher for second born female children than first born.

Furthermore, in Guatemala, two women are murdered on average every single day. In Mexico, an estimated seven women were murdered every day in 2016. In South Africa, the rate of femicide for 2015 was 9.6 per 100,000 women, 4 times more than the global average that same year.

Cultures facilitate femicide through the normalization of violence against women. Dowry femicide, the murder of a woman by her in-laws over dowry-related conflicts, and honor killings, the murder of a woman by a member of her family for a behavioral transgression, can be considered “traditions” in the Middle East and South Asia. Intimate partner femicide is relabeled as a “crime of passion” in Latin America.

The pressure to desire male children for their dominant advantages over female children is a major cause of femicide in many nations. In societies such as China and India, girls are seen as burdens due to their inability to help support their families financially. The expense of dowries makes female infanticide a viable option for families seeking a more lucrative future.

Combatting the Global Prevalence of Femicide

Governments have a responsibility to protect women’s rights to life and liberty. By creating and enforcing laws that protect women from violence and discrimination, a precedent can be set and the complacency shown to the oppression of women can cease.

In Central America, femicide has been criminalized and prosecutors have been trained to take cases to trial. In Pakistan, sweeping new legislation has been passed to prevent the use of acid on attacks on women. Meanwhile, in Palestine, the first national strategy to combat violence against women in the Middle East was adopted with survivors of violence taking part in the legislation’s drafting. These are important positive steps toward legal recourse and representation in instances of femicide and violence against women.

Improving Female Representation in Government

As of June 2016, only 22.8 percent of all national parliamentarians were women, and as of June 2017, only two countries have 50 percent or more women in parliament. Room for women is slowly growing. 11 countries in Latin America and 13 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have applied for some form of gender quotas to open more space for women in governmental positions of power and influence.

Evidence has shown and continues to show that women’s leadership and inclusion in political decision-making processes improves governments. Female empowerment in government creates room for a discussion of many issues connected to gender equality and puts people with deep personal connections to these issues in positions with the power to fight the global prevalence of femicide.

The Causes of Femicide

Two of the largest risk factors for femicide and sexual violence are a lack of education and poverty which, in many cases, are intertwined afflictions. Education is a two-way street when seeking to end violence against women. It has been found that both men and women with higher levels of education are less likely to commit or experience violence.

By making education available to women, they have more opportunity for economic independence, are less likely to be forced into early marriage and learn skills that make them valuable members of society. In conjunction with educating women, educating men on the human rights of women can stunt the normalization of violence against women in the minds of young men and boys.

A perfect example of such an education can be seen in Nairobi, Kenya, where the nonprofit organization No Means No Worldwide implemented a program to prevent sexual assault on girls and women. The curriculum for males aimed to shift attitudes that lead to the acceptance of assault and rape of their female peers. Those male students in the experimental group who received the aforementioned curriculum were twice as likely as those in the control group to successfully halt instances of verbal harassment and physical or sexual violence against women.

Female empowerment and the re-education of both men and women to the equal rights of women and in culture and society are the keys to ending the abhorrent levels of violence against women and the global prevalence of femicide. Nina Simone once said, “I’ll tell you what freedom means to me. No fear.” Equal power and equal space are a route out from under the oppression of eternal fear, and released from that fear, women can find freedom.

– Carolina Sherwood Bigelow
Photo: Flickr

Girls’ Education in Angola Reaches New Heights

girls’ education in Angola
Young women in Angola are becoming more empowered than ever due to the nation’s efforts to increase child education. This rise in female independence and enfranchisement is also due to significant efforts to change the nation’s culture regarding gender roles.

Improvements in Girls’ Education in Angola

Primary education is free in nearly every African country, including Angola. This has caused a drastic increase in the number of children enrolled in school, with Angola having one of the highest improvement rates.

Particularly, the number of young girls enrolled in schools has soared to a number that more than doubles the total of 10 years ago. Between the years 2000 and 2011, there was an increase in girls’ education in Angola from 35 percent to 78 percent.

Additionally, the overall literacy rate for girls in Angola from the ages of 15 to 24 rose from 63 percent to 71 percent from 2001 to 2014. The primary school completion rate for girls in Angola has increased from 40 percent in 2011 to 54 percent in 2014.

Improving Gender Issues in Education

One of the ways in which girls’ education in Angola has been able to see such dramatic improvements is through the efforts of the nation to address gender issues in the classroom. This is also done by reaching out to those with authority and influence over families, who can thus help end restrictive ideas about women’s rights.

Since 2002, a total of 20,000 teachers in Angola have taken part in the “Back to School” campaign, a movement supported by UNICEF. This movement aims to train teachers in how to make their classrooms more sensitive to gender-based disparities. Teachers enroll in a five-year training program that educates them on the causes and solutions for inequalities in female versus male education rates.

One of the issues this movement faces is that oftentimes, when girls attend school, they will soon after drop out due to pressures from members of their communities. The traditional gender role for women in Angola is to be domestic wives and mothers and these pressures often prevent families from allowing their daughters to be educated.

It is common for parents to feel that educating their daughters is a waste of time and resources. There is a societal perspective that if a daughter’s fate is to marry, become a mother and run a household, why send her away to school when she could be learning domestic skills?

Changing the Role of Women

In order to change this perspective, Angolan teachers aim to mobilize those members of the community that parents trust, namely religious leaders and members of the traditional and various ethnic communities. By gaining the support of those that parents view as authority figures, the culture around girls’ education in Angola begins to shift from one of wastefulness to one of independence and progress.

The “Back to School” campaign, along with various independent advocacy efforts, work toward teaching young girls that there is no shame in breaking away from the gender roles that they have been taught to accept. Angolan teachers are shown how to make the classroom a place where young girls not only feel invited but encouraged to participate and learn.

Through the efforts of organizations and communities around the nation, young Angolan girls are no longer left with only one option for their lives and futures. Rather, they can become empowered to cultivate new, intellectual skills that will allow them to forge their own path in life based on their own personal choices.

– Theresa Marino
Photo: Flickr

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Breaking Down Cultural Barriers to Girls’ Education in Yemen

girls' education in Yemen
Located on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen is considered one of the least developed countries in the Middle East, according to the Human Development Index. While poverty and political turmoil are some of the key factors that contribute to this categorization, one of the major issues that hinder Yemen’s socioeconomic progress is a gender disparity in the education sector.

In the 2017 Global Gender Gap Report by the World Economic Forum, Yemen ranked 141st out of 144 countries in terms of gender disparity in educational attainment. The lack of economic participation, political representation, educational parity, healthcare access and liberty that demonstrate this gap can all be to a great extent traced to the condition of girls’ education in Yemen. There are several factors that influence girls’ education in Yemen, and they can be grouped into two main categories.

Economic and Political Factors in Yemen

Yemen has been suffering from political instability and civil wars since 2014, thus impacting an economy that is continuously shrinking. The collapse of the banking system, lack of employment, the depreciating value of the rial and inflation have led to an appalling economic situation in the country. Amid such economic uncertainty and poverty, most families are discouraged from sending their children, especially girls, to school. Some families also marry off their daughters early to alleviate the extra financial burden. This, in turn, leads to no education or extremely high dropout rates among female students. The other result of these economic and political factors that also affects girls’ education in Yemen is the scarcity of proper classrooms and educational infrastructure.

Sociocultural Factors Impact Girls’ Education

Conservative social and religious customs in Yemen discourage girls from attending mixed-gender classrooms or being taught by male teachers. Families generally prefer female teachers for their daughters. However, with 24 percent of the female population illiterate, it becomes challenging to find a female teaching staff. The shortage of female teachers in rural areas is much more pronounced than in urban areas. Therefore, it is not uncommon to find girls dropping out of school at the primary or secondary level.

Another important sociocultural factor that affects girls’ education in Yemen is underage marriage. The United Nations Population Fund has observed that the rate of child marriage in Yemen has risen from 52 percent of girls marrying under age 18 in 2016 to 66 percent in 2017. Patriarchal customs, child marriage and household chores prevent many girls from attending or completing school.

Despite these challenges to girls’ education in Yemen, significant attempts are being made by the Yemeni government and international bodies to educate more girls in Yemen and bridge the gender disparity in the education sector.

Ministry of Education Works to Improve Girls’ Education in Yemen

In 2007, the Yemeni government, with the aid of IDA (The World Bank’s Fund for the Poorest Countries), trained 550 female teachers, 525 of whom received certification. Other projects like the Basic Development Project for Yemen (2004-2012) attempted to increase enrollment of children in basic education and enhance the quality of teaching in schools.

From 2013 to 2017, the Second Basic Education Development Project for Yemen worked towards improving the quality of basic education and the enrollment rates of girl students in schools, while simultaneously assisting the Ministry of Education in carrying out educational improvements.

The provision for conditional cash transfers (or stipends) to disadvantaged families in certain governorates from 2004 to 2012 encouraged many families to send their daughters to school. At present, Yemen receives financial grants from the Global Partnership for Education to develop its basic education sector.

The IDA, in partnership with the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany, has funded the Basic and Secondary Education Development Project and the Girls Access Project. USAID has also been working in Yemen to create safe educational infrastructure for females students, renovating and refurbishing schools and helping the government improve teaching methods in primary schools.

The educational gender disparity in Yemen has not yet been resolved, but through consistent efforts in improving educational infrastructure and quality, female educational campaigns, increasing the number of female educators, lowering costs of education and providing stipends, Yemen can significantly improve its social, cultural and economic status and remove many of the barriers that prevent girls from getting an education.

 – Jayendrina Singha Ray
Photo: Flickr

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Pencils of Promise Addresses Illiteracy in Developing Nations

Illiteracy in Developing Nations
In poorer developing nations, 75 percent of children cannot read a single word of their native language. Illiteracy in developing nations stems from a lack of quality education, which can lead to familial economic instability, gender inequality and child mortality.

The Benefits of Addressing Illiteracy in Developing Nations

Addressing illiteracy in developing nations and increasing access to education can positively influence countries in many ways:

  • Economic Growth: Each year that a child remains in school increases their earning potential by 10 percent and raises their country’s GDP by 0.37 percent.
  • Gender Equality: Girls who attend school are less likely to be married before adulthood or be forced into marriage, fostering broader life choice and increased independence.
  • Child Mortality: It is projected that if all women were able to complete primary school, the under-five mortality rate could fall by 15 percent, preventing the deaths of almost one million children.

Equal Access to Education Can Equalize Opportunity

Pencils of Promise is a nonprofit organization whose focus is addressing illiteracy in the developing nations of Laos, Guatemala and Ghana. It achieves this goal by building schools, supporting local teachers and implementing health and hygiene programs to increase educational outcomes.

The organization started in 2008 with an initial deposit of $25, has since built 471 schools, supported 921 teachers and impacted 90,164 students as of June 2018. Varying educational indicators reveal rapid improvement as children ascend through grade school within the Pencils of Promise facilities.

By fifth and sixth grade, 54 percent of students are proficient in reading comprehension, which is used to assess independent readers. The data also shows amazing teacher commitment, at a rate of 87 percent compared with a global average of 70 percent.

Health is a huge factor in a child’s survival. Annually, clean drinking water could prevent the deaths of 860,000 children. Through Pencils of Promise’s WASH program, 97 percent of students in schools where the program has been implemented report clean drinking water.

The organization maintains close ties with the communities in which it works. Local community members contribute 20 percent of the resources and labor to every school built, and all of its country directors are from the country they are working in.

Pencils of Promise Partners with Companies to Broaden Its Impact

Pencils of Promise uses a for-profit business mentality to form lucrative partnerships with corporations such as Google, Dolce & Gabbana and Vogue. All administrative expenses are covered by corporate donations. All individual donations made online go solely to funding program services.

In the fall of 2017, Pencils of Promise partnered with the sweatshop-free clothing manufacturer American Apparel to create a capsule collection of t-shirts and hoodies emblazoned with the eye-catching phrase “Two hundred fifty million kids can’t read this”. The collection represents American Apparel’s commitment of $200,000 to fund the building of three schools in Guatemala, Laos and Ghana.

The mantra of Pencils of Promise is that everyone has promise. Addressing illiteracy in developing nations can provide millions of children with pathways out of poverty. Everyone gains from the progress that knowledge fosters.

Two hundred and fifty million kids can’t read this; where could we be if they could?

– Carolina Sherwood Bigelow
Photo: Flickr

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A Mobile Library in Kabul Brings the Joy of Learning to Afghan Youth

mobile library in Kabul
Using only a large bus, a young Oxford graduate has launched a mobile library in Kabul, Afghanistan, to bring the joys of reading and learning to children and adults alike. In a country where not everyone has the opportunity to go to school, this library is making a world of difference.

History of Instability Has Affected Children’s Education in Afghanistan

Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan, has a history of violence. The nation has been marked by unstable governments and other violent groups, many of which plan attacks in the city of Kabul. Parents tend to keep their children behind closed doors to keep them safe.

Afghanistan also has a very low literacy rate, with only 36 percent of the population being able to read, and among women, this figure drops to 17 percent. Between three and five million children in Afghanistan are estimated to miss school this year, 85 percent of whom are young girls.

Freshta Karim, a public policy master’s graduate from Oxford University, saw this as an opportunity to help children in Kabul begin to learn and have fun. Karim grew up as a refugee in Pakistan, then returned to Afghanistan in 2002 after the fall of the Taliban. She says that she missed out on some childhood experiences due to the violence in the region and the inability of many to attend school. She recognized the importance of providing a space where children could be children and learn and grow as individuals.

With the help of a group of young educated volunteers, Karim launched the mobile library in Kabul in February 2018. The library is named Charmaghz, the Dari word for walnut, which in Afghan culture is associated with logic.

Mobile Library in Kabul Receives an Overwhelming Response

The library offers free access to more than 600 books in Dari, Pashto and English. In addition to books on many topics, there is access to board games, poetry, and music that allows children to learn about Afghan culture. Charmaghz stops at parks, schools and orphanages around Kabul for a few hours at a time, making two to three stops per day to provide access to as many children as possible.

In the first three weeks of operation, the library had more than 1,000 visitors. The library now draws approximately 300 people per day and has many regulars. Children come to learn, read and play with their friends, adults bring snacks and tea and volunteers come to lead sessions with children to discuss stories.

“It is beyond our beliefs and expectations how people love our program. We are humbled by their response. They appreciate and support it,” Karim said of the individuals who visit the library. Charmaghz was started to help a younger generation learn to read and broaden their horizons, and it seems the public is responding well to the new addition.

The team operating Charmaghz would like to ultimately expand. Currently, the mobile library in Kabul is financed by donations from Afghan professionals, and small donations from anyone who can afford to give anything. With this support, Karim believes expansion to other areas of Afghanistan, and providing more services, such as documentary screening, would be possible.

What started as a small effort to bring reading and learning opportunities to children in Kabul has become a staple of the community, encouraging children to grow and continue learning despite difficult circumstances.

– Katherine Kirker
Photo: Flickr

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How Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 Plan Addresses Poverty

Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan addresses poverty
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has introduced an ambitious restructuring and development plan called Vision 2030. This plan was first released by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and King Salman in April 2016. Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan addresses poverty by working to boost female participation in the workforce, reforming the health and education system and reducing the national unemployment rate.

The goals also include diversifying the Saudi economy, increasing life expectancy, achieving environmental sustainability and making Saudi Arabia a tourist-friendly destination, among others. These are five of the many ways that Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan addresses poverty.

How Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 Plan Addresses Poverty

  1. Empowering the Nonprofit Sector
    The best way that Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plan addresses poverty is by setting up a regulatory framework that strengthens the nonprofit sector by offering government support and incentives for wealthy families to contribute, and increasing the number of government projects that generate a social impact. The kingdom currently has fewer than 1,000 nonprofits, which contribute only 0.3 percent of the national GDP. The goal is to increase the sector’s contribution to GDP from less than 1 percent to 5 percent, and to rally one million volunteers for this sector each year, compared to the current average of 11,000.
  2. Increasing Women’s Rights and Participation
    The kingdom’s Vision 2030 economic reform plan sets out a goal to increase female participation in the workforce from 22 percent to 30 percent. Additionally, as a part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 plan, the Saudi government now funds the education of more than 35,000 Saudi women around the globe. New jobs for women have also been created in the government and in the military. Empowering women and allowing them to participate in the workforce can help them provide for their family and be self-sufficient, thus helping to fight poverty worldwide.
  3. Reforming Education
    The kingdom will be investing in childhood education by reforming the country’s academic and educational system. The government has also made numerous scholarships available that are aimed at Saudi students wanting to attend top international universities. To further develop local educational opportunities, Saudi Arabia also aims to have at least five universities ranked among the top 200 in the world by 2030. To do this, the government plans on preparing a modern curriculum with rigorous standards and tracking its progress and improvement throughout the years. Additionally, it plans to work with the private sector to ensure that students are prepared for the job market in each sector. This will help fight poverty by increasing the opportunities available to Saudi students worldwide.
  4. Investing in Small Business and Enterprise
    Small and medium-sized enterprises are essential to economic growth since they create jobs and promote financial independence. However, these enterprises currently account for only 20 percent of the national GDP, compared to up to 70 percent in more developed economies. In order to increase investment in small and medium-sized enterprises, the government has created the SME Authority to encourage entrepreneurship and help create easier access to funding and remove burdensome legal and administrative obstacles that are preventing their growth and creation.
  5. Investing in Saudi Arabia as a Tourist Destination
    In 2018, tourists visas will be issued for the first time ever in Saudi Arabia. Previously, tourist visas could only be acquired by Muslims going on the Hajj. Additionally, the government is investing in several luxury hotels and facilitating access to heritage sites. This part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 addresses poverty because it will create jobs and increase the amount of money circulating in the Saudi economy.

King Salman described his mission by saying, “My first objective is for our country to be a pioneering and successful global model of excellence, on all fronts, and I will work with you to achieve that.” Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 plans to accomplish this objective by alleviating poverty throughout the country.

– Luz Solano-Flórez
Photo: Flickr

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Rising Awareness and Progress: Girls’ Education in Costa Rica

Girls’ education in Costa Rica
Education in Costa Rica is an important part of the region. Since the late 1800s, the government has made education mandatory and free. The government is now attempting to improve girls’ education in Costa Rica through various ways like the Women’s Empowerment Coalition and offering free schooling.

Women Empowerment

The Women’s Empowerment Coalition is an organization that is combating gender inequality. Its goal is to work with organizations for women’s rights since “of its 4.85 million population, 65 percent of girls in Costa Rica do not finish high school.” This coalition focuses on helping empower women to obtain their education.

Women are slowly attaining their education, but when it comes to the economy, women aren’t really present in making those decisions.

María Isabel Chamorro, the Minister of Women’s Affairs, stated that “women here are reaching higher levels of education, but we have yet to advance in transferring that to women achieving high-level, decision-making positions in the economy.” According to the World Bank, Costa Rica spent about 7 percent of its GDP on education in 2016.

Students Speak Out

In September of 2017, students of the University of Costa Rica and the National University took to the streets to demonstrate their unhappiness with the amount of spending on education. They protested for a higher percentage on education spending for the 2018 national budget.

TeleSur TV reported that students also “urged Legislative Assembly members to approve a law that would allocate 1.5 percent of the country’s GDP for higher education in the 2018 national budget, instead of the 1.37 percent proposed by the incumbent government.” In addition, STEM education lacks women — the gender makes up only 29 percent of the science and engineering workforce.

It’s especially important for girls’ education in Costa Rica to have a foundation where they are able to follow their desired career path, especially if it’s a STEM-related career.

Life Success Paired With Legislation

Sandra Cauffman came from a poor family from Costa Rica. At an early age, she vocalized that she wanted to go to the moon after she had seen the Apollo 11 landing in 1969. Today, she serves as the Deputy Director of the Earth Science Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA. Her mother and an elementary school teacher were the encouragement she needed in her early years for her to follow her dreams.

Girls’ education in Costa Rica is becoming even more important because the government is also pushing to help girls utilize education to for success in life. As a step in this direction, the country raised the marriage age to 18 without parental consent in January 2017 to protect young individuals from marrying too young.

According to Their World, the law was put in place to hopefully “prevent teen pregnancy and girls dropping out of school – but enforcement could be a challenge among indigenous communities where child marriage is prevalent.” Under this law, the individual could face a maximum three-year imprisonment for having sex with a minor under the age of 15 if the age difference is more than five years.

Girls’ Education in Costa Rica

In conclusion, Costa Rica is attempting to help girls get an education through free schooling and protection from societal pressures such as child marriage. Students from Costa Rica are also fighting to have more money invested in their education so they’re able to continue pursuing their passions.

Organizations like The Women’s Empowerment Coalition help women acquire their education by actively working with women seeking an education, and hopefully their actions will be repeated by other groups across the globe.

– Valeria Flores
Photo: Flickr

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Steps Towards Equality: Girls’ Education in Argentina

Girls' Education in Argentina
Argentina is a nation known for its efforts towards gender equality. As a nation that has made progressive strides towards equal opportunity with the election of its first female president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in 2007, the nation stands as a model for the rest of the world for allowing more women to obtain positions of power.

The journey for any woman to obtain a position in the field of their choice starts when they’re a child. However, girls’ education in Argentina, and the process for women to have successful careers presents a complicated path.

Even though Argentina has a high literacy rate among its citizens and has many highly-educated women, cultural norms still subject women and girls to second-class status, and threaten their opportunity to obtain jobs in the field of their choice.

Education Equality: A Class Matter

Access to a quality primary education for girls in Argentina isn’t as much subjected to gender as much as it’s subjected to class. According to the Women News Network, Argentinian girls who come from the two poorest sectors of Argentinian society are more vulnerable to dropping out of school at an earlier age (due to limited resources).

The National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina, also known as INDEC, states that “society must have an equal distribution of educational opportunities among both genders on all levels.” As far as secondary education, women have been shown consecutively to be more highly educated.

The World Bank, as of the year 2016, posited that more women from middle- and higher-income households achieved a secondary education, compared to their male counterparts. However, more men from lower-income households had a secondary education compared to women.

Education Doesn’t Guarantee Equal Opportunity for Women

A cultural conflict that threatens the effectiveness of girls’ education in Argentina is Machisimo — a societal ideal that favors the dominance of men in Argentinean society. Due to the country’s traditional values, women are largely subjected to discrimination and even abuse when it comes to defending their educational rights.

The workforce is a sector of Argentinian society that still awaits progression to grant women as equal an opportunity for the job of their choice. According to the World Bank, as of the year 2016, men over the age of 15 had a 73 percent participation rate in the labor force, compared to 47 percent of women.

The Inter Press Service (IPS) states that even when Argentinian women do gain employment, often times it is in “informal and low productivity sectors.”

Voices of Change: Girls’ Education in Argentina

The plights women have endured in Argentinian society has created resistance from women and men ready to make their voices heard. The non-profit organization, Ni Una Menos (Not One Less), developed after citizens started collaborating to protest against Machisimo. The organization has since taken its message to the forefront of Argentinian society to advocate for women’s rights and protection against violence.

As Argentinian women continue to advocate for change in their societies, it remains a possibility that as more laws are implemented to protect women’s rights, a more promising future for the younger generations can be ensured. This future would guarantee that girls education in Argentina isn’t futile.

– Lois Charm
Photo: Flickr

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Promoting Self-Reliance with the Empower Mali Foundation

Empower Mali Foundation

Mali Presidential Candidate Niankoro Yeah Samake is promoting self-reliance through his Empower Mali Foundation. Samake spoke at a forum on the Brigham Young University-Idaho campus on May 17, discussing how consistent small actions focused on others can bring about great change.

To begin the change for his home village of Ouelessebougou, Samake ran for mayor when he noticed that the government wasn’t utilizing the taxpayers’ money effectively and was becoming more corrupt. Samake won the election by 86 percent and his first order of business was to get the community to trust the government again.

Members of the community started to pay their taxes and Samake showed them exactly where the money was going, where it was coming from and how much they had, unlike previous government rule. Those in Ouelessebougou were able to build a hospital, high school, have running water, electricity and solar panels. Within two years, Samake was able to move Ouelessebougou from the bottom five of Mali’s 704 districts to the top ten.

“The citizens were able to see the power of integrity,” Samake said. “They could see what could be achieved when leaders and citizens work together in an honest and productive way.”

Samake said that Mali needs a leader that would put them first, and he is running in Mali’s next presidential election.

Creating the Empower Mali Foundation

While he was a mayor, Samake created the Empower Mali Foundation to address the growing need in the areas of education, healthcare and access to basic necessities in the rural communities of Mali. The foundation’s goal is to have the issues of individual communities resolved by the community members themselves.

This foundation wants each community within Mali to become self-reliant. The communities initiate the demand for projects and also contribute through cost, land or labor. By being involved, community members are more likely to maintain their project and become self-sustainable.

Empower Mali Foundation works in five main sections:

  • Education
  • Healthcare
  • Clean Energy
  • Clean Water
  • Leadership Training

Education

At 31 percent, Mali has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. Many Malian villages don’t have the adequate funding for schools or training for teachers. The foundation focuses on resources in school construction and repair, school supplies, adult literacy, job skills training and technology skills.

Healthcare

The average life expectancy for a citizen of Mali is 52 years. This can be due to many different diseases in the area, and the fact that there isn’t adequate training for doctors in more rural parts of Mali.

The Empower Mali Foundation focuses on providing additional health care training, arranging and implementing healthcare expeditions and supplying hygiene kits to communities in need.

Clean Energy

Less than one percent of Mali has access to electricity. The majority of Mali citizens rely on wood and charcoal burning fires to supply energy to their village. The Empower Mali Foundation focuses its resources on the installation of solar panels.

Clean Water

The second leading cause of death in low-income countries is diarrheal diseases. This is because of poor sanitation and no access to clean water. More than one-third of Mali does not have access to clean water. To address this, the Empower Mali Foundation is focusing its resources to install water tanks and water pumps, dig wells and cover current water sources.

Leadership Training

Many people locate in rural Mali don’t have enough information on what local governments do for them. Along with little communication, the poor level of skills and capacities of the duty-holders restrict the full involvement of the people.

The Empower Mali Foundation wants to focus its resources on training local leaders for success by arranging governance summits between local leaders in Mali and other countries. The foundation also wants to implement local participation in order to teach youth to better understand and engage in the local governance process.

The Empower Mali Foundation has completed many projects such as the donation of school kits, hygiene and dental kits and the successful installation of the first electricity-generating playground in Ferekoroba.

The Empower Mali Foundation’s projects take steps to make communities in Mali more self-reliant and sustainable. It is continuing to pursue its goal to raise Mali out of poverty, one community at a time.

– Victoria Fowler
Photo: Flickr

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Understanding the Issues With Girls’ Education in Malaysia

Girls’ education in Malaysia
Girls’ education and access to education have been improving around the world, particularly because of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals which set access to education as a major focus. In particular, girls’ education in Malaysia has been on an upward trend for the past few years.

Enrollment levels for girls are equal to or higher than enrollment for boys across the nation, and a higher number of girls complete advanced education than boys. Enrollment trends are a major way of assessing access to education and inclusion in the education system.

Malaysian Female Participation in STEM

However, while these statistics show real progress and effective attempts at change by the government and other organizations, there are still a number of issues that need to be addressed. For example, the number of girls participating in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in Malaysia is significantly lower than that of boys.

Girls in Malaysia need to be encouraged to pursue STEM fields and teachers and programs need to be more gender inclusive and sensitive. As STEM fields continue to grow in the nation, gender disparities will continue to increase unless they are targeted by policy and programs.

Gender Inequality in Girls’ Education in Malaysia

Another issue is that girls’ education in Malaysia is not translating into equal opportunities and empowerment once they finish school. In 2016, the World Economic Forum produced the Global Gender Gap Report which scored and ranked nations on the Global Gender Gap Index. It focused on five main aspects of equality: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. Malaysia ranked 106 in the world, with a score of 0.666, where 1.00 indicates gender parity and 0.00 indicates the worst inequality.

While Malaysia scored a .985 for educational attainment, girls still do not have equal economic opportunities or political empowerment. This is an area that the government must focus on by implementing programs to target these issues and ensuring that education translates into tangible advantages once girls have left the school system and entered the workforce.

Working to Improve Education in Malaysia

There are a number of organizations that have committed to working on girls’ education in Malaysia, such as UNICEF Malaysia and the All Women’s Action Society Malaysia. These organizations can be an asset to the government and can further the progress that has already been made.

While these are not the only issues challenging gender parity, using a more targeted approach will be beneficial in the long run. With this approach to education and strong planning for the future, Malaysia may be on its way to a more well-rounded society.

– Liyanga de Silva
Photo: Flickr