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4 Girls’ Education Organizations That You Should Know About

4 Girls' Education Organizations That You Should Know AboutEducation inequality is an issue all around the globe, with many countries showing a disparity in literacy rates between men and women. The 1990 World Declaration on Education for All mandates gender equality and education as essential elements of an advanced world, but insufficient action has been taken to develop education systems according to these standards. Since then, many female-run, nonprofit girls’ education organizations have sprung up to create opportunities for women in developing countries.

The plight of many uneducated women in developing countries is a woeful one. Many face poverty, female genital mutilation and early marriage. Access to education opens doors for women, empowering them to provide for themselves and their families and enabling them to participate in politics and the working world. Below are four girls’ education organizations working actively to improve women’s lives.

4 Girls’ Education Organizations That You Should Know About

  1. Educate Girls: Educate Girls, an organization based in India, works with government schools to develop educational models and access in “educationally backward” areas of the country. Founded by Safeena Husain in 2007, the nonprofit seeks to grow and maintain enrollment rates among girls, partnering with organizations like UNICEF to address issues in specific school districts.The ultimate goal is to provide a quality education to 2.5 million girls, that they may acquire the skills and tools to participate in the workforce as adults.
  2. She’s the First: She’s the First (STF) was founded by Tammy Tibbetts and Christen Brandt in 2009 to help girls in developing countries complete their education. Based in New York City, its team helps girls to graduate high school by helping to cover tuition and boarding costs, as well as offering individual guidance and providing essential resources like uniforms and medicine.STF selects girls to support based on financial need and academic potential. It currently hosts 881 scholars, who, along with their mentors, make up a dynamic network of strong and supportive women.
  3. Camfed: Camfed, short for “Campaign for Female Education,” aims to reduce global poverty via education for girls. Founded by Ann Cotton in 1993, the nonprofit concentrates on rural regions of sub-Saharan Africa and provides support to individuals in need. Nearly two million students in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Ghana have attended school with Camfed’s help.Staunchly apolitical, the organization partners with government ministries and other nonprofits to create resources and awareness. In the long term, Camfed hopes to spark systemic change by molding strong female leaders.
  4. Forum for African Women Educationalists: The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) is a pan-African nonprofit that encourages policy changes to make learning environments more accessible to girls. Partnering with government and private organizations across the continent, FAWE works to create community awareness and ensure equal treatment between boys and girls in school.FAWE has introduced a variety of educational models since its inception, including a 2007 gender-responsive pedagogy model tailored for teacher training colleges in Ethiopia, Senegal, and Tanzania. Their central objective is to seamlessly integrate women into the social and political fabric of their countries.

While there remains room for gender equality in schools to improve, these girls’ education organizations have made significant strides in creating access and increasing the quality of schooling for girls, an achievement that serves to develop the world as a whole.

– Madeline Forwerck

Photo: Flickr

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Girls’ Education in Tanzania Is on the Rise


In Tanzania, a sub-Saharan African country known for its national parks, diverse game and scenic wilderness, approximately two million young people were illiterate in 2011. Girls’ education in Tanzania, in particular, is an issue, as both adolescent and adult women demonstrate lower literacy rates than their male counterparts.

In 2012, literacy among women aged 15 to 24 was just 72.8 percent, while literacy among men in the same age group sat at 76.5 percent. The disparity becomes statistically significant among adults is even wider among adults: 75.5 percent of men and only 60.8 percent of women are literate.

In the country’s poorest areas, it is especially difficult for women to support themselves and their families, let alone further their education. In the northwest Tanzanian village of Kitenga, for instance, there is no running water or electricity, disease rates are high and scarce access to education, all of which are obstacles for girls who want to learn.

Enter the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa (IHSA), an organization committed to improving girls’ education in Tanzania. After partnering with the Girls’ Education Collaborative (GEC), which offers financial and logistical support, they launched the Kitenga Village Project. This project aims to raise the community from poverty by establishing basic resources, and, in January, it achieved its central objective when it opened the Kitenga School for Girls to educate girls in the community.

The school opened not only to encourage literacy but also to combat female genital mutilation and early marriage, both problems more likely to be faced by adolescent Tanzanian women without an education.

Currently, enrollment at the school stands at 59 girls from a variety of backgrounds. Having won the full support of the government, the GEC and the IHSA intend to accommodate a larger student body in the future. Plans for expansion include a library and housing for 1,500 boarding students.

The Kitenga School for Girls’ central vision is to provide girls from destitute families with an exceptional range of knowledge and skills. Students will have access to career and leadership coaching, health studies and life skills training, as well as a safe and secure environment.

Though women in poverty continue to face gendered hardships, access to schools creates greater opportunities. With the innovative efforts of organizations like the GEC and the IHSA, girls’ education in Tanzania is likely to continue growing.

– Madeline Forwerck

Photo: Flickr

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12 Facts About the World’s Champion: Malala Yousafzai


Malala Yousafzai, the world’s youngest and most powerful champion for girls’ education, may soon be attending one of the most prestigious schools in the world: the University of Oxford. Back in March of this year, Yousafzai announced that she had received a conditional offer (based on her A Level grades) from Oxford and that she plans to attend the University. She plans to study philosophy, politics and economics (PPE), and work on her organization, the Malala Fund. To commemorate this outstanding individual, here are 12 facts about her life, her achievements and her organization.

12 Facts About Malala Yousafzai

  1. At the young age of 12, when her hometown of Swat was held by the Taliban in 2009, Yousafzai wrote for a BBC blog critiquing the hardline Islamic movement under a pseudonym, even while she and her father were receiving multiple death threats.
  2. Yousafzai was the first recipient of Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize.
  3. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a world-renowned social rights activist and retired Anglican bishop, nominated Malala Yousafzai for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011.
  4. Yousafzai was an international figure by now, and Taliban leaders voted among themselves to kill her. On October 9, 2012, Malala’s school bus was attacked by a gunman. He broke through the door and demanded to know where Yousafzai was. When some of the girls looked her way, she was shot in the head.
  5. Miraculously, the 15-year-old survived the attack. She was flown to Birmingham, U.K., for treatment. Her attack was condemned worldwide, and, after protests in Pakistan, more than 2 million people signed a right to education petition. The petition became a bill later ratified by the National Assembly, making it Pakistan’s first Right To Free and Compulsory Education Bill.
  6. In 2013, Yousafzai and her father co-founded the Malala Fund, an organization that advocates at all political levels to ensure all girls complete 12 years of school.
  7. The Malala Fund currently has programs in Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria and in various countries for Syrian refugees.
  8. In Pakistan, a country with the second-largest number of girls not in school, the program focuses on getting more girls in school, building schools, providing materials (books, uniforms, etc.) and grants for secondary schooling.
  9. In Kenya, a country quickly evolving into its digital era, the Malala Fund works to ensure girls can take advantage of the technology trend.
  10. In Nigeria, the organization helps girls who have escaped from Boko Haram get an education.
  11. For Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon, the organization opens new schools and funds educational programs in safe refugee camps.
  12. In October 2014, Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize. At age 17, she is the award’s youngest recipient.

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As Yousafzai continues to push for girls’ education around the globe, we should follow in her footsteps and do what we can do alleviate global poverty and ensure global education.

– James Hardison

Photo: Flickr

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10 Powerful Women Fighting for Girls’ Access to Education

Women around the world are working to end economic gender discrimination and poverty by advocating for girls’ access to education. These 10 women are among the many who are advocating for women’s rights through education.

10 Powerful Women Fighting for Girls’ Access to Education

  1. K. Zehra Arshad: K. Zehra Arshad is the national coordinator for the Pakistan Coalition for Education and serves on the Board of Directors for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). She has advocated for women’s rights for years through policy-making and fights gender disparity in schools to improve girls’ access to education.
  2. Michelle Bachelet: Michelle Bachelet is the president of Chile. At the beginning of her second term in 2014, she implemented a program for public education, influenced by her earlier role as executive director of U.N. Women. While serving at the U.N., she championed the Fund for Gender Equality, which offers grants to programs that provide women equal access to quality education. Bachelet believes that the key to girls’ economic opportunities is education.
  3. Rasheda Choudhury: Rasheda Choudhury is the Vice President of the Global Campaign for Education (GCE). GCE is an organization working to end the global education crisis through free, public education for all. She is also the Executive Director of the Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE), a group of more than a thousand educator networks and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh. CAMPE has mobilized millions of people to join the fight for girls’ access to education. Choudhury is a journalist and an advocate for gender justice in education.
  4. Camilla Croso: Camilla Croso is the president of GCE and the coordinator of the Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE). CLADE is a network of 15 national forums, eight regional Latin American groups and five international NGOs who work primarily in Latin America. Furthermore, Croso represents civil society as a member of countless U.N. organizations. Her primary focus is advocating for women’s rights to education in Latin America.
  5. Monique Fouilhoux: Monique Fouilhoux serves as the chairperson of GCE. An educator from France, Fouilhoux advocates for higher education and the impact of governments and NGOs on education for women.
  6. Julia Gillard: Julia Gillard served as Prime Minister of Australia before joining GPE as Chair of the Board. Gillard wants to strengthen global education systems for girls and bring equality into the classroom. She believes equal education will contribute to the end of poverty. Most recently, she announced GPE’s new Replenishment 2020 campaign, which will reach 870 million children in need of education.
  7. Graça Machel: Graça Machel is a philanthropist and activist for girls’ access to education and basic human rights. She founded the Graça Machel Trust to protect girls from childhood marriage and female genital mutilation. Machel believes that adolescent girls need to have the same educational opportunities as their male counterparts in order to contribute to the development of their communities.
  8. Michelle Obama: Michelle Obama served as the First Lady of the United States. In 2015 she launched the “Let Girls Learn” initiative. “Let Girls Learn” uses the aid of 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers to support community projects in developing countries that help girls go to school and stay in school.
  9. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is finishing her 10-year term as president of Liberia. During her presidency, she prioritized girls’ education and advocated for women’s rights. Additionally, Sirleaf’s work as president earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.
  10. Malala Yousafzai: As a young teen, Malala Yousafzai defied Pakistani extremists and went to school, risking her life. Because of her bravery, she became an activist icon for girls’ education. Yousafzai received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. She also founded the Malala Fund, an organization that advocates for changing international, national and local policies and systems to give girls access to quality education.

Overall, the fight for girls’ access to education is key to ending poverty. These 10 women are pursuing groundbreaking strategies to implement equality into developing communities around the world.

– Rachel Cooper

Photo: Flickr

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Techno Girl: Giving Girls The Education They Deserve


Techno Girl is helping girls in South Africa access the education they need for successful careers. The initiative’s goal is to actively encourage girls to participate in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields — also known as STEM fields. The initiative provides numerous programs to help participants reach their educational and career goals.

The program is geared towards girls in grades nine through 11, ages 15 to 18. It is part of the Girls and Boys Education Movement in South Africa and is sponsored by the country’s Department for Women, Children and People with Disabilities. It is also supported by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) as well as numerous other public and private sector partners.

South African Girls Get Encouragement in STEM Education

South African students are notoriously disadvantaged in math and science. The proficiency of students in these subjects is very low compared to other countries. Furthermore, boys are traditionally much more involved in these areas of study. Girls are not encouraged to pursue STEM subjects, which ultimately impedes their long-term career opportunities. The program works to change this trend by providing girls with the resources to pursue a STEM career.

Techno Girl chooses participants from the most under-resourced schools in the country based on academic merit. Most participants, therefore, come from areas lacking educational and job opportunities to pursue their dreams. Techno Girl motivates these girls to continue to strive for the jobs they desire. The program improves the confidence of girls who would otherwise lack access to the resources they need to succeed in a STEM career.

The initiative offers opportunities for mentorship, shadowing and skills development in a variety of career paths. Many participants say job shadowing is an extremely beneficial opportunity for them, helping them prepare for jobs. Without shadowing, participants would have to seek out individuals employed in these fields first-hand to understand how they work.

Since it began in 2005, Techno Girl has helped more than 6,000 girls throughout South Africa. Many participants have gone on to receive scholarships for higher education as a result of the program. The initiative has seen tremendous results and has received widespread support. As it continues to grow, Techno Girl will provide unparalleled opportunities for girls interested in STEM careers in South Africa.

– Lindsay Harris

Photo: Flickr

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Code to Inspire Empowers Through Education in Afghanistan

Code to Inspire Empowers Girls Through Education in Afghanistan
Fereshteh Forough’s all-female coding school, Code to Inspire, is transforming girls’ education in Afghanistan. By teaching computer literacy and web development skills, Code to Inspire enables and empowers women to join the workforce and achieve financial prosperity.

Years of Taliban rule left behind a national mindset that women should not work alongside men. Girls were prohibited from obtaining an education. Rather, a woman’s role was confined to household chores and child rearing. The success and even mere existence of CTI show the progress achieved since Taliban rule.

Currently, 85 percent of Afghan women are illiterate and have no formal education. Women make up only 16 percent of the country’s workforce. However, 80 percent of women have access to mobile technology. Code to Inspire is working to fill this void, promote girls’ education in Afghanistan, and provide opportunities for employment in the global tech industry.

With a median age of 18.6, Afghanistan’s extremely young population can only benefit from increasing the population of skilled workers. Code to Inspire seeks to realize the potential of these women and revolutionize the Afghan workforce.

“We wanted to show them their value and empower them to break down traditional barriers,” says Forough.

Currently, 50 students are enrolled at Code to Inspire. The program is free of charge and teaches elementary web design, gaming technology, and mobile app development.

Forough’s goal is to change society’s attitude toward working women, starting on a personal and family level. The organization has won the support of the students’ fathers and brothers and has maintained good relations with local communities. By encouraging girls’ education in Afghanistan and teaching applicable skills, Code to Inspire is empowering students to financially succeed, demonstrate their independence, and alter the perception of women in school and the workforce.

Learning to code vastly expands employment opportunities for Afghan women. Not only are students qualified to join the national tech industry, but the international one as well. Engaging with the global tech industry broadens the students’ perspectives and allows them to earn higher wages. The program’s learning outcomes expose students to the growing international tech industry and expand their realm of career possibilities.

The students’ achievements thus far are promising. These projects are not only bringing success to the individual women, but to Afghanistan as well. Students have developed a mobile app for restaurant deliveries, online platforms to promote tourism to Afghanistan and web pages for international clients. Another student wants to become a web developer to provide support to local businesses so they are not forced to turn to other countries for tech assistance.

Code to Inspire is gaining national and international recognition and respect. The government began supporting CTI and related programs, and CTI won Google’s 2016 RISE Award for non-profits promoting tech education. By promoting girls’ education in Afghanistan, Code to Inspire empowers women to become self-reliant, expands their employment opportunities and broadens their international perspective.

– McKenna Lux

Photo: Flickr

Circle of Sisterhood: Global Impact

Circle of SisterhoodCircle of Sisterhood is an organization comprised of college-educated, American sorority women working together to provide educational opportunities for girls and women around the world.

Circle of Sisterhood was founded in 2010 by Ginny Carroll. She was inspired by the best-selling book, Half the Sky, which focuses on women’s education around the globe. The Circle of Sisterhood website quotes the aforementioned book which states, “one study after another has shown that educating girls is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty. Schooling is often a precondition for girls and women to stand up against injustice, and for women to be integrated into the economy.”

Carroll saw the Greek community as perfect volunteers for her mission as “they’re already organized, they already understand philanthropy, they already give millions of dollars a year to domestic work… the vision was, this was a way for all sorority women… to have a global effect.”

Sorority chapters on college campuses around the nation who choose to participate as volunteers for Circle of Sisterhood raise funds to build schools and create scholarships for girls and women around the globe. Chapters may opt to host a bake sale, trivia night, or any other fundraising event to collect donations from fellow students. Many campuses even host screenings of the documentary version of Half the Sky to inspire more women to volunteer.

According to Circle of Sisterhood website, “as college educated women, we know the value of achieving an education… every girl in the world deserves the opportunity to go to school.” Considering that only around seven percent of the world’s population currently holds a college degree, many sorority women feel it is their duty to try to spread their educational good fortune.

As of 2015, Circle of Sisterhood had already impacted 17 countries and built five new schools, such as Ethiopia, Kenya and others. The organization has also raised almost $500,000 in grants.

After six years, sorority women involved in Circle of Sisterhood have continued to show their gratitude for their own educations by helping other women and girls to achieve the same.

– Carrie Robinson

Photo: Flickr

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Adolescent Girls, Bearing the Brunt of the Burden


“I am 17 years old. In the relief camp, when I was sleeping in the night, I was raped. I did not know what had happened to me. I do not know the face of the man. I had heavy bleeding…now I see some disturbances in my body and when my mother took me to the hospital, I was told I am pregnant”.

This is what a young girl from Tamul Nadu in India experienced after a tsunami devastated her hometown. Like her, millions of other girls in developing countries are the hardest hit by disasters in comparison with other segments of the population. Not only do women receive non-preferential treatment during emergency rescues, but they are also at a greater risk of sexual exploitation, child marriage, and being deprived of an education.

According to a report released by Plan International, a child rights NGO, girls fare far worse during disasters than the rest of the population. Given their gender, age, and humanitarian status, girls and women experience a triple disadvantage during crises since pre-existing inequalities and vulnerabilities are exacerbated.

In this way, a 14-year-old girl in a slum will experience a flood or an earthquake differently from a 14-year-old boy in the same situation. Such is the case of a son and a daughter who were swept away by a tidal surge in a cyclone that hit Bangladesh in 1991. The father of these children is cited as saying that he could not hold on to both and had to release his daughter because “his son had to carry on the family line.”

In other cases, adolescent girls and women are driven to sell sex because they have no alternative to feed themselves and their children. “I don’t work. I don’t have parents to help. So, for around a dollar, you have sex just for that…it’s not good to do prostitution, but what can you do?” said Gheslaine, who lives in a camp in Croix-de-Bouquets in Haiti.

Disasters also lead to an increase in child marriages. Research in Somaliland, Bangladesh and Niger found that child marriage is often used as a community response to crises in which girls are sold for income and food. In Niger, girls are taken out of school, wed and impregnated at the age of 13. Many of them suffer from fistula (a rupture between the birth canal and bladder caused by prolonged obstructed labor) and die.

One of the least prioritized issues during disasters is facilitating education for girls. Although most families would rather continue education for boys rather than girls, girls who receive an education are more likely to be healthy, marry later in life, and survive into adulthood. In fact, it is one of the most important determinants of practically all desired outcomes related to the Millennium Development Goals, from poverty reduction, to reduced infant mortality rates, and to enhanced democratization.

Despite the evidence that confirms that the empowerment of women has a transformative power in all types of societies, this study reveals that the rights to protection, education, and participation are still not granted to most women and girls, especially during crises.

– Nayomi Chibani
Feature Writer

Sources: IRIN, Plan International
Photo: UNHCR

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How Educating Young Girls Could Change the Face of Poverty

Young girls in underdeveloped countries all over the world occupy a crucial position in the overall equation of global poverty. Because the majority of these girls lack a significant amount of education, and are strictly bound by cultural principles like child marriage, they have little ability to make any decisions for themselves, and often find themselves facing sexual violence and pregnancy at a young age.

There is an estimated 250 million girls living in poverty today. In places in South and West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa, 1 out of every 8 girls is subjected to a child marriage, and 1 out of every 7 girls give birth before the age of 17. Infant and maternal mortality is very common in cases of child marriage because of the significant lack of resources and education in these underdeveloped countries.

Education is intrinsically linked to these young girls who otherwise could encounter a child marriage. Without education young girls are subject to others who make decisions for them.

Providing adolescent girls with proper education would supply them with the skill set necessary to choose healthy paths for their lives. If primary education were required for all girls living in South and West Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa there would be 14% fewer child marriages. If all of these girls also received secondary education there would be 64% fewer girls bound in marriages at a young age.

It is economically wise to invest in the education of young girls as primary education has been proven to increase a girls’ future wages. The problem is many of the regions in which poor adolescent girls live devalue their lives. Patriarchal values have a very dominant presence, making it easy for young girls to follow in the steps of cultural tradition despite how much it inhibits their own futures.

Educating young girls would teach them to resist the pressures of a society that urges them into early marriages. Education would also prepare girls to confront situations and injustices where they are being taken advantage of. Girls would be better equipped to stand alongside other women and fight for their right to education, just as Malala Yousafzai did, her example now an act of heroism and inspiration for girls everywhere.

Supplying young girls in impoverished countries with a quality education would have a significant impact on the current state of poverty, introduce a major decrease in infant mortality, and promote a healthier and more empowering environment for young girls to thrive.

– Chante Owens

Sources: The Guardian, Reuters
Photo: Educate a Child

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How Climate Change Has Impacted Girls

How Climate Change Has Impacted GirlsClimate change has brought about droughts, unpredictable rainfall, and floods which affect every region, gender, and race. However, girls have been affected greatly by the impact of this climate change. Families who live off of their land are forced to take their girls out of school so they can make up for the income lost due to climate change. Droughts and flooding have impacted these farmers and their crops. To make up for the lost income they send their wives or daughters to be daily wage laborers.

Anju Dewraja, a 15-year-old from Tami-heruwa village in northeastern India, has been greatly affected by climate change. Her family used to live comfortably, but after a string of bad harvests over the past five years, her father pulled her out of school. Dewraja now works at home while her mother has a job as a daily wage laborer. Dewraja knows she will not be returning to her education because her family needs her more in the home. However, her brother still gets to continue his education.

Thousands of families are forced to remove their daughters from school, and the number of cases is growing rapidly. As climate extremes such as floods and droughts become more frequent, girls are being stripped of their opportunities to education and a better life.

“In hundreds of households women are now compelled to take up weaving, daily wage labor, and other related activities to make ends meet, and in many areas, women of the household are also taking up fishing to make up for the lost agriculture produce,” said Sabita Devi, co-convener and senior researcher of the Assam-based Center for Environment, Social, and Policy Research.

Women form a disproportionately large share of the poor in countries all over the world. They are more likely to live in rural areas and depend on natural resources for their livelihood. In several countries, women are not seen as equals to men and are therefore not afforded the same opportunities they are. Climate change is only making it harder for these girls to raise themselves out of poverty through education.

– Catherine Ulrich

Sources: Alertnet World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts UN WomenWatch
Photo: Flickr