Offer 200 junior high school students from rural villages in the Ashanti Region the opportunity to attend the "Rise Up for Your Future" conference at KNUST college campus in Kumasi. Girls will meet professionals, successful and highly determined people who will encourage and educate them on career selection and life skills. Girls will leave motivated to continue schooling, ready to set higher goals in life, and with greater self-esteem and confidence for a better future.
School closures due to the global pandemic disproportionately affect girls and can lead to deprioritization of girls' education, exacerbating existing gender gaps. Just 3 months of missed school can result in 1.5 years of learning loss. Some girls become the sole breadwinners for their families during a health crisis, while others become mothers sooner than planned and unable to pursue formal education. Motivating girls to re-enroll in and stay in school now that they are reopening is crucial.
The "Rise Up for Your Future" conference will bring together 200 teen girls club members from five rural communities on the KNUST college campus this summer. Students will meet professional, successful and highly determined people who will encourage and educate them on career selection, teenage pregnancy, menstrual health education, and personal hygiene among other topics. Club members will make friends with young women from other communities, lessening fear of leaving home for higher education.
Conference participants will be enlightened, set higher goals in life and develop high self-esteem and confidence for a better future. This excursion will increase club members' motivation to continue pursuing their formal education, which has a ripple effect: every additional year of secondary education a young woman completes will increase her individual earning power by 15 - 25%. Further, girls who stay in school have healthier families when they are ready.
