The Batonga Foundation enables and empowers adolescent girls in Mali to complete their secondary education by providing them with scholarships, school supplies, uniforms, and after-school mentoring programs. Batonga provides girls with the tools and the mentoring they need to change Africa and become leaders in their communities.
Only 39.6% of women in Mali are considered literate. Adolescent girls are particularly at risk for early marriage, pregnancy, HIV/AIDs and gender discrimination. Many parents often feel it is a waste of time and money to send a girl to school. As a result, secondary school is out of reach for most girls and only 17% of girls enroll, but even fewer actually complete their studies.
Batonga scholarships provide school fees, uniforms, after-school tutorials, and mentor programs that connect girls to volunteers in their community who encourage their successes. Girls acquire an education, self-esteem through regular mentoring sessions, and the chance to support themselves in a healthy and economically secure lifestyle. These all-encompassing scholarships not only implore girls to complete their education, but they also promote their future economic and social empowerment.
This project will help over 40 poor, orphaned, and war-affected girls complete their secondary education and become leaders in their communities. When girls are educated and empowered, the effect is transformative. They are more likely to marry later, have fewer children, protect themselves against disease, generate more income, and help to boost the economy of their community and of Mali.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
