Dear friends,
On December 1st, 2017, our friends and supporters united at Claridge's in London to celebrate the Brilliant is Beautiful Global Scholarship Fund for Women and Girls -- and to shine light on the stories of the brilliant and beautiful recipients of the fund in Uganda, Pakistan, Kenya, and Haiti.
The recipients of the Brilliant is Beautiful Fund in Haiti attend the Academy for Peace and Justice, a beautiful and dignified secondary school in the Tabarre neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. The Academy for Peace and Justice serves the poorest youth in Part-au-Prince. Founded in 2010, immediately after a catastrophic earthquake, the Academy has grown by about 400 students each year. In the Fall 2015 it reached full capacity and its first “Philo Class” graduated in June 2016. It serves approximately 3,000 students annually. 2016 National Exam performance at the entire Academy was 97% passing rate.
At the Brilliant is Beautiful Gala, we highlighted four stories of extraordinary young women who attend the Academy for Peace and Justice, including Rosica, who is in the Philo class at the Academy. Rosica is a strong young woman who loves the color pink. She lives with her parents and three siblings in a neighborhood close to school. The color pink signifies Love, and is a reminder to Rosica of femininity and the person who taught her the prime example & importance of being a strong woman -- her grandmother. Sadly, her beloved grandmother passed away a few years ago from cancer, but has left her with lifelong stories and lessons that were shared between them, and a passion to pursue a degree in medicine. Since passing, her grandmother continues to be an inspiration for what a strong woman can be - a single mother of four who managed to build her own house and instill an appreciation for the importance of education. Her granddaughter is now a testament to her hopes.
Rosica, like many of our students, is full of hope and values her education and friendships at APJ. We asked Rosica to write a message to her supporters at our gala in London, and this is the message that she provided:
"Today, I am in the final year of my schooling. I realize the amazing opportunity that I have, given my humble origins, to have had access to a quality education. I look around me and see girls of my age left alone, without a real future. Their desperation calls to me as I suddenly realize the great responsibility that comes with my opportunity: which is to serve those who were not as lucky as I was, and my country. Having an education in Haiti commits you to sharing with those who did not have the same opportunity."
On behalf of Rosica and 1,500 other extraordinary young women at the Academy for Peace and Justice, thank you for your support.
Dear friends,
We're so excited to share that Brilliant is Beautiful continues to further women's empowerment around the world. Below, please find a progress report from our grant recipient in Peru, the Happy Hearts Fund.
Artists for Peace and Justice gave Happy Hearts Fund a $25,000 grant as a part of our Brilliant is Beautiful campaign in support of secondary girls' scholarships at your secondary schools in Peru. Happy Hearts Fund has partnered with CARE-Peru to provide the best possible program for these adolescent entrepreneurial and financial skills.
PROGRAM RECIPIENTS:
CARE International will provide 1 weekly 3-hour session, for a total of 20 session in each school. The learning sessions are developed using an experiential workshop methodology, of a playful and experimental nature with emphasis on the development of social and financial skills and the gender rights approach.
PROJECT JUSTIFICATION:
There is an urgent need to address the empowerment of adolescents living in poverty in rural areas, with apprenticeships for life in a gender equality environment.
CARE International is implementing the program and has over 70 years reveals that women are the best catalyst for change. CARE Peru's vision in education is to create a world in which children, adolescents and young people, and particularly girls, access opportunities for their lives through quality learning.
CARE's empirical evidence and experience at the global level have shown that when a poor girl is empowered, she benefits her whole environment. Studies show that women with a higher educational level can decide when and how many children they want to have and these children are more likely to be healthy, prevent infant mortality and reduce the likelihood of being affected by chronic malnutrition; and increase the possibility of attending school in a timely manner.
Women manage their incomes better because they invest 90% in the home, while men only 30%. Likewise, the sons and daughters of a mother with secondary education have twice the opportunity to educate themselves. Diverse empirical evidence indicates that for each additional year of education women will earn 10% more when they are adults. Therefore, empowering and fostering the financial education of girls and adolescent girls will make them aware of the value of money, how to manage it within the framework of values and how to maximize its use and empower it for its own benefit and that of its environment from a perspective Social and productive, forging citizens socially and financially responsible.
The project will work directly with the adolescents in extracurricular sessions, based on learning by doing in an experiential and practical way. It will strengthen entrepreneurial skills, financial education and entrepreneurship with the use of tools for its development and practice.
The intervention will coordinate and monitor the progress of the project with the managers and teachers of education for work, as well as with parents in each school. Likewise, actions will be coordinated with education authorities at the local and regional and national levels so that this experience can be escalated and favor public policies and public investment for the equality and empowerment of adolescents.
There are three main outcomes of the program:
The program will measure these outcomes with two indicators: 1. an increase of 70% of adolescents who improve their entrepreneurial and financial skills and abilities; and 2. an increase of 70% of adolescents who achieve a satisfactory level in the management of financial enterprises.
The program is made up of structure sessions in the following areas: Entrepreneurial skills, Rights and responsibilities, Personal Goals and Life Projects, Needs and Desires vs. Scarce Resources, Personal/Family Budget, Savings/Savings Plan, Pension Savings, The Financial System/ Financial products and services, Resources and potential of the environment, Identification of entrepreneurial ideas, Forming Business Plans, Tools for Business Financial Management, and finally a Finanvial Ventures Fair to showcase progress.
The students in Peru are loving this financial planning programming and providing feedback that they feel much more indepedent and empowered with the tools and knowledge necessary to make their own financial decisions.
Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to another beautiful event in London on December 1! Please join us.
Dear friends and supporters,
The photo above is of a young woman named Pauni who lives in Kenya. She is one of the recipients of a Brilliant is Beautiful scholarship grant given to an organization called Many Hopes, an organization that rescues children from poverty and abuse and raises them with an imagination for justice and the tools to act on it. Because of your support, Pauni lives in the MUDZINI KWETU GIRLS' HOME compound. The homes are designed to make girls feel like what they are: members of a family, not orphans in an institution. Each family home has four bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, housemother and family of mixed-age girls. This is Pauni's home and Pauni's family until she chooses to leave and make her own life somewhere else. Not only does Pauni have a safe place to live, but she also began school again in January thanks to the Brilliant is Beautiful scholarship. We're so happy to see her thriving!
Since the Brilliant is Beautiful Fund began, we have been able to sponsor over 1500 girls' scholarships in Kenya, Peru, Pakistan, Uganda, and of course at the Academy for Peace and Justice in Haiti. We're grateful to the organizations Many Hopes, Happy Hearts Fund, Iqra Fund, and HopeNorth for being our partners in this important work and sharing our values of educating young women and girls in some of the toughest places on the planet.
We look forward to continuing to work with our partner organizations and to sustain our programs on the ground in Haiti with your support. On that note, please Save the Date: our next Brilliant is Beautiful Gala will be held at Claridge's in London on December 1, 2017!
We hope to see you there.
With gratitude,
Artists for Peace and Justice
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