Educate girls and fight poverty in Senegal

According to United Nations' data, an estimated 47 million more women and girls worldwide will be pushed into extreme poverty due to COVID-19. This, combined with rising reports of gender-based violence, has made it increasingly important to support women and girls through the "shadow pandemic." Women's Global Education Project is proud to offer comprehensive, community-led programs to help more girls attend and succeed in school, and address the multitude of issues caused by the pandemic.

In Senegal, school is back in session with new safety protocols implemented, and we have resumed in-person program activities to support scholars through this challenging year. In 2021, 566 adolescent girls will receive comprehensive scholarships that provide school fees, uniforms, school supplies, sanitary pads, and tutoring for exams. In addition to the scholarships, students participate in workshops on topics like puberty, reproductive health, and gender-based violence. In February, we hosted a weekend retreat on gender-based violence and support pathways for our scholars; who were able to take a break from their intensive trainings and take photos along the sea! 

Thank you for sharing our passion for this important work. To learn more about our programs, please visit our website at womensglobal.org, or check out our most up-to-date photos on Instagram. 

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues around the world, young women in Women’s Global Education Project’s leadership program, Our Sisters Lead, are creating new ways to support and protect their peers from gender-based violence (GBV).

UN Women reports that 1 in 3 women worldwide experiences physical or sexual violence, and reports of GBV have intensified due to lockdown conditions.

High school students in Our Sisters Lead have developed community radio programs to educate their community members in rural Senegal on GBV, as well as early marriage and pregnancy. The students have also formed neighborhood watch programs, and peer support networks via Whatsapp so that they can keep in close contact while social distancing.

Hear directly from WGEP mentor, Alima, on how she’s mobilizing her community and supporting her peers through the crisis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df5enEeIOwk&feature=youtu.be. 

Alima credits the conflict resolution, public speaking, and advocacy skills that she learned through Our Sisters Lead for encouraging her to speak up in her community.

Next week on Giving Tuesday, we hope you’ll make a gift to WGEP to help more girls in rural Senegal succeed in school and transform their communities, as Alima has done.

Last month, New York Times columnist and bestselling author, Nicholas Kristof, joined WGEP board member Mariam Huss for a virtual conversation on the importance of girls' education through the pandemic. You can watch the full conversation on our YouTube channel, but we wanted to share a few of the highlights with you directly:

On caring about global issues when there are so many domestic challenges in the US: "I think it's a mistake to pit humanitarian needs abroad against those at home. I do think we have bandwidth for both. At the end of the day, our compassion, our humanity, should not depend on the color of somebody else's skin, or on the color of somebody else's passport."

On the importance of girls' education: "I fear that the COVID pandemic will be followed by an illiteracy pandemic and a malnutrition pandemic. And I think it's important that we pay attention not only to the medical consequences of the coronavirus, but also the socioeconomic and gender consequences as well."

On Women's Global Education Project: "Thank you for the work that you all are doing in the schools in Senegal & Kenya, and you know, 50 years from now, those women will have had lives that are far more productive and their families will be better off and their communities will be better off because in 2020, they were getting those resources and that help."

Thank you for supporting our grassroots efforts to respond to the pandemic in Senegal! 

When the COVID-19 virus spread around the world in mid-March, high school student leaders in Women’s Global Education Project’s Our Sisters Lead program sprung into action to support their communities. In this challenging and uncertain time, we are inspired by their commitment to helping others.

Alima, Absatou and Mouhamed appeared on a local radio broadcast on March 19th alongside two WGEP staff members and a representative from their local health department in order to educate their neighbors on proper handwashing techniques and how to avoid transmitting the virus. Thousands of residents in rural Senegal heard the broadcast, including their local mayor! The mayor sent the student leaders extra soap, hand sanitizer, and cleaning supplies to allocate to their communities, which they distributed to eight under-resourced schools. One of the school’s leaders remarked on their support: “I hear on the radio the authorities asking the populations to wash their hands, it appeals to me but we find it difficult to even afford soap regularly to wash our bodies… this is why your help is remarkable. From now on I will be the first to observe the regular washing of hands.”

Other student leaders have used the public speaking and advocacy skills they learned in the Our Sisters Lead program to volunteer with their local Red Cross committee:

• Ndeye Coumba shares, "Because of the leadership program I now volunteer in my neighborhood for the Red Cross committee to fight against COVID-19. I am happy I can help during this pandemic.”
• Ernestine distributes hand sanitizer and helps community members wash their hands: “During this pandemic period, I felt challenged by the Red Cross’s call to raise awareness of the coronavirus present in the world and in our country. Every morning we go to the different strategic points of the city where there are many people who pass to enter the city. From 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. passersby are asked to wash their hands with all the necessary equipment.”

Thank you for your continued support of our mission! Any donations to our project will support our continued COVID-19 response efforts.

Links:

• Learn more about WGEP's COVID-19 response

As the second year of Our Sisters Lead workshops are underway, we have an exciting announcement from an alumna of last year’s program: Ndeye Fatma was crowned Miss Senegal!

Ndeye Fatma participated in WGEP’s leadership training workshops on public speaking, advocacy, and conflict resolution as a high school student in Sokone in 2019. Ndeye Fatma was crowned Miss Senegal in part for her inspiring speech and ability to speak clearly in front of the Miss Senegal audience-- crucial skills taught in Our Sisters Lead. Now, she’ll represent Senegal at Miss Universe, and advocate for social causes related to children across the country!

We are proud of Ndeye Fatma’s accomplishments, and wish her the best of luck as she continues to learn and grow as a changemaker in her community, and on a world stage. 

Stay tuned for more success stories of this year’s Our Sisters Lead program, where 239 new emerging leaders are designing community development projects on the issues that matter most to them.

Photo courtesy of Bprod.

Links:

• Learn more about Miss Senegal
• Learn more about Women's Global Education Project