Educate girls and fight poverty in Senegal

"We are solving a full range of challenges, beyond just funding scholarships and supplies--we are helping to change the culture to value girls' education."
 
This is what WGEP Board Member April Donnellan says about our work in Senegal after recently visiting the WGEP Sisters-to-School program there with her 11-year-old daughter. While there, they went to numerous schools and programs, visited scholars and their families at home, took part in an adult literacy class, joined a community meeting, and attended an education conference.

"It was very special to be there with my daughter, as she was able to meet girls her age and learn about their daily lives," April says. "Our WGEP program--with its mulch-tiered emphasis on family and community support--is really making a difference for these girls. We met several families whose daughters would clearly not be able to attend school were it not for our program. Teachers and tutors say our scholars learn faster than other students, participate more in class, and have confidence in themselves and their abilities.

"In many schools in our region, we are seeing more and more girls in school, and in some cases even outnumber the boys. This is reverse of long-standing traditions of devaluing education for girls. Seeing our Senegal programs at work really inspired me!"

WGEP Senegal is a "Give Knowledge" finalist in the 2012 GlobalGiving Photo Contest! You can help us by casting your vote here--http://www.globalgiving.org/poll/photo-contest-2012/ -- between now and noon EDT on August 15. The organization with the most votes wins $1,000 from GlobalGiving, with the winning photo displayed on the GlobalGiving homepage for a full day. Thanks for your support!

Links:

• Learn more about the work of WGEP in girls' education.