Makindu seeks to empower poor destitute girls in Kenya to complete full secondary education and obtain skills for an independent, healthy life. Girls in Kenya often drop out after primary school (8 years) when tuition is no longer covered. Girls receive socio-cultural pressure to abandon education in favor of early marriage, family caregiving, and home chores. This project pays tuition for girls to attend and complete secondary school, launching them towards higher studies or vocational careers.
The cost of school fees, lack of family support, socio-economic pressure to perform unpaid work at home and unplanned pregnancies create challenging barriers to girls who have finished primary/elementary school in Kenya. If they have not dropped out of school already, more than 70% will not continue their education past their 8th year of enrollment. Without secondary or vocational education, girls are much less likely to gain financial independence or personal empowerment, and suffer in poverty.
Makindu Children's Program will pay for all tuition, exam fees, school supplies and support needed for a girl to advance beyond primary/elementary education, whether she qualifies for high school or chooses a vocational training. Keeping her in school will dramatically increase her chances of succeeding in a career, gaining financial independence, achieving personal empowerment and decreasing her vulnerability and risk of abuse.
It is estimated that the return on one year of secondary education for a girl correlates with as much as a 25% increase in wages. Ensuring all girls receive secondary or vocational schooling in Kenya could reduce child marriages and unwanted pregnancies by more than half. Educated girls help break the cycle of poverty, are more likely to enter the work force, earn higher incomes, delay marriage, plan their families, seek an education for their own children and give back to their communities.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
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