By Tessa Davis | Program Director
Just Like My Child Foundation (JLMC) and Texas A&M University (TAMU) have partnered to evaluate how engaging and empowering community members with knowledge of human rights and children's rights can enhance the success of its Girl Power Project®. For a girl to live an empowered life, her community -- parents, teachers, law enforcement, government officials, men and boys -- must be supportive.
Two post-graduate students from the Bush School of Government & Public Service and two post-graduate students from TAMU's Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications will travel to Luwero, Uganda this summer to help JLMC answer whether engaging adults and boys in the Girl Power Project® contributes to improved conditions for a girl to live an empowered life. This investigation will focus on the resulting relationships that a girl has both within her home and beyond - with her neighbors, school teachers, local police/authorities, adult role models, and other members in her community.
In the developing world, adolescence is the most vulnerable juncture of life for a girl living in poverty. The odds are against her as she faces high risks of early marriage, pregnancy, sexual violence, early school drop out, and disease. After 12 years of working together with communities to address poverty and injustice in central Uganda, and in response to the challenges that girls face, JLMC developed the Girl Power Project® to empower adolescent girls with the tools they need to stay in school, protect themselves, and successfully navigate adolescence.
Countries where women are empowered are vastly more secure, whether the issue is food security, countering violent extremism or resolving disputes with other nations peacefully. This partnership and ensuing evaluation will give Just Like My Child Foundation and other organizations insights on how to encourage the empowerment of girls and women in the developing world.
We hope you will continue to contribute and help empower vulnerable girls through the Girl Power Project. Please donate what you can. If you have already contributed, know that nothing inspires us more than having your support in this important work.
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