Only 39% of Tanzanian girls go to secondary school, and only 3% continue to tertiary education. Girls who are not in school face myriad challenges, from early pregnancy to child marriage. You can help support the Kisa Project, a two-year leadership course that prepares girls in their last two years of secondary school to attend university and create positive change in their communities. The program is locally led by university educated Tanzanian women, many of whom are Kisa graduates themselves.
Only two-thirds of Tanzanian girls who start secondary school will go on to complete secondary school. When a girl drops out of school, her healthy adolescent development and transition to productive adulthood is impacted, and she is exposed to challenges she is not equipped to face. In Tanzania, girls face large barriers to completing education: lack of money for school fees, unsafe conditions to and from school and even in the classroom, gender privacy concerns, and a culture of inequality.
The Kisa Project provides young women with a pathway to success during their last two years of secondary school by helping them prepare for university, or a professional career, or by teaching them how to set up their own business if they are interested in entrepreneurship. As the Forum for African Women Educationalists has recognized, "In sub-Saharan Africa, the social return on girls' education is estimated at...18.2% for secondary education, the highest rate in the world."
In the next year, our local partner aims to add to the more than 17,000 girls who have participated in their mentoring programs, enrolling 1,000 new Kisa Scholars. These girls will receive mentorship from university-educated Tanzanian women. Research shows the significant benefits to women: educated girls are three times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS; children of African mothers with five years of education have a 40% better chance of living to age 5.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
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