Daraja creates leaders. As an official Girl Effect partner, Daraja Academy has been recognized as one of the most effective and innovative organizations to conquer gender inequality in the world. Daraja Academy is a boarding secondary school for Kenyan girls with top academic scores and exceptional leadership skills but no means to continue their education.The academy provides shelter, food, healthcare and counseling services allowing students to focus on academic and personal development.
There is an 80% dropout rate from primary school to secondary school for children in Kenya, according to the 2009 Kenya census. The statistics are even more staggering for girls who are often obligated to household chores, provide immediate income to the family if married or if they sell their bodies. Compound that with the reality that more than half of Daraja's students are orphaned and from rural Kenya, and it makes graduating secondary school for this group nothing short of a miracle.
Daraja Academy's unique educational model focuses on 4 main components: female empowerment, cross-cultural education, social and environment responsibility and personal/career development. This school is located in rural Kenya, an area where girls are consistently dismissed and forgotten. With their Daraja scholarships, however, Daraja girls are given the tools and resources to be critical thinkers, progressive leaders and architects of their futures.
The Daraja Academy students are given the tools and resources to be the voices for other young women and girls in their country. Upon graduation, they will be powerful women with the capacity, experience and global understanding to be Kenya's future female leaders.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
