Gender Equality Ghana Project #3818

Support Women and Girls in Ghana

by WomensTrust, Inc.

Project Report | Dec 23, 2014
Fall 2014 Update

By Jeff Stevens | Administrative Consultant

2014 marked the beginning of the second decade operation for WomensTrust. A decade plus of service is an impressive record for a non-profit doing the kind of work we do, and we are excited to be at this point, looking forward to helping more women and girls in Ghana advance their education, improve their health and lift themselves out of poverty.

Support Women and Girls in Ghana is our main campaign, and our longest running. With an original goal of $100,000 we have now exceeded the $86,000 mark. The sucess of this campaign adds to our increasing fiscal stability and growth. This year, for the first time ever, our loan program will provide around $70,000 to help keep the loan program running.

With your help, we are in a position to continue and even expand our efforts. You have made it possible for us to help 240 girls continue in school, help dozens of small women owned business suceed and begin to connect women in need of health care with health care poroviders. Perhaps the best metric of the change you have helped bring about: in a country were virtually no women makes it to University, we sent four this year alone. Thank you so much for that.

I hop you will continue to support WomensTrust. The "ROI" on the gifts you make to us can been seen on the smiling faces of the women and girls whose lives are made measureably better thanks to your help. Ghana is full of talented and enthusiastic women and girls who are more than capable of improving their lives and the lives of those around them. They just need a chance. Thank you for helping us give them that chance.

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Aug 19, 2014
Off to Camp and College

By Jeanie M. Barnett | US Executive Director

Our intern Regine starts nursing school next month

It’s been a busy summer for WomensTrust and our scholarship recipients!

College-Bound Scholarships

As we reported back in February, WomensTrust launched its new, "College-Bound" scholarship program for our most outstanding high school graduates -- bright young women with big dreams for their future, but lacking the financial means to continue their education and pursue a college degree.

Now, thanks to our generous supporters, our scholarship graduates have a chance to make their dreams of going to college a reality. And we're thrilled to announce that our first three College-Bound scholarship recipients -- Regine, Mary, and Stella -- have all been accepted to universities in Ghana!

Since graduating high school last year, the three young women -- all of whom were able to stay in school thanks to WomensTrust scholarships -- have interned in WomensTrust's office in Pokuase, where they assist our loan staff with loan repayments and data entry. Our interns have gained valuable work skills -- and they have even bigger plans for their future. Mary wants to study fashion design and teach at the university level. Regine wants to be a nurse. Stella plans to be an accountant.

Our College-Bound scholarships are making their career dreams come true. Stella has already started her accounting studies at Accra Polytechnic. And after completing their pre-admittance interviews this past June, both Regine and Mary have been accepted to start their first year in college this fall. Regine will be attending nursing school at the Nursing Training College at Korle-Bu Hospital in Accra. In September, Mary starts her coursework at the University of Education in Winneba.

"I am not sure what person I would be now without WomensTrust. I would most certainly have not finished school, maybe I would already be a mother now, without the means to support myself," says Stella.

For just $1,000 a year (less than $85 a month!), you can make the dream of a college education a reality for a promising young woman in Pokuase. If you would like to sponsor a WomensTrust College-Bound scholarship, please drop us an email at info@womenstrust.org.

Girls Leadership Camp

In late July, 10 of our scholarship students attended a girls’ leadership camp in Accra.

Held on the campus of the University of Ghana – Legon, the leadership camp is sponsored by the College of Ama (CofA), a Ghanaian organization that provides educational enrichment programs to underprivileged girls in Ghana. CofA, co-founded by renowned educator and WomensTrust Ghana board member Dr. Nana Apt, has sponsored the educational enrichment camp for several years.

Our scholarship girls joined 20 other girls for three weeks of instruction in the core subjects. The girls also engaged in arts and crafts activities, and did some sight-seeing in Accra, Ghana’s capital city.

For many of the girls attending the camp, it was the first time they have ventured outside their own small villages or visited a college campus.

In addition to providing classroom instruction in Math, English and computer technology, the camp is also designed to build girls’ self-esteem and expose them to potential career paths.

A New School Year Ahead

This fall, 200 girls in our scholarship program will be returning to class for the 2014-2015 academic year. We're proud to report that among our scholarship recipients, 43 girls are in high school, while another 26 girls are entering their final year of junior high in Pokuase.

Currently, 20 girls in our program benefit from multi-year scholarships, in which a sponsor is matched with an individual girl for the duration of her schooling. Our sponsors receive photos of the individual girls they sponsor, along with report cards and personal letters in which the girls share details about their lives, their favorite subjects, and their dreams for their future.

"My favorite subject is science," Faima, one of our scholarship girls, wrote in a letter to her sponsor recently. Faima aspires to be a doctor one day.

"I enjoy the practical lessons which give me insights of the functions of the atmosphere, and also how the human system works," she wrote. "Through science, we have been able to find a cure for many diesases to save lives, and to make life more comfortable through innovation."

WomensTrust aims to ensure that high academic achievers like Faima complete their education, graduate from high school, and have the opportunity to fulfill their highest potential. For just $350 a year (less than $30 a month) you can sponsor a girl's education in Pokuase and help change her life forever.

WomensTrust intern Mary will study fashion design

Faima dreams of becoming a doctor

Links:

Watch our slideshow to learn more about our scholarship program.

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May 9, 2014
Help Us Raise $3000 to Send Our Scholarship Girls to Camp This Summer

By Jeanie M. Barnett | Executive Director

WomensTrust scholarship girls

We're raising funds to send 10 girls in our scholarship program to summer camp this year. And we need your support!

Sponsored by the College of Ama, a Ghanaian organization that provides education enrichment programs for underprivileged teen girls in Ghana, this year's camp will bring together 30 girls at the University of Ghana, where they will spend two weeks learning, creating and having fun.

Girls attending the camp hail mostly from rural villages in the Central and Western regions of Ghana, where schools are fewer and poorer than those in urban areas, and female teenage drop-out rates and early pregnancies are high.

Attendees live on campus for the duration of the camp in a female dormitory and are supervised by women employees at the university. All meals are provided, as well as travels costs for a field trip. One year, the girls took a field trip to the capital city, Accra, to learn more about how the government works. The girls visited with members of Parliament, and even had a surprise encounter and photo-op with former UN Ambassador Kofi Annan, who happened to be there that same day.

Building self-confidence is one of the camp's primary objectives. The camp's faculty include volunteer instructors from the university, along with other counseling professionals, who oversee the girls' studies and activities.

In 2012, WomensTrust sent eight scholarship girls to CofA's summer camp. The girls were selected because of the extra tutoring they needed in their primary subjects in order to pass their high school entrance exams.

“CofA taught me to be proud of myself and not be intimidated by Maths,”said one of the girls after her experience at the camp.

This year, we want to sponsor 10 of our scholarship girls to attend the camp, which starts July 25. At a cost of $300 per student, we're aiming to raise a total of $3000 by July 1. Please help us send our girls to camp this summer!

Our scholarhip girls pass their exams!

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