Adolescent girls in Zaatari are dropping out of school at a dangerous rate; only 20% achieve a secondary school certificate. TIGER Girls (These Inspiring Girls Enjoy Reading) will enable 1,200 Syrian girls, supported by Syrian female coaches, to participate in team-based learning, increasing their personal sense of agency, meaning and connection. Using an open source multimedia library, this community-based program will motivate adolescent girls either to stay in or to return to school.
At least 80,000+ Syrians live in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan where families are settled in a large rectangular matrix of temporary caravans. Some 10,000+ adolescent girls are living in poor conditions with few resources and facing chronic instability. Many experienced violence and trauma before fleeing Syria. Only 20% of these adolescent girls complete high school. Increased household chores, low paying jobs, and early marriage all contribute to this disturbingly high dropout rate.
TIGER Girl Teams (These Inspiring Girls Enjoy Reading) will enable adolescent girls to engage in quality education programs in the Zaatari. They will read books and access digital content in Arabic and English through a "mobile library" using tablets, that connect to OLE's multi-media open-source Library. Twelve trained Syrian women will serve as Coaches for the TIGER Teams averaging twelve girls, helping them continue their education and carrying out projects that improve their communities.
The greatest long-term effects will be upon the 1,200 TIGER Girls. They will be more self-reliant with the knowledge, skills, and values that they will need as adults. TIGER will improve the quality of their lives now and will enable them to prepare for a future in which they will build productive lives for themselves, their families, and their communities. TIGER will serve as a pilot program for innovative refugee education that has the potential to be replicated and expanded globally.
