About the Issue
“If you want to change the world, invest in an adolescent girl.” (The Population Council, Inc., Lloyd)
“Without an education, girls miss out on opportunities to socialize, acquire knowledge, and gain the skills and sense of autonomy needed to improve their personal well-being and their lot in life. Each additional year of schooling tends to increase an individual’s earnings by more than 15 percent, and education also improves women’s health and gives them a greater say in how their lives are conducted.” (Bloom, Weston, PBS.org)
At Graceland, a unique private boarding school for undervalued teen girls in the Nyeri District, Central Province in Kenya, girls are given not only an education, but the hope of joining the ranks of the next generation of female leadership in East Africa. The school was founded by Kenyan Nderitu Wachira and named after his mother, Grace. The school offers students’ families an opportunity to pay tuition on a sliding scale as part of a larger effort to make a social and economic impact through investing in adolescent girls as they transition into adulthood.
“These opportunities are transformative not only in the skills and knowledge acquired, but also in the attitudes, aspirations, and self-confidence forged— and in the pathways taken.” (Greene, Cardinal, Goldstein- Siegel).
Resources & Information
United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative
E4 Engendering Empowerment: Education and Equality, May 2010
The Girl Effect, Nike Foundation
The unique potential of 600 Million adolescent girls to end poverty for themselves and the world.
Girl Up, Uniting Girls to Change the World, United Nations Foundation
Girl Up envisions a world where all girls, no matter where they live, have the opportunity to become educated, healthy, safe, counted and positioned to be the next generation of leaders.
10×10, Educate Girls, Change the World
“Girl Rising” is a documentary feature about the power of education to change the world. Featuring 9 extraordinary girls from 9 countries, whose stories are told by 9 celebrated writers and voiced by 9 renowned actresses.
New Lessons: The Power of Educating Adolescent Girls
A Girls Count Report on Adolescent Girls
Cynthia B. Lloyd, Population Council, 2009
Essay: Girls’ Education in Developing Countries: Mind the Gap
David E. Bloom and Mark Weston, PBS.org
The Coalition for Adolescent Girls
GIRLS SPEAK: A NEW VOICE IN GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
Margaret Greene, Laura Cardinal and Even Goldstein-Siegel
Helping Kenyan Girls Into College
Forbes.com, September 2009
ZanaAfrica
Tools for Transformation: To create opportunities for education and financial freedom for Kenyan girls and women through health education, empowerment and delivery of sanitary pads.
Acheive in Africa
Education can alleviate poverty, hunger and the AIDS epidemic in Africa (founded by a fellow Boston University alum).