June 2022
Our new projects
Every year, we face the challenging task of choosing the projects 60 million girls will fund. This year, we received twelve concept note proposals for our Adolescent Girls’ Education Fund targeting those adolescent girls most affected by the pandemic.
From these submissions, five partners were asked to provide full proposals, including budget, timeline and key performance indicators. All five projects were exceptional and each showed a unique approach to meet the challenges of girls’ education in very different contexts. We thank our partners for taking the time to submit such detailed and thoughtful proposals.
We have chosen to fund three projects of $100,000 each that will be implemented in 2023. Each of these projects will work to support vulnerable adolescent girls by using the Mobile Learning Lab (MLL) to enhance learning outcomes and offer quality educational resources.
CAMFED: Using STEM- and ICT-based MLLs to mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on high school girls in Ghana
For this project, CAMFED and the Ghana Education Service (GES) will team up to implement the government’s new education policies supporting STEM and ICT education in a pilot project. A Mobile Learning Lab, each consisting of a RACHEL and 30 tablets, will be installed in four girls schools: two junior high schools, where ICT resources are particularly scarce, and two senior high schools in rural, disadvantaged areas. Learner Guides, young women from the CAMFED Association, will be trained in the use of MLL technology and they, in turn, will train STEM and ICT teachers at pilot schools so that they can co-facilitate the MLL sessions. The pilot program will run for a year and will reach 2,500 to 3,000 female students.
For more information, click here.
Save the Children: She Belongs in School – Supporting Access to Secondary Education in Mozambique
Children at school having their class in Portuguese outdoors.
Save the Children is supporting the rehabilitation of schools damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Idai. We set up temporary learning spaces, provide teachers training and distribute learning materials to make sure that children can continue to access quality education
Save the Children has worked with the Government of Mozambique to design and implement a new distance learning approach that addresses the needs of students who do not have secondary schools in their communities. Our project will focus on young pregnant mothers, or girls who have experienced child, early and forced marriage. It will enable these adolescent girls, living in communities within the districts of Memba, Érati and Nacarôa districts in Nampula Province, the opportunity to complete their upper secondary education. This project, in concert with the SC’s larger program, SBIS (She Belongs in School), will allow 150 girls each year, or 600 girls over 4 years, to have access to the Mobile Learning Labs in five schools.
For more information, click here.
War Child Canada: Girls and Young Women’s leadership and learning in South Sudan
This project with War Child Canada will directly target 800 girls: 50% out-of-school mothers and 50% adolescent girls, with a focus on engaging children with disabilities. An MLL, including a solar panel, will be installed in each of the four Accelerated Learning Program centres in both Malakal Town and Malakal’s PoC (UN’s Protection of Civilians) site. To provide an incentive to teachers, a phone-charging kiosk will be established in each of the four learning centres. These charging kiosks will use the MLL’s solar power and generate income to avoid charging the girls higher school fees. To allow out-of-school mothers to attend classes, community volunteers will provide childcare for the participants. In addition, after-school MLL classes will be offered to 400 out-of-school girls.
For more information, click here.
Max Bell and 60 million girls in 2022
McGill University’s Max Bell School of Public Policy class is comprised of outstanding individuals from around the world. This year, for the second time, a group of Max Bell students has chosen 60 million girls to write up a public policy statement, part of their course work.
The question asked by the team is the following:
How can girls’ secondary education in rural areas in emerging economies contribute to strengthening resilience to climate change by 2030?
Climate change is an enormous challenge in a world threatened by increasingly violent and frequent climate events that put particularly vulnerable communities at risk. The Max Bell team’s research has shown that communities are better able to respond to climate-related disasters and the ensuing instabilities when girls and women are better educated. We know that girls’ education can be a powerful catalyst for reducing the impact of climate change.
To read more, click here.
Roses for girls’ education
A small team of students from Cavalier-De LaSalle High School completed a fundraiser for 60 million girls this past February. It was the initiative, according to Marie-Anne Ladouceur, the school’s spiritual animator, of one person – Mehreen Tarique, a Secondary V student.
Mehreen had discovered 60 million girls when she searched the Internet for an organization that supported girls and, in particular, girls’ education. She, along with the committee she founded, Génér’Action, organized a fundraiser – a sale of roses – to time perfectly with Valentine’s Day. The event took months of planning, beginning in November, when the team searched for sponsors, assisted by Cynthia Collette, an entrepreneurship counsellor from Destination Travail-CJE LaSalle (a non-profit organization), who has helped the team carry out its different projects.
On Valentine’s Day, single roses, each with its own beautiful message, were sold at lunchtime at the school on a first-come, first-served basis. Needless to say, they were snapped up very quickly! The sale was an unmitigated success and raised $1,000 for 60 million girls .
Engaged, passionate students like Mehreen and her committee make all the difference and we are enormously grateful.
The Génér’Action team with the principal and other school personnel following the fundraiser
Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn for updates on developments around the world in education and educational technology and the activities of 60 million girls.