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Investing in girls’ education transforms communities, countries and the entire world. Girls who receive an education are less likely to marry young and more likely to lead healthy, productive lives. They earn higher incomes, participate in the decisions that most affect them, and build better futures for themselves and their families.

Girls’ education strengthens economies and reduces inequality. It contributes to more stable, resilient societies that give all individuals – including boys and men – the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

But education for girls is about more than access to school. It’s also about girls feeling safe in classrooms and supported in the subjects and careers they choose to pursue – including those in which they are often under-represented.

When we invest in girls’ secondary education

• The lifetime earnings of girls dramatically increase
• National growth rates rise
• Child marriage rates decline
• Child mortality rates fall
• Maternal mortality rates fall
• Child stunting drops

Why are girls out of school?

Despite evidence demonstrating how central girls’ education is to development, gender disparities in education persist.

Around the world, 129 million girls are out of school, including 32 million of primary school age, 30 million of lower-secondary school age, and 67 million of upper-secondary school age. In countries affected by conflict, girls are more than twice as likely to be out of school than girls living in non-affected countries.

Worldwide, 129 million girls are out of school.

Only 49 per cent of countries have achieved gender parity in primary education. At the secondary level, the gap widens: 42 per cent of countries have achieved gender parity in lower secondary education, and 24 per cent in upper secondary education.

The reasons are many. Barriers to girls’ education – like poverty, child marriage and gender-based violence – vary among countries and communities. Poor families often favour boys when investing in education.

In some places, schools do not meet the safety, hygiene or sanitation needs of girls. In others, teaching practices are not gender-responsive and result in gender gaps in learning and skills development.

Gender equality in education

Gender-equitable education systems empower girls and boys and promote the development of life skills – like self-management, communication, negotiation and critical thinking – that young people need to succeed. They close skills gaps that perpetuate pay gaps, and build prosperity for entire countries.

Gender-equitable education systems can contribute to reductions in school-related gender-based violence and harmful practices, including child marriage and female genital mutilation .

Gender-equitable education systems help keep both girls and boys in school, building prosperity for entire countries.

An education free of negative gender norms has direct benefits for boys, too. In many countries, norms around masculinity can fuel disengagement from school, child labour, gang violence and recruitment into armed groups. The need or desire to earn an income also causes boys to drop out of secondary school, as many of them believe the curriculum is not relevant to work opportunities.

UNICEF’s work to promote girls’ education

UNICEF works with communities, Governments and partners to remove barriers to girls’ education and promote gender equality in education – even in the most challenging settings.

Because investing in girls’ secondary education is one of the most transformative development strategies, we prioritize efforts that enable all girls to complete secondary education and develop the knowledge and skills they need for life and work.

This will only be achieved when the most disadvantaged girls are supported to enter and complete pre-primary and primary education. Our work:

• Tackles discriminatory gender norms and harmful practices that deny girls access to school and quality learning.
• Supports Governments to ensure that budgets are gender-responsive and that national education plans and policies prioritize gender equality.
• Helps schools and Governments use assessment data to eliminate gender gaps in learning.
• Promotes social protection measures, including cash transfers, to improve girls’ transition to and retention in secondary school.
• Focuses teacher training and professional development on gender-responsive pedagogies.
• Removes gender stereotypes from learning materials.
• Addresses other obstacles, like distance-related barriers to education, re-entry policies for young mothers, and menstrual hygiene management in schools.

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This report discusses persistent barriers girls face in the transition from education to the workforce, and how gender gaps in employment outcomes persist despite girls’ gains in education.

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This partnership site provides data and programming results for the only global fund solely dedicated to education in developing countries.

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Malala Fund is working for a world where every girl can learn and lead.

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“I tell my story not because it is unique, but because it is the story of many girls.” -Malala

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Malala Fund invests in education activists and advocates who are driving solutions to barriers to girls’ education in their communities.

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A digital newsletter and publication for girls and young women to share their thoughts, challenges and accomplishments.

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Dive deep into Malala Fund‘s report cards and explore the state of girls’ education in 120 countries.

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More than 120 million girls are out of school today..

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Where we work

Malala Fund’s Education Champion Network supports the work of educators and advocates and helps bolster girls’ secondary education around the world.

There are 3.7 million out-of-school children in Afghanistan — 60% are girls. (UNICEF)

Most girls in rural Bangladesh dropout of school after primary school, with dropout rates at nearly 42 percent. (UNICEF)

Brazil is the world's eighth largest economy — but 1.5 million girls are still out of school.

47% of Ethiopian girls who start grade one do not make it to grade five. (UNICEF)

1 in 3 girls in India complete secondary education. (UNESCO Institute for Statistics)

Almost one out of three school-age children in Lebanon are Syrian refugees. (MEHE)

Girls make up 60% of all out-of-school children in Nigeria at primary level. (UNESCO)

More than 22 million children in Pakistan are out of school — the majority of them are girls. (HRW)

About 64% of girls in Tanzania do not complete their final year of secondary school. (BEST 2018)

As of 2019, 400,000 refugee children are out of school in Turkey. (UNICEF)

“We need to encourage girls that their voice matters. I think there are hundreds and thousands of Malalas out there.”

Assembly is our digital publication and newsletter for girls and young women to share their thoughts, challenges and accomplishments — and for all of us to learn about this new generation of leaders.

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The fight for girls’ education won’t be won by girls alone.

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Girl Child Network’s education programmes seek to complement government initiatives towards achieving inclusive quality basic education as articulated in Kenya’s Vision 2030, EFA Goals, and Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

Education as a strategy, is viewed as a tool for empowerment, self-realization and critical in reducing violence and exposure to risks. GCN recognizes school as a safe place with the understanding that a single day that a girl, a boy or any youth spends in school reduces exposure and vulnerability to risks. The education program focuses on education for children with disabilities, education for hard to reach children in marginalized ASALs regions of Kenya, education for vulnerable adolescent girls and young women from resource poor rural and urban slums, promoting equity in basic education and enrolling out of school children among others.

The Education Program has projects such as No One Out (NOO), Our Right to Learn – Reaching the Unreached, Kenya Equity in Education (KEEP), DREAMS IC, Champions for Change Project (C4C) among others.

Programmes & Projects

She is digital project.

Girl Child Network is partnering with Mexoxo , L’Oreal , and Google to empower young girls and women in aiding acceleration of digital inclusion for women and girls through the She is Digital program with the aim of offering the target audience the following: • Enrich knowledge in Digital marketing to the beneficiaries so that they can have the capacity to sell their wares. • Accelerate adaptation to the sudden digital transformation brought on by COVID-19 and beyond. • Upskill and re-skill the target audience in Digital Marketing • Achieve socio-economic growth The project aims to make women and girls unleash their potential to reach socio-economic independence and growth with skill-building and education programs with a target of more than 15,000 participants from Kenya.

ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN FOR GIRLS' EDUCATION & EMPOWERMENT PROJECT

Girl Child Network in partnership with UNESCO , is working on the Global Education Coalition (GEC) , a platform for collaboration to protect the right to education during COVID-19 and beyond.

As part of the Global Education Coalition and with funding from Prada, UNESCO Regional Office for Eastern Africa is supporting activities to catalyze local advocacy for girls’ education and empowerment through the creation of awareness on the value of girls’ education, and re-entry policy for pregnant girls through Youth-led/Girls-led advocacy campaigns to reinforce Back-to-School Campaigns. In 2022, UNESCO partnered with the Girl Child Network (GCN) to support locally driven advocacy for girls’ education and empowerment in two counties Kwale and Kajiado of  Kenya as an extension of the Keeping girls in the picture campaign.  We are working with 20 secondary schools in the counties of Kajiado and Kwale.

LET GIRLS LEARN PROJECT

The Purpose of this project is to support over 4,000 children in primary education, targeting 13 public primary schools, to increase enrolment, retention, and performance, and to provide 20,000 people with access to safe, clean water in 2 of the poorest areas of Kenya, the Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (ASAL) of Turkana and Kajiado . The particular focus is on the ‘girl child’ who tends to have low attendance rates due to gender discrimination, menstrual health management issues, and the fact that girls tend to have primary water collection duties. Their low attendance at primary school has resulted in poor outcomes for girls including child marriage, FGM, as well as reducing their participation and decision making influence in the family and community.

This initiative to bring girls back into primary education utilizes a proven approach; providing enhanced school facilities (including latrines, washing facilities, classrooms, and girls’ dormitories), improved access to water and support programmes for the community to increase buy-in for girls’ education.

The Project Aims to

• Increase school enrolment, retention, performance, and transition of students, especially girls and children with disabilities, in target communities
• Improve access to adequate and safe drinking water and improved hygiene and sanitation practices in target communities, and
• Increase community support for education and
• Improve livelihoods, food security and nutrition in target communities.

Project Interventions

• Construction and furnishing of 8 classrooms, construction of 13 gender responsive and disability accessible latrine blocks and installation of 28 hand washing facilities to provide a conducive learning environment in the districts of Kapedo and Kenyewa.
• Construction and furnishing of 2 new dormitories to improve safety for girls.
• 1 borehole drilled and equipped to provide water to over 20,000 people in Kapedo.
• Monthly community conversations and peace dialogues will be held to help reduce both the harmful cultural practices and insecurity, resulting in more girls and children with disabilities enrolled in school.
• Diversification of livelihoods through the establishment of Village Loans and Savings Associations (VLSA) for 10 women’s groups, supporting families to meet the basic needs an rights of their children.

'Our Right to Learn–Reaching the Unreached' (ORL–RTU) Project

Girl Child Network with support from Educate A Child (EAC), a global program of the Education Above All Foundation is implementing ‘Our Right to Learn – Reaching the Unreached’ Project in Kwale, Garissa and Kajiado counties. The aim of the project is to increase access to quality primary education for 47,515 Out Of School Children (OOSC) from resource poor households in the three counties. The project works with a total of 120 public primary schools; 45 in Kajiado (25 in Kajiado North and 20 in Mashru sub-counties), 45 in Kwale (20 in Matuga and 25 in Msambweni sub-counties) and 30 in Garissa (Balambala sub-county) counties.

The project is guided by five broad strategies that include; firstly awareness creation to the communities by convening community conversations and dialogues to challenge the entrenched social norms and cultural practices that substantially contributes to children not being enrolled or dropping out. Key areas of focus would include but not limited to; negative attitudes and perceptions on the benefit of education particularly for the girl child, Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C), forced/child marriages, child labour among others. The desired outcome at this level is change of attitude and perceptions by communities and increased communities support towards education of their children.

Secondly, the project aims at enhancing the capacity of duty bearers with a view of training them on their duties and responsibilities to enable them meet their legal obligations of enforcing implementation and monitoring of laws and policies that support enrollment and retention of OOSC as well as child protection. Thirdly, the project aims at engendering friendliness of the school learning environment with the aim of making it friendlier and gender sensitive and attractive for girls and boys to enroll and participate in education. Through rehabilitation of sanitation facilities, training of teachers on leaner centered methodologies, training of School Boards of Managements on gender responsive school development planning, reduced gender based violence and stereotypes, then schools would become more safe, secure and friendly for all children.

Fourthly, the project will empower boys and girls with information on rights and life skills to enable them acquire confidence and aspiration to learn and lastly conduct policy advocacy with a view of developing policy briefs and advocacy strategies to influence policy change and actions on legal policy and frameworks that support education for OOSC.

Every Girl In School (EGIS) Project

Every Girl in School (EGIS) Project is a 3 year project aimed at increasing access to quality primary education for children, especially girls and children with disabilities from nomadic pastoralist communities in Turkana and Kajiado Counties in Kenya. The project will target the hardest to reach marginalised girls and children with disabilities from resource-poor households from the two project counties.

The project will leverage on the best practices and lessons learnt during implementation of the previous project, to implement time tested and proven interventions to unlock community level barriers, school level barriers, household level barriers, system level barriers and internal level barriers to girls and children with disabilities’ confidence and aspiration to access and meaningfully participate in education.

The project Theory of Change is premised on the belief that access to inclusive quality education is possible for all children, including those with disabilities, if  communities can change their attitude in support of education;  the schools are  inclusive and gender responsive, children are protected and supported to build their self-esteem, legal and policy frameworks that supports quality and inclusive education are implemented; and lastly if the target communities are empowered to improve their livelihoods to support their children’s education.

The project is guided by 4 objectives;

• Objective 1: To increase access to inclusive, equitable and quality primary education for children, especially girls and children with disabilities, from the Maasai and Turkana communities.
• Objective 2: To ensure that target communities have a positive attitude towards education and are addressing negative social norms which limit (girls’ and children with disabilities’) participation.
• Objective 3: To ensure that government policies, programmes and legal frameworks are focused on upholding human rights and ensuring inclusive, equitable and quality basic education for all children, especially girls and children with disabilities.
• Objective 4: To ensure that target communities have improved livelihoods to support education of their children, especially girls and children with disabilities.

No One Out Project – NOO Project

The No One Out project targets to improve access to education by children with disabilities in informal settlements in Nairobi. The project is implemented with support from Christian Blind Mission (CBM) and is implemented in the urban informal settlements in the Eastlands region of Nairobi County. The project works with Education Assessment and Resource Centre (EARC) Curriculum Support Officers – Special Needs Education (CSO-SNE) to identify, assess, refer and place children with disabilities. The assessment is done to identify children with disabilities and inform early interventions that include; referral for medical interventions and follow up to ensure they enroll later in schools, placement in schools for education, linkages for psychosocial support and registration with social protection schemes.

We partner with the school administration to address barriers that hinder children with disabilities from accessing education and achieving full inclusion. The support to schools include awareness creation about disabilities and inclusive education, enhancing access by improving the facilities to be accommodative and accessible by learners with disabilities, and provision of resource materials for learning to children with disabilities.

We work with community members to create awareness about disabilities and the concept of inclusive education with the aim of achieving full inclusion in schools and communities. The result is that the communities ultimately acquire positive values, attitudes and skills fundamental to the support of inclusive education.

Kenya Equity in Education (KEEP Project) - ENDED

Girl Child Network recognizes that girls and children with disabilities in ASAL regions (Kajiado and Turkana Counties) in Kenya face barriers in access to education. The KEEP project seeks to reduce/eliminate the barriers in three levels; the individual level, the school level and the community level through strategies such as social mobilization, sensitization and awareness creation, advocacy, direct support, capacity building and community conversations. The Project is implemented in partnership with Aidlink and with support from Irish Aid. The interventions are designed and implemented to provide thousands of children in ASAL regions with access to clean water, improved sanitation and hygiene as well as knowledge on their rights and responsibilities as a means to protect them from abuse. We work with the national government, county governments, schools, families and communities to create safe spaces for children to learn, be protected and nurtured to thrive, irrespective of their age, gender or disability. We also partner with schools, families and communities to train teachers, school boards of management, children and the youth to ensure we leave no one out. In addition to this, we also conduct extensive awareness exercises to emphasis the importance of education with a view of changing the community attitudes on girls and children with disabilities participation in education. ASAL region is prone to droughts due to negative effects of climate change. Provision of feeding programme in the project schools not only retains children in school but also ensures the drought does not negate the impact of the project on empowerment of girls and women.

Wezesha Elimu Project - ENDED

Children with disabilities have a fundamental right to education just like any other children, as outlined in several International and National legislative and policy instruments. Some of these instruments include the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, 1989), the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD, 2006) and the Basic Education Act, 2013 among others.

The 2018 Sector Policy for learners and trainees with disabilities emphasizes the need to increase access, enhance retention, and improve quality and relevance of education to all. It also stresses on strengthening early identification and assessment to ensure equal opportunities in provision of education. In line with Kenya Vision 2030, in particular this social pillar envisions attainment of globally competitive quality education for all children including those with disabilities. In addition, the Basic Education Act, (2013) provides for free and compulsory basic education for all, promotion of quality and relevant education. It also provides for the right to equal standards of education. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 requires member states like Kenya to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning.

PROJECT INTERVENTIONS

Provision of specialist medical services through mobile clinics targeting children with disabilities with no access to treatment and surgical interventions

Mobile clinics for diagnosis and provision of related services to patients

Carrying out specialized pediatric orthopedic surgical interventions

Providing mobility devices to children with disabilities

Conducting orthopedic rehabilitation on children with disabilities

Providing post-operative care to children who have received treatment

Strengthen appropriate placement, retention and transition of learners with disabilities in inclusive education as per the 2018 Sector Policy for learners and trainees with disabilities:

Accessibility audit of identified schools to determine readiness for inclusive education.

Providing safe, accessible and learner-friendly environment for children with disabilities.

Direct support to learners with disabilities and schools through provision of dignity kit and specialized teaching/learning resources to learners with disabilities.

Facilitating EARCs to conduct functional assessments, referrals and placement of children with disabilities.

Sensitization of teachers and members of boards of management on disabilities and the concept of inclusive education.

Increasing awareness level among target schools, families and communities on the rights of children with disabilities:

Sensitization forums in the targeted school communities to create awareness on the rights of children with disabilities.

Awareness creation sessions in schools on disabilities and inclusive education.

Provision of psychosocial support to patients and parents after undergoing surgery

PROJECT REGIONS INCLUDE:  Homa Bay County, Kisumu County, Baringo County, Nairobi County and Mombasa County.

Champions for Change (C4C Project) - ENDED

Girl child Network with the support from Rise Up – Champions for Change (C4C) has been implementing Afya kwa Elimu project in Kenya. The project worked with policy makers from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Ministry of Education (MOE) to review the National School Health Policy of 2009 whose time had lapsed and also ensure drug and substance abuse that contributes to incidences of Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among adolescent and youth in schools are addressed. The National School Health Policy and its Guidelines has since been reviewed and approved but currently awaiting its official launch. The policy provides a legal framework that regulates prevalence of drug and substance abuse, especially alcohol and cigarettes among adolescents; access to healthy foods mainly at the schools and household level; exercise; and change of behavior towards healthy living practices. This will in turn lead to a decrease in the reported cases of NCDs among adolescents and youth; the drop-out cases in schools; and deaths of the youth from NCD related causes; above all reduced poverty.

TAKE THE LEAD PROGRAM

Girl Child Network is partnering with L’Oréal Fund for Women, Mexoxo, and e-Cornell University to bring this program to the women in Kenya.

Basically, the learning Platform is provided by E-Cornell University .

                                               PROJECT OBJECTIVE

To democratize education (remove barriers or make education available to all individuals regardless of their background) in Kenya.

                                                PROJECT TARGET

Enroll over 10,000 young women and girls in Kenya aged 16 and above.

                                                       TO ENROLL:

Visit https://www.mexoxo.com/e-cornell , sign up and start Learning.

Improving Inclusive Education (IIE)

The Inclusive Education project is based on the understanding that children with disabilities have a right to participation which is facilitated by the early identification, intervention, referral and enrollment of children with disabilities in schools.

The project seeks to intervene by improving the accessibility of facilities in schools and EARCs and capacity building for all the stakeholders to build synergy.

Project key outcomes

• Outcome 1 : 61 schools and 6 EARC’s are accessible and have qualified staff for inclusive education and early intervention
• Outcome 2: Local stakeholders cooperate in identifying and referring children with disabilities
• Outcome 3 : Stakeholders in inclusive education are empowered to use synergies and be accountable for their work

InJob project

THE “INJOB” PROJECT.

Pathways to inclusive education and promotion of employability for vulnerable youth in the public vocational training centers.

PROJECT BRIEF

Girl Child Network (GCN) is an independent, non-political, non-religious and non-profit organization partnering with over 300 organizations working to improve the well being of children in Kenya with emphasis on the education of the girl child. The Network was established in 1995 as follow up of the Beijing Platform for Action and implementation of Article 12- The Girl Child. GCN came into being to primarily mainstream children, women and young people activities, and initiate interventions that focuses child protection, gender, democracy and governance, research, policy advocacy, education, health, capacity development, HIV/Aids and emergency response through Advocacy, action implementation, information sharing and strengthening of children programming in Kenya.

Girl Child Network (GCN) is implementing “ Injob” project supported by Christain Blind Mission-Kenya (CBM) which is implemented through a Consortia of Partnering Organizations such as No One Out (NOO), Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority-TVETA, A Companionship at Work (COWA), Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and Laboratory Action Research for CO-development (ARCO-PIN). This is a three (3) year Project, targeting vulnerable youth and young people of age between 15-35 whose main goal is to promote the educational, social and professional inclusion of vulnerable youth and young people with disabilities in Kenya . The Project anticipates to increase the number of youth with disabilities students with relevant skills, including technical and professional, and favor their participation in the labor market, both as employment and self-employment. The specific Objective of the Project is aimed at strengthening the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) system for the educational inclusion and the job placement of vulnerable youth and young people with disabilities within Nairobi TVETs.

The project is based on the understanding that youth with disabilities have the potential to participate and access quality and equitable index in professional training by restructuring TVETs to be accessible to students with disabilities which will favor their involvement in industrial attachment and labor market.

To realize this goal, the project is guided by three broad results. Each seeks to increase support and participation of young people with disabilities in labor inclusion by targeting government systems and communities in informal settlements of Nairobi County in Kangemi, Waithaka, Dandora and Mathare

The Target TVETs institutions are Kiwanja , Kangemi, Mathare, Dandora Greenlight, Waithaka, Bahati, Ofafa Jericho, Mathare Special . Vocational Training centers. The Outcomes include; Strengthened Educational system for TVETs and promotion of inclusive professional Education, Improved Educational and Psycho-social support services for the Inclusion of vulnerable and disabled young people and Promote Job placement and self- employment of vulnerable and disabled students in Nairobi TVETs.

Main project activities

Development and dissemination of disability policy in public vocational training institutions.

• 1500 copies

Community awareness-raising on inclusion of persons with disabilities within the educational context

• CFs & CC-quarterly basis target 30pax
• Disability champions -16 of them (any one trained on inclusion and disability issues and voluntarily are willing to create awareness about disability within their workplace or elsewhere)

Provision of scholarships for students with special educational needs and removal of architectural barriers in public vocational training institutions

• Scholarships- 160 students with disabilities. (Grant will cover school fees, school uniform if required, transport, school learning materials, assistive devices and other tools required in the training course) note: the kit content will be different depending on the specific needs of each beneficiary
• Accessibility audit and infrastructure modification

Activation of labour inclusion paths for people with disabilities (aims to promote employment opportunities for people with disabilities through digitization)

• Conduct market survey (30 days) in companies on perception on employment rate of persons with disabilities -promotes job placements
• Awareness creation of company staff on disability and labor inclusion.
• Provision of linkage for industrial attachment and placement of students in company facilities. Placement will last 3-5 months

Girls' Education

Every day, girls face barriers to education caused by poverty, cultural norms and practices, poor infrastructure, violence and fragility. Girls’ education is a strategic development priority for the World Bank.

Ensuring that all girls and young women receive a quality education is their human right, a global development priority, and a strategic priority for the World Bank. 

Achieving gender equality is central to the World Bank Group twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. As the largest financing development partner in education globally, the World Bank ensures that all of its education projects are gender-sensitive, and works to overcome barriers that are preventing girls and boys from equally benefiting from countries’ investments in education.

Girls’ education goes beyond getting girls into school. It is also about ensuring that girls learn and feel safe while in school; have the opportunity to complete all levels of education, acquiring the knowledge and skills to compete in the labor market; gain socio-emotional and life skills necessary to navigate and adapt to a changing world; make decisions about their own lives; and contribute to their communities and the world.

Both individuals and countries benefit from girls’ education. Better educated women tend to be more informed about nutrition and healthcare, have fewer children, marry at a later age, and their children are usually healthier, should they choose to become mothers. They are more likely to participate in the formal labor market and earn higher incomes. A recent World Bank  study  estimates that the “limited educational opportunities for girls, and barriers to completing 12 years of education, cost countries between US$15 trillion1 and $30 trillion in lost lifetime productivity and earnings.” All these factors combined can help lift households, communities, and countries out of poverty.

The Challenge

According to  UNICEF   estimates, around the world, 129 million girls are out of school, including 32  million of primary school age, and 97 million of secondary school age. 

Globally, primary, and secondary school enrollment rates are getting closer to equal for girls and boys (90% male, 89% female). But while enrollment rates are similar – in fact, two-thirds of all countries have reached  gender parity in primary school enrollment  – completion rates for girls are lower in low-income countries where 63% of female primary school students complete primary school, compared to 67% of male primary school students.  In low-income countries, secondary school completion rates for girls also continue to lag, with only 36% of girls completing lower secondary school compared to 44% of boys. Upper secondary completion rates have similar disparities in lower income countries, the rate is 26% for young men and  21% for young women.

The gaps are starker in countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV). In FCV countries,  girls are 2.5 times  more likely to be out of school than boys, and at the secondary level, are 90% more likely to be out of secondary school than those in non-FCV contexts.  

Both girls and boys are facing a learning crisis. Learning Poverty (LP) measures the share of children who are not able to read proficiently at age 10. While girls are on average 4 percentage points less learning-poor than boys, the rates remain very high for both groups. The average of Learning Poverty in in low- and middle- income countries is 55% for females, and 59% for males. The gap is narrower in low-income countries, where Learning Poverty averages about 93% for both boys and girls.

In many countries, enrollment in tertiary education slightly favors young women, however, better learning outcomes are not translating into better work and life outcomes for women. There is a large gender gap in labor force participation rates globally. It is especially stark in regions such as South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, which have some of the  lowest female labor force participation rates  at 24% and 20% per region, respectively. These are appallingly low rates, considering what is observed in other regions like Latin America (53%) or East Asia (59%), which are still below rates for men. 

Gender bias  within schools and classrooms may also reinforce messages that affect girls’ ambitions, their own perceptions of their roles in society, and produce labor market engagement disparities and occupational segregation. When gender stereotypes are communicated through the design of school and classroom learning environments or through the behavior of faculty, staff, and peers in a child’s school, it goes on to have sustained impact on academic performance and choice of field of study, especially negatively affecting young women pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

Poverty  is one of the most important factors for determining whether a girl can access and complete her education. Studies consistently reinforce that girls who face multiple disadvantages — such as low family income, living in remote or underserved locations or who have a disability or belong to a minority ethno-linguistic group — are farthest behind in terms of access to and completion of education.

Violence  also prevents girls from accessing and completing education – often girls are forced to walk long distances to school placing them at an increased risk of violence and many experience violence while at school. Most  recent data  estimates that approximately 60 million girls are sexually assaulted on their way to or at school every year. This often has serious consequences for their mental and physical health and overall well-being while also leading to lower attendance and higher dropout rates. An estimated  246 million children experience violence in and around school every year , ending school-related gender-based violence is critical. Adolescent pregnancies can be a result of sexual violence or sexual exploitation. Girls who become pregnant often face strong stigma, and even discrimination, from their communities. The burden of stigma, compounded by unequal gender norms, can lead girls to drop out of school early and not return. 

Child marriage  is also a critical challenge. Girls who marry young are much more likely to drop out of school, complete fewer years of education than their peers who marry later. They are also more likely to have children at a young age and are exposed to higher levels of violence perpetrated by their partner.  In turn, this affects the education and health of their children, as well as their ability to earn a living. Indeed, girls with secondary schooling are up to six times more likely to marry as those children with little or no education.  According to a recent report , more than 41,000 girls under the age of 18 marry every day. Putting an end to this practice would increase women’s expected educational attainment, and with it, their potential earnings. According to the report’s estimates, ending child marriage could generate more than US$500 billion in benefits annually each year.

COVID-19  is having a negative impact on girls’ health and well-being – and many are at risk of not returning to school once they reopen. Available  research  shows that prevalence of violence against girls and women has increased during the pandemic – jeopardizing their health, safety and overall well-being. As school closures and quarantines were enforced during the 2014‐2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, women and girls experienced more sexual violence, coercion and exploitation. School closures during the Ebola outbreak were associated with an increase in teenage  pregnancies . Once schools re-opened, many “visibly pregnant girls” were banned from going back to school. With schools closing throughout the developing world, where stigma around teenage pregnancies prevails, we will probably see an increase in drop-out rates as teenage girls become pregnant or married. As girls stay at home because of school closures, their household work burdens might increase, resulting in girls spending more time helping out at home instead of studying. This might encourage parents, particularly those putting a lower value on girls' education, to keep their daughters at home even after schools reopen. Moreover,  research  shows that girls risk dropping out of school when caregivers are missing from the household because they typically have to (partly) replace the work done by the missing caregiver, who might be away due to COVID-19-related work, illness, or death. Therefore, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, we might see more girls than boys helping at home, lagging behind with studying, and dropping out of school.

The World Bank is committed to seeing every girl prosper in her life. Our projects support the education of hundreds of millions of girls and young women across the world. Working through interventions in education, health, social protection, water, infrastructure, and other sectors, we are making an even stronger commitment to support countries in ensuring that every girl receives the quality education she deserves.

Our 180 projects are impacting more than  150 million girls and young women worldwide . Hundreds of millions more have been impacted over the past few decades. 

We tackle key barriers that girls and young women face when trying to obtain an education. Guided by evidence on what works for girls’ education, our projects use multi-pronged approaches across areas including:

1. Removing barriers to schooling

• Addressing financial barriers, through scholarships, stipends, grants, conditional cash transfers
• Addressing long distances and lack of safety to and from school by building schools, providing transportation methods for girls to get to school
• Addressing a lack of information about returns to girls’ education but running community awareness campaigns engaging parents, school leaders, and local community leaders
• Working with the community to address and inform on social and cultural norms and perceptions that may prevent girls’ education

2. Promoting safe and inclusive schools 

• By constructing and rehabilitating schools to create safe and inclusive learning environments, 
• Efforts at the community- and school-levels, and programs to engage the school (including teachers, girls, and boys) in reducing gender-based violence (GBV) and ensuring available mechanisms to report GBV
• Support for hygiene facilities and menstrual hygiene management for adolescent girls

3. Improving the quality of education 

• Investing in teacher professional development, eliminating gender biases in curriculum and teaching practices, and focusing on foundational learning
• Adapting teaching and learning materials, and books to introduce gender sensitive language, pictorial aspects, and messaging

4. Developing skills and empowering girls for life and labor market success 

• Promoting girls’ empowerment, skills development programs and social programs
• Prioritizing and promoting women in STEM subjects and careers in both traditional and non-traditional sectors
• Reducing barriers and providing incentives through scholarships for women to enroll in higher education and TVET programs
• Support for childcare programs for women and girls to join the labor market

For more information on our girls’ education investment and projects, please read  Count Me In: The World Bank Education Global Practice: Improving Education Outcomes for Girls and Women , which highlights our decades-long commitment to girls’ education, and showcases how Education GP projects are creating opportunities for girls around the world to succeed in their education and beyond.

The WBG supports girls’ education through a variety of interventions.  Our focus on girls’ education and wellbeing goes beyond school attendance and learning outcomes – we strive to ensure girls have safe, joyful, and inclusive experience with education systems that set them up for success in life and motivate them to become lifelong learners. This  approach , reflected in the current Education portfolio impacting at least 150 million girls and young women, prioritizes investments in four key areas listed below. 

1. Removing barriers to girls’ schooling

• Our projects providing stipends to improve primary and secondary school completion for girls and young women in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Sahel benefit close to half a million girls. 
• Our  Girls Empowerment and Learning for All Project in Angola  will use a variety of financial incentives to attract adolescent girls to schools, including scholarships, and new school spaces for girls. 
• The AGILE (Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment) project in Nigeria is providing conditional cash transfers to households for sending girls to school, removing cost barriers to their education. 
• The MIQRA (Mali Improving Education Quality and Results for All Project) has a school feeding and nutrition program targeted at retention and attendance for girls in schools.

2. Promoting safe and inclusive schools for girls

• In Tanzania, the Bank is supporting the training of a counselor in every school who will provide life-skills training in girls’ and boys’ clubs – which is important because closing gender gaps is not only about interventions for girls but also for boys. 
• In Nigeria, female counselors will provide life skills training to about 340,000 girls in safe spaces. Several of our other projects also support the construction of separate sanitary toilets for girls, as well as introducing GBV-reducing and reporting mechanisms in school systems. 

3. Improving the quality of education for girls (and boys)

• In Ghana, the Accountability and Learning Outcomes Project is conducting teacher training for gender-sensitive instruction, and aims to create guides for teachers to support gender sensitivity in classrooms. 
• In Honduras, the Early Childhood Education Improvement Project, will create a revised preschool curriculum that will include content on gender equity, inclusion, and violence prevention, as well as training for teachers, including training to combat GBV.
• The Girls Empowerment and Quality Education for All Project in Sao Tome & Principe is creating girls’ clubs after school, where they are also provided with life skills training, and counseling.

4. Developing skills for life and labor market success for young women

• The Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Project in Nepal is focusing on increasing access to tertiary education for young women from low-income groups, and additional providing scholarships for the poorest applications, alongside communication and advocacy campaigns for more female enrollment in STEM subjects. 
• The ASSET (Accelerating and Strengthening Skills for Economic Transformation) project in Bangladesh is working to increase the participation of women in skills training programs, and conducting awareness and communications campaigns to address dropout.
• In Pakistan, the  Higher Education Development  project seeks to support women enrolled in STEM programs, with an aim to move them from 2-year to more comprehensive 4-year programs. 
• The  Higher Education Project  in Moldova and the Higher Education Modernization Project in Belarus will both support and finance activities to increase enrollment of women in STEM fields. The Côte d'Ivoire  Higher Education Development Support Project  provides scholarships for women in higher education, and extra tutoring support for females pursuing STEM subjects.
• Schemes to increase participation of girls in higher education. Through the Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE) project, the Bank has supported increased enrollment of females in masters and PhD programs. The number of female students in ACE centers was 343 in 2014 and is now 3,400 in 2020; a tenfold increase. The Bank is also building the pipeline of female students interested in computer science and engineering programs and retain them.  

The WBG works closely with governments and other development organizations on girls’ education issues to identify and advance interventions that improve girls’ education outcomes and provide resources to support countries implementing such initiatives. Partnerships both within and outside of the World Bank are critical to the Education GP’s work on girls’ education. The Education GP works with other global practices in the Bank to improve girls’ education—for example, collaborating with the Water GP for access to sanitation and hygiene in schools, with Social Protection and Jobs GP for challenges related to labor market transition, or Energy GP to improve school safety. 

The World Bank collaborates actively with many donors and organizations. As a signatory to the G7 Charlevoix Commitment, the Bank has already committed an estimated $2.5 billion to girls’ education in FCV countries as of September 2021—exceeding its pledge of $2.0 billion from 2018 to 2023. 

The Education GP: 

• is collaborating with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office FCDO (UK) about targets and high-level engagement with G7 donors, to support aid and financial commitment for girls’ education; 
• is a member of the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Girls’ EiE Reference Group, which seeks to further research and advocacy for girls’ education in emergencies; 
• a member of the UNESCO Gender Flagship Reference Group and has provided technical contributions to the UNESCO-commissioned study (December 2020-July 2021); and 
• is working closely with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) as the implementing agency for 54 percent of the total GPE grants of $3.62 billion, that support girls’ education.
• is a member of the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative (UNGEI), which comprises over 20 partners representing multilateral, bilateral, civil society, and non-governmental organizations.
• collaborated with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) to produce Economic Impacts of Child Marriage , a recent report detailing the effects of child marriage, which was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation , and GPE.

Girls’ education in conflict is most at risk: Here’s how to reach them

Why girls’ education should remain a priority

Closing the gap: Tackling the remaining disparities in girls’ education and women’s labor market participation

Empowering adolescent girls in Africa through education

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Unlocking the gender transformative power of education

We are a global partnership dedicated to advancing gender equality in and through education

Putting gender equality at the heart of education

Through evidence building, coordinated advocacy and collective action the UNGEI partnership works to close the gender gap in education and unlock its transformative power so that every girl can go to school, learn and succeed.

Read UNGEI's 2023 Report Card

From pivotal events like the Feminist Network for Gender Transformative Education to impactful workshops in Mali, Senegal, and Niger, read our 2023 results and reflections.

Launch of the Global Objectives: 2023 Progress Report

Feminist Network for Gender Transformative Education (FemNet4GTE) 2023

Feminist Network for Gender Transformative Education

The Feminist Network for Gender Transformative Education will bring together 120 powerful organisations, activists and experts working on gender equality in and through education in November 2023.

The Freetown manifesto for gender transformative leadership in education

Welcome to the Freetown Manifesto for Gender-Transformative Leadership in Education! This Manifesto was developed in Freetown, Sierra Leone on 18-20 May, 2022.

Iniciativa de Prioridade ao Género (GCI) Relatório Anual 2023

Initiative « Priorité À L’égalité » (Gender At The Centre [GCI]) Rapport Annuel 2023

Gender at the Centre Initiative (GCI) Annual Report 2023

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Global Education Monitoring Report

G7 global objectives on girls’ education: Baseline report

Two global objectives focused on girls’ education In 2021, the G7 heads of state set and endorsed two global objectives:

• 40 million more girls in school; and • 20 million more girls reading by age 10 or the end of primary school in low and lower-middle income countries.

These objectives come from the recognition that girls universally face systemic barriers which intersect with poverty, geography, disability and minority status that prevent their access to and benefiting from 12 years of quality education. Yet, education remains their most likely path to empowerment. The two goals, which are derived from and aligned with global and national frameworks for measuring progress on SDG 4, are the milestones that seek to illuminate this path.

This short publication serves as a baseline report to accompany efforts of the G7 Accountability Working Group to monitor progress towards the two global objectives. It presents evidence on low- and lower-middle-income countries’ progress in achieving the two global objectives and what remains to be done.

Background material

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• Topics: Gender Reports

Nigeria, Canada implements education project for girl-child

T he project is aimed at improving the realisation of girls’ rights to inclusive, protective and gender-responsive quality education in Borno and Yobe states.

Plan International Nigeria in collaboration with Global Affairs Canada (GAC) has implemented an education project in the conflict-affected states to strengthen girl-child enrollment, retention and completion.

The project was also aimed at improving the realisation of girls’ rights to inclusive, protective and gender-responsive quality education in Borno and Yobe states.

The Project Manager, Plan International, supporting the Education in Crisis Project, Hanoch Hebron , at the Project Steering Committee Meeting and End of Project, in Abuja on Tuesday, said the project initially targeted 43,000 learners.

Hebron said the project, implemented in six Local Government Areas (LGAs) has reached out so far to 63,000 learners. It would be recalled that as of 2019, more than 1.7 million people had been displayed due to insurgency in the northeast of which one million were children.

Schools were destroyed and thousands of teachers displaced by Boko Haram insurgents and as a result, over 600,000 children lost access to education as an estimated 943 of the 1,627 schools in Borno State remained closed.

In 2019, UNICEF estimated 75% of children in Borno (just over 1.4million) in the northeast region accounted for the most children out-of-school.

Hebron said the project initiative which started in December 2019, was aimed to address a range of demand and supply side barriers to help restore the right to 12 years education for the most vulnerable, disadvantaged and adolescent girls.

“The EIC is a project that is funded by the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) with the objective of increasing access to girl child education to address some of the key barriers that hinders girls from attending schools and transiting from one class to another.

“The project ensures that the targeted community increase their demands for education while also supporting school structure.

“The government must get involved in education and strengthening capacity, providing support generally in order to ensure that quality education is something that is experienced in the targeted states.

“In the course of this project, we realised at the baseline that some of the barriers that hinders girl child from going to school includes a lot of things – cultural barriers, poverty, facilities in the schools, non availability of sufficient number of teachers to be able to care for the need on ground,” he said.

He added that for sustainability of the project, state government and LGA must ensure ownership of the project.

“ We have done a lot of things to respond to some of the issues and work with the girls to understand the value of education through a lot of activities in the project by engaging directly with them through our life skills programme.

“We created school clubs in collaboration with the state government, psycho-social support and some of them have experiences that have made them not to value school anymore.

“We were able to work with their parents and community to create the value for education for girls to strengthen the quality of education provided and to transit and also complete schooling,” he added.

Falmata Joda , Principal, Government Day Junior secondary said the project has brought appreciable progress in the girl-child education. According to her, the closing of the project will bring everyone to his/her toes to ensure sustainability of the project.

“ Before this project was conducted in my school, I have less enrollment of girls than the boys but now I have more girls in the school and there is retention and completion of the girl child education.

“At the baseline before the start of the project, I have 236 girls and 620 boys but now I have 598 girls and 533 boys. Girls are now enrolled more in my school.

“Now that the project is ending I am assuring that we will not have less girls again because we have planned for them through extra curricular activities, friendly debating, friendly inter house sports competition which makes girls to come to school,” she stated.

The Borno state government have also appealed that the project be continued saying the impact of insurgency in the state cannot be rebuilt by government alone. The Borno State Commissioner of Education, Lawan Wakilbe said the 13 years insurgency brought serious set back on education in the state.

Represented by the Permanent Commissioner, Borno State Universal Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Sadiq Abdallah , commended the state governor who had started the sustainability mandate by ensuring that more schools were built to support the girl-child education.

“ GAC and Plan International Nigeria has done a lot in Borno State. Before now, teachers were killed, educational facilities vandalised for 13 years and so we need more help to rebuild education.

“The Governor of Borno State is sustaining this project has built a mega school city to take care of the large chunk of out-of-school children, employed 4,000 teachers to manage the large team of out-of-school children.

In the same vein, the Deputy Director, Quality Assurance, Yobe SUBEB, Abdu Haladu , said the state government had established additional eight secondary schools for girls in order to sustain the project.

Haladu said though the issue of girl-child education used to be a problem but with the interventions of the donor agencies, it has improved with high enrollment of the girls in schools across the state.

• Our Mission

PBL for Pre-K Through Second Grade

Very young students can benefit from project-based learning, as these detailed steps for a project conducted by preschool students demonstrate.

Observation, exploration, and discovery are three main skills that young children (kindergarten to second grade) generally develop when they interact with their surroundings. Some children prefer to take time to observe the environment before moving around to explore, while others choose to immediately start actively discovering the wonders within the environment. Nurturing an environment that ignites curiosity and facilitates exploration, therefore, is paramount.

Early-years educators who work with children 2 to 7 years old play a pivotal role in laying the foundation for lifelong learning by creating spaces where children can freely explore their diverse interests and learn how to expand explorations and inquiries into meaningful in-depth projects. 

In this post, I share a project I developed for a pre-K class with 3-year-olds that offers clear examples of each step and process feature. The project began when a boy became fascinated by the sound that came out of a bottle when he blew into it. He shared his findings with his peers, and the Sounds Exploration project began.  

Creating an Environment for Exploration

The environments where young children interact become learning spaces and serve as educators, generating dialogue between children and/or between each child and the environment, developing processes of inquiry, reflection, observation, and active listening. What should these spaces be like? 

Versatility: Design flexible learning environments that allow spontaneous exploration and discovery in different areas and disciplines. Incorporate adaptable learning materials to accommodate diverse interests and activities. Equip your classroom with a rich variety of resources, including books, art supplies, natural materials, and sensory experiences. Allow children to access natural open spaces that offer enough room for free exploration.  

In the example of the Sounds Exploration project, the teacher offered different materials and contexts for the learners to make and identify sounds, both outside and indoors. In the open air, the teacher helped learners focus on sounds by inviting them to close their eyes and name the sounds they could hear. This takes some time and guidance to help learners to listen beyond the sounds in the foreground and pay attention to those in the background. The learners were then made aware of the sounds they made by walking on different surfaces—like pebbles, grass, and mud—and the sounds they made with sticks or by hitting the water. Outdoors contexts are full of discovery possibilities. 

Indoors, the children used materials such as plastic tops, foil, plastic, cellophane, construction paper, and cardboard to make sounds. Wood blocks, musical instruments, and toys (cars, trucks, dolls, balls, construction blocks) are also an option, as are the different surfaces (floor, carpets, tables) in the classroom. 

In both environments, the children had guidance to help them discover more about the sounds they produced. This connects with the next point.

Curiosity: Encourage a culture of inquiry by posing open-ended questions, stimulating wonder, and inviting children to explore topics of interest. Offer provocations and invitations to learning that spark curiosity and prompt further investigation. 

Collaboration: Facilitate opportunities for children to explore together, interact, learn from one another, and question their findings. 

Interacting with children during exploration periods

The most successful interactions a teacher can carry out in the period of inquiry are those that don’t have a single answer but allow for different responses. The children’s answers will likely be the result of the connections they make with themselves, their previous knowledge, their interaction with their peers, and the context in which they’re interacting.

As a consequence, the teacher has an opportunity to develop and model an attitude of listening and of inquiry into the children’s responses and the construction of their learning. 

For example, related to the Sounds project, the teacher might ask the following questions: 

• “How do you do it? Can you teach me?”
• “This sound... what does it remind you of?” 
• ”What other sounds can we make?”
•  ”What causes sound to be produced?”
•  ”What can we use this sound for?”

Engage in active observation: Observe children closely as they play: as they interact with each other, the decisions they make, and how they choose to communicate their feelings, emotions, thoughts. Pay attention to their interests, preferences, and inquiries.

Listen actively: Listen to the children’s conversations when you ask open-ended questions to stimulate their thinking and foster reflection and critical thinking. Encourage them to communicate their ideas and their thoughts, share observations, and voice their desire to know. 

Let the children express freely: Let them show you their willingness to deepen their knowledge. Follow their interests and curiosity, allowing them to guide the direction of their exploration. Facilitate support and resources based on their inquiries, empowering them to build knowledge and take ownership of their learning journey.

Provide research tools: Offer the children access to age-appropriate tools and materials, including books, digital resources, and hands-on experiences. Support them in navigating these resources independently, fostering self-directed learning skills.

Facilitate tools to document their findings: Provide materials and resources for learners to document their discoveries in various ways: different art forms, notes, oral dialogues, audio/video recordings. 

Transferring exploration into research projects

Children’s active exploration, properly documented, will generate a lot of information and, in turn, will create the possibility of continuing work on a specific project.

In the example of the Sounds Exploration project, the learners were invited to use the sounds they had collected, identified, and documented to make a Sound Story from a well-known story they usually read in class and enjoyed. The guiding question was this: How can the learners in this class turn [the name of the story] into a sound story?

Assist project planning: Guide children in planning and organizing their research project, and deconstruct the process into manageable steps. Help them create research questions, collect information, and develop a short-term plan of action. 

Analyze the data collected: Facilitate understanding of the findings and guide the children to become aware of which subject area they’re willing to learn more about. 

Ignite Intrinsic motivation: Provide steps for the learners to become aware of  what they already know about the specific topic in that subject area and what more they want to know, and guide them in finding where they can collect the information they’re looking for. 

Foster reflection: Promote reflection throughout the research process. Provide opportunities for children to share their findings with peers and reflect on their learning experiences and strategies.

Research projects enable teachers to empower children to make choices and decisions about their learning journey when they have a range of options and opportunities to explore their interests authentically. In addition, research projects foster collaboration and peer learning by encouraging children to work together and share what they’ve learned. 

It’s important to recognize and celebrate children’s achievements and contributions throughout the research process. Create opportunities for them to showcase their work, share their findings with others, and receive feedback and praise .

In essence, by creating an environment that nurtures exploration, supporting children during their inquiries, and empowering them to take on leadership roles in their learning, early years educators can lay the groundwork for a lifetime of curiosity, discovery, and success.

Welcome to the United Nations

Breaking gender barriers through education

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Roseline Adewuyi  is a fervent advocate for gender equality in Nigeria, driven by a passion for dismantling entrenched gender stereotypes. She spoke to Africa Renewal’s  Kingsley Ighobor on the need to empower girls through education. This is in line with the African Union’s theme for 2024: Educating and skilling Africa for the 21 st   Century.

Roseline Adewuyi believes that fighting gender inequality requires raising awareness and empowering young women and girls through education.

“My goal is to help break those barriers that limit our potential,” she told  African Renewal  in an interview. “I am talking about issues related to land rights, access to education, economic empowerment, leadership, and trust me, gender discrimination.”

Gender discrimination, she explains, is heightened during times of severe economic constraints such as now, when the tendency is often to invest in boys over girls. “That’s when parents often choose to send their sons to school or provide them start-up funding for business ventures, while daughters are expected to focus on house chores and wait for marriage. It’s absolutely absurd.” she insists. 

Roseline has her work cut out for her. “We are constantly finding ways to help women and girls break free from these constraints.” 

She founded the Ending Gender Stereotypes in Schools (ENGENDERS) project, which is dedicated to unlearning gender stereotypes in educational institutions.

“We reach the students, boys and girls in high schools and universities, and we do community engagement, speaking to parents and other influential community inhabitants,” she explains.

Already, she claims to have reached tens of communities and over 6,000 young girls through seminars and webinars, while her  blog , featuring over 300 articles on gender equity, has garnered a wide audience.

Currently pursuing a Ph.D. in French Literature with a focus on women, gender, and sexuality studies at Purdue University in Indiana, US, Roseline now aims to merge academic rigour with passionate advocacy.

“It’s an interesting intersection,” she says, adding that “The body of knowledge that we pass on to future generations is full of gender stereotypes. Our books need to be gender conscious.

“In most African literature, characters often depict women or girls as housemaids and men as pilots or engineers. It reinforces stereotypes; we need to root it out,” she stresses.

Roseline's journey into gender advocacy began in her childhood, fueled by a belief in the transformative power of education. She recognized the systemic challenges faced by African women and girls, including limited access to education and entrenched cultural biases.

“When I served as a prefect in secondary school, the belief among boys and even some girls was that I did not merit the position, that leadership was reserved for the boys. That experience sparked my curiosity as to why girls weren’t perceived as equally competent as boys.”

In 2019, she worked as a translator and interpreter for the African Union (AU), having been selected as one of 120 young people from various African countries to participate in the AU Youth Volunteer Corps. 

Her exposure to continental leaders' efforts to address gender-related challenges reinforced her conviction that gender equality is essential for achieving sustainable peace and security.

“At the AU, I also realized the connection between gender and peace and security. When there is a crisis, it is women who suffer the most. Therefore, women must be at the centre of efforts to achieve peace in our societies,” she adds.

Her international exposure includes being a participant in the Young African Leaders Initiative in 2016 (YALI – Regional Leadership Center West Africa), as well as being a Dalai Lama fellow in 2018. She says these experiences exposed her to gender best practices and strengthened her resolve to advocate for change in her home country.

Although some advances have been made in gender equality in Nigeria, Roseline highlights that the remaining hurdles include challenges in female land ownership, financial inclusion, and access to education.

“For example, we have laws [in Nigeria] that provide for women’s rights to land, but many communities still prevent them from owning a piece of land. We also have situations in which widows are not allowed to inherit the properties of their husbands. 

She says: “So, we have a lot more work to do. We need effective community engagement in raising awareness among women about their rights.

“Importantly, we need to provide women with access to education to equip them with the knowledge and skills to assert their rights effectively.”

In her ongoing advocacy work, she acknowledges facing cyberbullying, which she attributes to resistance from elements of a patriarchal society reluctant to embrace progress.

Roseline's final message to young African women and girls is for them to drive positive change, stand up for their rights, and challenge gender norms.

Also in this issue

Guiding the Future: UN launches new panel on critical energy transition minerals

We must do more to prevent genocide

Football saved me from genocide; now I promote peace with it

30 years on, South Africa still dismantling racism and apartheid’s legacy

Kwibuka30: Learning from the past, safeguarding the future against genocide

Streamlining Egypt’s food value chain through technology

Lessons post the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda: we must speak out against discrimination and prejudice

Creating credible carbon market in Africa

REMEMBER.UNITE.RENEW.

Claver Irakoze: Bridging Generations Through the Memory of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda

We must confront the legacy of slavery, tackle systemic racism

More from africa renewal.

Advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Empowering change: Safeguarding women in Sierra Leone

Intra-African trade provides an opportunity for inclusive economic growth

Racheal’s resolve: Championing disability rights in Uganda

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Giving wednesday: project harmony works to prevent child abuse, relies on community donations for outreach.

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This Giving Wednesday, we're partnering with an organization that is transforming how the city responds to child abuse.

Project Harmony has spent decades being the voice for thousands of kids and families across the metro.

Project Harmony served 8,500 children in need of help last year.

These are kids from situations of sexual, physical, or emotional abuse or in many cases ones that have seen a violent crime or homicide.

Any type of trauma where law enforcement has to step in, Project Harmony is working side by side to talk with children impacted.

On their campus, there are 400 trained professionals to work with kids in need.

"In the past, children would have to go to all these different organizations when they made the outcry of abuse and they all worked in their own silo," said Gene Klein, said executive director of Project Harmony. "Today, the child and family come to one place, and all those professionals and all those agencies come around that child to make sure that we are not retraumatizing them as a part of that investigative process."

Project Harmony also offers resources to help families and kids through the abuse, from mental health services and advocacy to clothes and school supplies.

"When each child and family come through that investigative process, we're going to do everything we can to kind of wrap ourselves around them in the best way possible," Klein said.

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Lilburn man sentenced to a century behind bars for images of child sexual torture

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - A 76-year-old Lilburn man was sentenced to 120 years for possessing tens of thousands of images and hundreds of videos depicting children being sexually abused and even tortured. 

Roger Sherman Wright was sentenced to serve 100 years in prison followed by 20 years' probation and must register as a sex offender for life. Gwinnett County Superior Court Judge Deborah Fluker handed down the sentence Thursday after a jury returned his guilty verdict on 10 counts of sexual exploitation of children. 

"Each one of these children in these images are victims of horrific sexual abuse. Wright continued to abuse them by downloading and sharing these images," District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said. "This is why the District Attorney’s Office is a member of the Internet Crimes Against Children task force and why the members of our Special Victims Unit will continue to aggressively prosecute anyone who exploits children." 

During Wright’s trial, it was revealed he possessed more than 50,000 images and 200 videos showing child torture and sexual abuse. Some of those files showed children bound and being sexually assaulted inside Wright’s home. Those files of child sexual abuse and child pornography were found during a 2022 raid of Wright’s home where electronic devices were seized.  

The Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, the Lilburn Police Department, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the DA’s Computer Forensics Lab assisted in the investigation and prosecution.