Girls’ Empowerment Program

More than 98 million adolescent girls in the world do not go to school. Many of these girls are in the northern Togo where some families tend to think girls should not go to school. Boys are thought to have the whole privilege and to be the most endowed with intelligence to go to school and to take care of the family later. Some girls grow up thinking this is normal and that they do not possess any skill to stand out or to contribute to their families’ or to their communities’ well-being. Worst of all is that some grew up in this context and are happy to stay at home considering themselves as the ones who should stay at home and do all the house work. Further, there are many of those girls who would love to set foot in school but cannot make it because of the bias the society has on them or because of the financial challenges. Today most of the girls who are at home have gone to school but quickly abandoned because of problems like the burden of the parents on them to get married, poverty, early pregnancies, lack of support, ignorance etc.

This program aims at empowering secondary and high schools girls coming from three regions of Togo: Central, Kara and Savannah region where girls’ education is a true challenge. Our goal is to empower girls for a sustainable development. Our core objectives are to endow these adolescent girls with tools they can use to fight for their autonomy, explore educational opportunities for girls, raise girls’ awareness on their hidden skills, and help them unleash their leadership potential. We believe that if girls are given equal chances as far as education is concerned, they will be able to take healthy and courageous risks, support their families, take care of their children and change the world.