Afar Women and Girls Empowerment Project, funded by the Embassy of Canada (CFIL)
A community-led project to get more girls in Dulessa into school, and to make sure they learn well once they are there.
Girls and young women are usually the most overlooked people in Afar. Many parents do not yet see much value in educating their daughters. With little money and many demands on it, families often choose to send one boy to school and do not see what their girls could achieve. This project, funded through the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives, aims to change that thinking and to make girls’ education something the whole community takes on.
To get more girls into school in Dulessa district, the project tackles the many different things that hold them back, all at once. It works with disadvantaged girls aged 10 to 19, households headed by women, orphans and other vulnerable children, children with special needs, and others who are left out.
Getting girls into school is not enough. We also make sure they are taught well, so that what they learn lets them be valued as equal partners in changing their families, communities, schools and country.