As the year draws to a close we wanted to wish all our dear friends, supporters and well-wishers a great year ahead – thank you for walking this path with us to help level the playing field for disadvantaged girls.

And a BIG thank you to everyone who has contributed to our annual fundraiser! (The campaign will run until Dec 31st just in case anyone still wanted to donate).

And now…a few words from the girls and young women who benefit from your support:

Momtaz Nabizada – Graphic Designer, Herat, Afghanistan

“As a student of graphic design at Code to Inspire (CTI), I can confidently say that it is the best tech education program for girls in Afghanistan. It provided me with a safe and trusted environment, equipped with all the necessary educational facilities. CTI not only prepared me for the professional world but also empowered me to work in Afghanistan or remotely after graduation. CTI has completely transformed my life. I not only became a skilled graphic designer but also had the opportunity to work on several paid projects, earning income for the first time. With an enhanced portfolio and gained experience, CTI opened doors for me that I never imagined possible.” 

Marta – GGRF Athletic Scholar, Bekoji, Ethiopia (pictured below in black blazer)

“My mom died when I was young, so I support myself by making baskets and wall hangings to sell in the market on weekends. But without GGRF, I could not stay in school. I am a runner, but also have other dreams – I want to be a journalist.”

When her husband left, Dasi Alamu from Bekoji, Ethiopia, had to eke out a living to provide for her family of six children. She worked as a laborer and sold goods at the local market.

Dasi credits the Girls Gotta Run Foundation (supported by Project Good for Girls), for helping her family embark on a life-changing path. A former runner herself, and committed to education for her daughters, she accepted for her eldest daughter Sisay to join the GGRF athletic scholars programme in its early days in Bekoji.

Now Ester, her younger daughter, is working hard on her studies and athletics as a current GGRF scholar, and Dasi is an active member of the GGRF Mothers’ Savings Group. Through the group, she gained a support network and was able to start a micro-business, eventually using her earnings to build a house for her family. More good news arrived just this fall, when Sisay (at right), graduated from Addis Ababa University with a degree in accounting.*

Dasi Alamu and her younger daughter Ester, who is currently a GGRF scholar.

*This is a remarkable achievement since education rates for girls in Ethiopia still hover around 25 percent secondary school completion, and just 10% of those with secondary education going on to higher education.

Photo: GGRF athletic scholars sit down to lunch at school, photo courtesy of GGRF

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL 2023!

Once again, we’re commemorating the day by launching our annual fundraiser in support of girls’ education and skills-building!

Over the last few years, our grant project partners have been working extremely hard to get ahead of an onslaught of tough challenges due to COVID-19, inflation and severe political instability in their countries. Their tireless efforts are truly impressive and inspiring, and have allowed many of the girls we support to continue with their learning.

We hope you will join us to help provide critical support over the coming year, especially in light of new funding challenges caused the effects of global inflation. Every bit counts! [Click here to go to our online fundraiser]

PARTNER PROJECT UPDATES

Girls Gotta Run Foundation, Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, where GGRF operates, only about 25% of girls go to secondary school. Far fewer graduate and just a tiny fraction go on to tertiary education. Child marriage, where girls are married off before age 18 (often right when they hit puberty) continues to be a serious problem. Once a girl is married, her access to education and peer networks ceases, and motherhood follows soon after despite the girl still being a child herself.

GGRF’s mission – through athletics and life skills – is to increase the number of girls in school, while also increasing their self-confidence, access to economic assets, and control over life choices. Because of the pandemic and political conflict, restoring regular programming has been especially hard. However, over the course of 2022-2023, both staff and partners have worked immensely hard to get things back to normal programming.

In Bekoji and Sodo, a total of 75 adolescent girls were added to the programme (increasing from 160 girls in 2022). They all receive scholarships which provide tuition, school lunches, school uniforms and hygiene supplies, running kits, life-skills education, and access to showers and laundry.

Since its launch in 2014, 98% of girls who completed the programme have delayed marriage and childbirth (before 18 or before completing secondary school). 96% have finished or are on track to finish secondary school, and a significant number have gone on to college and tertiary vocational studies. In addition, GGRF has made an important impact on the community, reaching over 1400 people including parents, siblings, and community leaders. One example of this impact is the establishment of Mothers’ Groups — these are voluntary groups run by the mothers of GGRF scholars, who support each other to become financially independent and expand their entrepreneurial skills and opportunities. Many of these women were once child brides themselves, robbed of their youth and potential — they are committed to a different future for their daughters, and to raising each other up to forge their independence and improve the lives of their families.

In Sodo, the Mothers’ Group, which was newly set up in 2022, is now at the stage where they make loans to one another, after reviewing each other’s practical business plans (such as buying two chickens to sell the eggs). The group unanimously agreed to award the very first loan to one of the mothers who needed emergency care for her son with malaria, resulting in the boy making a full recovery. According to Kiddist, GGRF programme manager in Sodo, “the Mothers’ Group really saved his life.”

As partner, we hope to continue supporting GGRF to expand its support for adolescent girls both joining the programme, and as alumni so they can continue with their studies and give back by becoming life-skills mentors to the younger girls. We also hope to help strengthen the Mothers’ Groups to promote community-led women’s and girl’s empowerment activities. Our 2023-2024 contribution will be especially critical to help keep the organization running in light of recent financial constraints related to inflation.

Photo: GGRF athletic scholars at training; photo courtesy of GGRF

Code to Inspire, Afghanistan

The upheaval and turmoil In Afghanistan caused by the seizure of power by the Taliban in 2021 continues to disrupt the lives of millions of women and girls living there. Education is prohibited for girls and women.

After the Taliban took over in Herat in August 2021, CtI was forced to cease operations and figure out how to adapt to the unsafe and highly volatile situation. All schools for teenage girls were closed permanently. In October, CtI’s entire coding and graphic design curriculum was moved online using Google classroom. After assessing students’ needs and technical capabilities, laptops were provided to girls who needed them, along with monthly internet subscriptions so all students could continue their online classes. Through our flash fundraising appeal in October 2021, we were immensely grateful to all our donors for helping to provide $12000 in urgent funds to CtI to help meet their students’ and families’ immediate needs during the crisis, which included food, medicine, rent assistance and internet access.

Photo: Farahnaz Osmani, a CtI student, and a drawing she has titled ‘Hope’; courtesy of CtI

A year later, through sheer, unrelenting persistence, CtI received permission to renew its work permit, meaning that its coding school could legally reopen. In October 2022, a new graphic design class welcomed 200 girls and young women (a one-year tertiary afterschool programme), and 80 students began a full-stack web development course. However, completely unexpectedly, on 20th December 2022, the Taliban declared that all education and extracurricular activities for women and girls, including tertiary/university students, would be suspended indefinitely.

Once again, CtI had to adapt rapidly, and shift all its operations and programmes online. Your support helped to keep courses running through the purchase of devices and internet access. In October 2023, testament to the resilience of Afghan women and their strong desire to learn, CtI introduced three new cohorts specializing in Graphic Design, UX/UI, and Motion/Animation. 80% of its students have been able to continue learning, and many young women have also been able to continue earning an income through remote work contracts that help support their families.

Sadly, disaster struck again just last week, when a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck Afghanistan’s northwest region, particularly affecting Herat province. Thousands of people lost their lives, were badly injured or remain missing – 2/3 of the victims are women and children.

As partner, our support will go towards meeting whatever needs are most pressing among the students of CtI, including emergency and medical care, and food and hygiene supplies. We are holding our partner and their staff and students close to our hearts at this awful time.

From all of us at Project Good For Girls, wishing you peace, love and light this holiday season.

Thank you once again for helping us smash our fundraising goals this year – every cent will go far towards helping girls get the education they deserve. Your contributions support our wonderful grant partners – Girls Gotta Run Foundation in Ethiopia, and Code to Inspire in Afghanistan – in their critical work to help change negative mindsets about the value of girls’ education, challenge harmful customs like child/early marriage, and build community understanding for girls’ and women’s right to dignity, safety, independence and secure livelihoods.

Click here to check out our awesome t-shirt campaign (gorgeously designed by board member Diana Yeo).

Happy thanksgiving to all our friends, supporters and well-wishers.

For those who have been with us from the beginning, thank you for being on our journey. For those who’ve just joined us, we are grateful you’re here.

Together, we are helping to give impoverished and disadvantaged girls a leg up, to help their lights – and their futures – shine brighter.

Make a donation to our annual fundraiser.

HAPPY INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL 2022! We’re commemorating the day by launching our annual fundraiser in support of girls’ education and skills-building!

Please join us to help provide much-needed support over the coming year. Every bit counts!

Over the last few years, our grant project partners have been working extremely hard to get ahead of an onslaught of tough challenges due to COVID-19 and severe political instability in their countries. And while there are definite successes to report, there is still much to do to get things back on track.

PROJECT UPDATES

• Girls Gotta Run Foundation 

In Ethiopia, where GGRF operates, only about 25% of girls go to secondary school. Far fewer graduate and just a tiny fraction go on to tertiary education. Child marriage, where girls are married off before age 18 (often right when they hit puberty) continues to be a serious problem. Once a girl is married, her access to education and peer networks ceases, and motherhood follows soon after despite the girl still being a child herself.

GGRF’s mission – through athletics and life skills – is to increase the number of girls in school, while also increasing their self-confidence, access to economic assets, and control over life choices. Because of the pandemic and political conflict, continuing regular programming has been especially hard. However, through sheer perseverance and the hiring of new, dedicated staff, work is getting back to full strength.

Over 160 adolescent girls receive scholarships which provide tuition, school lunches, school uniforms and hygiene supplies, running kits, life-skills education, and access to showers and laundry. New girls are being added to the programme for the 2022/2023 school year, with a focus on girls who lost out because schools were closed during the pandemic.

Since its launch in 2014, 95% of girls who completed the programme have avoided early marriage (before 18 or before completing secondary school). And a significant number have gone on to college and tertiary vocational studies. We hope to support GGRF to assist alumni to continue with their studies and give back by becoming life-skills mentors to the younger girls.

• Code to Inspire

The upheaval and turmoil In Afghanistan caused by the seizure of power by the Taliban in 2021 continues to disrupt the lives of millions of women and girls living there. Secondary schools for girls remain closed.

After the Taliban took over in Herat in August 2021, CtI was forced to cease operations and figure out how to adapt to the unsafe and highly volatile situation. In October, the entire coding and graphic design curriculum was moved online using Google classroom. After assessing students’ needs and technical capabilities, laptops were provided to girls who needed them, along with monthly internet subscriptions so all students could continue their online classes. 

Through our flash fundraising appeal in Sept-Oct last year, we were immensely grateful to all our donors for helping to provide $12000 in urgent funds to CtI to help meet their students’ and families’ immediate needs during the crisis, which included food, medicine, rent assistance and internet access. Today, 80% of CtI’s students are on track to complete their classes using Google classroom.

Through unrelenting persistence, and never giving up hope, CtI finally just received permission to renew its work permit, meaning that the coding school can legally reopen. For 2023, this means that a new graphic design class can be held for 180 girls and young women as a one-year afterschool programme (tertiary level only). We hope to support CtI with a grant to roll out this class, purchase new equipment and furniture for the school, and subsidize internet costs.

A week ago when we launched our urgent appeal for the girls of Code to Inspire, our partner organization in Afghanistan, we set a goal of $5000. We didn’t expect that we not only would raise that amount in just 2 days, but that we would more than double it.

Together, thanks to you, our generous friends and supporters, we raised close to $12000, every cent of which will go to the girls and their families in Afghanistan.

Our hearts are full with gratitude.