As we head towards the end of what has been, and continues to be, a very challenging year for so many of us, we also want to take a moment to say THANK YOU…
 
To all our friends and supporters, who have taken time throughout the year to check in with us, to rally at short notice to offer immediate funds to help our partners deal with the COVID-19 crisis, and who continue to cheer on the important work of encouraging girls who, in spite of their disadvantages, persist. Your interest and support for our work never fails to put a smile on our faces and joy in our hearts.

Because so many people are hurting this year, financially and otherwise, we have decided to forego our annual online fundraising campaign. However, we have set up this general donation page for anyone who would still like to contribute – your support as always will be deeply appreciated to keep our work going in 2021. 

Every penny, every dollar contributed in 2019/2020 made an impact in a girl’s life. Here’s how you helped –   

·  We provided an annual grant of $5000 to our partner on the ground in Ethiopia – the Girls Gotta Run Foundation. Since 2014, we’ve partnered with GGRF to provide grants to help them grow their athletic scholarship programmes in Sodo and Bekoji for adolescent girls at risk of early/child marriage. Today, GGRF engages 275 girls and 80 mothers directly with programming around life skills, athletics, peer-support, entrepreneurship and savings clubs, as well as impacts over 1,000 community members. Many of our girls are headed to college, a rare feat for young women in Ethiopia. 

In addition, we also provided an emergency grant of $1500 in April for GGRF’s Emergency Covid-19 Relief Fund. The grant was provided as a ‘match’ to attract more contributions to the relief fund, and helped lead to over $3000 being raised. During the school shutdown in Ethiopia, girls were provided with free lunch and snacks, soap, menstrual hygiene supplies and access to safe hygiene facilities, as well as medical subsidies to cover unexpected medical costs. Savings groups also continued to operate as a vital source of emergency loans for mothers of the girls, and a channel to raise awareness about how to protect their families and communities during the pandemic.
 
·  We were honored to partner for the first time with Code to Inspire, the first coding school for young women in Afghanistan. Founded by Fereshteh Forough, a computer science professor, who studied and then taught at Herat University, CTI is a non-profit training programme that to-date has taught more than 200 young women how to code, and build mobile apps and games. Over 70% of CTI’s graduates have found work, earning above-average wages in their country. By focusing on equipping young women with technology and digital skills, CTI is challenging traditional negative attitudes towards girls’ education in Afghanistan, and empowering girls to grow expertise and get jobs in male-dominated fields, and ultimately to challenge the status quo that considers women inferior to men.
 
Good for Girls provided CTI with an initial grant of $2500 which was allocated to purchasing high performance touchpad tablets/computers for advanced graphic design work, to kick-start a new year-long after-school programme. Additionally, we also provided an emergency COVID-19 grant of $1350 which bought internet access for 4 months for 21 students so they could continue remote learning during the country’s COVID-19 outbreak.  [Photos: Athletic scholars, Ethiopia, courtesy of Girls Gotta Run Foundation; and Young woman learning graphic design, Afghanistan, courtesy of Code to Inspire]