Celebrate the 2019 East African Girls Leadership Summit With Us!

The East African Girls Leadership Summit is this week and we wanted to share an update about the great work our friends at the Creative Action Institute are doing. This year, they are hosting 60 girls from 5 countries: Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda. The girls attending are between the ages of 12 and 20, and are chosen because they are enrolled in school but are economically disadvantaged, have disabilities, or are disadvantaged in some other way. The leadership training each girl receives helps her to find her voice and become a leader in her school and community at large.

Two girls working on a theater skit together. Many girls and mentors use theater and drama to share important information when they return to their communities.

In addition to the young women, there are 40 mentors attending this year’s summit as well. Mentors receive extensive training and support outside of the East African Girls Leadership Summit and continue their work with younger EAGLS participants after the summit has concluded. As the name implies, mentors help girl leaders to implement social actions in their communities, such as advocating against child marriage, pushing to get more girls enrolled in schools, and speaking out against gender-based violence. Together, girls and mentors are creating a positive ripple-effect for girls in East Africa, one community at a time.

Neema, a second-year mentor from Young Women Empowered, shared:

“The big problem we have is the number of girls who drop out of school. We want education for all girls, so we are mobilizing community by talking to parents to bring girls back to school.”

In order to combat this issue, Neema and Young Women Empowered engaged 70 parents, 32 girls, 15 local leaders, and 5 teachers in Eastern Rwanda by using theater, song, and poetry that explored the topic of girls’ education. This creative action was used as a launching point for dialogue about keeping girls in school. Neema and her team met with 32 girls who had dropped out of school because they didn’t see the importance of staying and finishing their education. Through the Young Women Empowered campaign, the parents of 20 of those girls have already decided to send them back to school. Additionally, Neema and her group broadcasted on a local radio show to engage listeners on the importance of keeping girls in school.

A mentor engaging local leaders and parents in a dialogue about the importance of educating girls.

It’s exciting to see how these mentors and young leaders are stepping up to advocate for girls and create a more educated generation in East Africa. Only imagine what life in East Africa would be like if every girl finished school, knew her rights, and wasn’t afraid to raise her voice?