“To educate Tanzanian girls who are poor, marginalized and at-risk of becoming involved in exploitative forms of child labor.”
Nurturing Minds in Africa is a non-profit organization working to change our world through the education and empowerment of vulnerable girls in Tanzania.
But Why Girls?
Across the developing world, women and girls are consistently marginalized and undervalued. Education beyond primary school is often out of the question for those living in poverty, regardless of their previous academic performance or desire to learn.
In families in which funds are limited, boys are usually educated before girls, as the boys are expected to make a long-term economic contribution back to their families.
And yet a striking body of evidence demonstrates that educating and empowering women to realize their full potential may be the MOST POWERFUL WAY to break the cycle of poverty and create prosperity:
- An extra year of secondary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 15-25%.
- When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90% of it in their families, buying books, medicine and bed nets and ensuring education for their children.
- Girls who stay in school for seven or more years typically marry four years later and have two fewer children than girls who drop out. And fewer dependents per worker allows for greater economic growth.
- When 10% more girls go to secondary school, a country’s economy grows by 3%.
- As much as 55% of the reduction in hunger from 1970 to 1995 can be attributed to improvements in women’s education and their status in society.
- School-based HIV/AIDS education programs are effective in preventing HIV infection, reducing the burden of this disease on families and communities.
Source: “What Works in Girls’ Education” by Barbara Herz and Gene B. Sperling, 2004, Council on Foreign Relations
“Investment in girls’ education may well be the highest-return investment available in the developing world”
Larry Summers, former Chief Economist at the World Bank
Nurturing Minds is investing in the SEGA Girls School with the conviction that the education of vulnerable girls in Tanzania will give them the opportunity to lift themselves and their families out of poverty, improve their nation’s economy, and ultimately change our world!
To find out more visit: http://nurturingmindsinafrica.org/