By Merritt Frey, Executive Director
It has been a while since we caught you up with our newest project -- the Girls Project. The wait isn't because of lack of action -- our intrepid Girls Project Coordinator Hindaty has been very busy.
Check out the full "Behind the Scenes" update for October - December here. (If you missed the first BTS update, you can find the Girls Project BTS for August-September here.) Here's a quick summary of the highlights of last quarter:
- Girls in each pilot village selected their own leadership. We really want the monthly Girls Group meetings to be led by girls, and they've embraced this idea. Our US staff and visitors met with the Girls Group leadership during our December visit and we were very impressed with their poise and confidence.
- Monthly Girls Group meetings cover several key issues. For example, in November the girls discussed the value of girls' education. They even interviewed educated and uneducated women in their village and presented stories to the full group. In another example, December's topic was menstruation and reproductive health. Girls received reusable menstrual kits that will last them 3 years -- giving each girl an extra 45 days of school each year.
- Collecting important baseline information. Mali Rising is committed to making sure our projects really work. In the first meeting of the Girls Groups, girls filled out a self-evaluation that will allow us to measure their progress on several key measures over the course of the year and over the three-year project.
Learn more about each of these areas and more in the full Behind the Scenes wrap up for October through December.
