Introduction to a big dream

"My goal is to get girl children back to school. I look through the windows of school buildings and for every 100 children I see only a few girls. I pass by people's homes and see girls hard at work - carrying water, cleaning and cooking but missing out on an opportunity for education." - Dan, Project Leader

In the past, the development sector has had programs to encourage girl children to go to school. These programs have not been as successful as hoped. So why will the dream we have for this project be realized? This intervention is different because it is designed and implemented from the ground. There is no master project full of lofty impact indicators, workshops that won't be implemented by development staff, and no donor driven agenda. This project is simply a big dream from a community leader who intends to see it through.

The purpose of this blog is to inform and engage you in this dream.

Below is a short anecdote that describe the initial steps taken by Daniel along the path to achieving quality of life for girl children.

"We visited about 4 villages in order to educate people about female child labor and education. In fact, almost everybody in the villages appreciated our visit and were happy to learn about this voluntary program.

We were able to get some people in each village to join our quest as volunteers to also mobilize or assemble the people whenever we visit the village in the future. By going around the villages we realized that there are plenty of orphans and disabled children who need to go back to school.

The villages we visited are called: Kpuliyin, Bugu, Tumo Naayilli, and Duriyo Pkalgu When we visied Kpulyin, we meet with the cheif, elders, as well as the religious leaders, the pastor and cheif Imaam. The pastor explained that he had attended numerous workshops on educating girl children but had not been able to implement the ideas he obtained in the workshops. His work keeps him busy and due to his age, he was not able to act on things. He appreciated the ideas that I brought and was happy to see that I was young and committed to the project.

The community leaders expressed that they were ready to support my project. I went home that day feeling happy with the steps I have taken."

Dan stands proud in front of the community school. He dreams of passing by this school and seeing more girls.