Education > Success Stories

Africa Education Initiative Opens School Doors to Vulnerable Girls

Christiane Lokono, AGSP Scholar,Gbaffo Primary School, Zou District, Benin.

Christiane Lokono waited several years for an opportunity to go to school."I wanted to go to school. I watched all the children and told everyone I wanted to go to school." Christiane cried at home whenever she saw children her age going to school in her rural community, but Christiane's family had no resources to send her to school.

Christiane described how one day members of the local implementing partner for the Ambassadors Girls' Scholarship Program (AGSP) came to Christiane's community and told her and her family about the possibility of a scholarship. The partner, Action Group for Social Justice and Equity or Groupe d'Action pour la Justice et l'Egalite Sociale- (GAJES), is a non-governmental organization (NGO) that seeks to increase educational opportunities for women and girls in Benin.

World Education, Incorporated (WEI), a U.S. based NGO, oversees the work of GAJES and a second local NGO, the Association pour la Protection de l'Enfance Malheureuse, to assist needy girls like Christiane. Since 2004, more than 4,600 of the most disadvantaged girls including deaf girls from 40 primary schools have received assistance from the AGSP. In choosing scholars, the partners applied AEI's scholarship selection criteria of orphans, economically disadvantaged, physically handicapped, HIV/AIDS affected or infected, or otherwise vulnerable. The selection process includes public community meetings where nominees for the scholarships are introduced and presented. Without the scholarships nearly 100 percent of the girls would drop out due to a lack of funds for items covered by the scholarship. Many AGSP scholars are orphans and live with caregivers; in one school, 40 of the 50 girls are cared for by people other than their parents. Several scholars are previous victims of child trafficking and the practice of child slavery or Vidomègon, where girls serve as domestic servants.

Today, thanks to AEI's scholarship program for vulnerable and disadvantaged girls, eight-year old Christiane is enrolled as a grade 3 pupil at Gbaffo Primary School where she excels. She is happy because she has everything for school that her family could not afford to provide, a uniform, a school bag, shoes, a blackboard, chalk, textbooks, school supplies, and a small daily stipend--all part of the AGSP package. Christiane also feels supported by the AGSP sponsored mentoring services. Her mentor, a volunteer from the community, visits the AGSP scholars regularly at home and gives them advice on healthy living, hygiene, and the prevention of HIV/ AIDS. Christiane explains that her future looks very bright and she wants to continue her studies to the university level and become a doctor or a lawyer.

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