USAID/Sierra Leone: Girls Scholarship Program Expands in Sierra Leone

MAY 11, 2006

Girls Scholarship Program
Expands in Sierra Leone

The African Education Initiative implemented by USAID extends scholarships to encourage 3,420 girl students in six districts to stay in school.

KABALA -- Fatmata Shour is one of 3,420 girls in six Sierra Leone districts to receive grants under an Ambassador's Girls' Scholarship Program (AGSP) that was expanded for the 2005-2006 school year. Last year the AGSP provided scholarships to 3,000 girls.

USAID Mission Director Jack Winn presents textbooks to one of the 700 girls in Koinadugu District to receive the Ambassador's Girls' Scholarship.

In a March 31 ceremony at the primary school here, USAID Mission Director Jack Winn made a symbolic presentation of textbooks to Sow and some of the 700 other girls who received the AGSP grants in the Koinadugu District of northern Sierra Leone.

The full grant consists of school uniforms, school supplies, text books, tuition fees, a daily meal, and mentoring activities, including tutoring and HIV/AIDS awareness training. The AGSP is part of a $200 million, five-year African Education Initiative, administered by USAID and designed to provide young African girls greater access to quality educational opportunities.

Economic pressures frequently lead to high dropout rates because school costs are beyond many families' means and girls often are compelled to leave school for domestic and income-generating work. In the targeted districts - Koinadugu, Kono, Bombali, Kailahun, Kenema and Port Loko - the trend is compounded by the debilitating economic effects of Sierra Leone's decade-long civil war.

AGSP beneficiaries are selected according to a variety of criteria, including family income level, student disability, the absence or the disability of a student's parents and academic achievement.

Fatmata Shour, a 6th-grader, is one of 700 girls to receive the Ambassador's Girls' Scholarship in Koinadugu District.

"But for the [AGSP] assistance, I am of the opinion that some of these [girls] would not be in school today," said John F. Saradugu Mansaray, inspector of schools for Koinadugu District. "We have nothing to say but to say 'thanks.'"

A pretty and poised 6th-grader, Shour noted in an address to the assembled students, parents and officials that other girls in her school are "very envious" of the AGSP recipients. She called for expansion of the program to more of the 15,579 girls enrolled in Koinadugu's primary schools.

"I am appealing to you to continue and double your efforts," she said. "What will happen to my colleagues and I if we are promoted to secondary school? Will that be the end of our education?"

The AGSP is implemented in Sierra Leone by World Education Inc. through its partners: Adventist Development Relief Agency, Forum for African Women Educationalist, Network Movement for Justice and Development, Christian Extension Services and Community Empowerment for Rural Development.

Story and photo by Richard Stirba