Tag Archives: AIDS

The Girls of South Sudan Have Exciting New Programs Coming Up

As my first post on Project Education South Sudan, I cannot even begin to share how inspiring speaking with one of the directors, Carol Rinehart, and learning about these girls has been. Whenever we have a Skype date scheduled I anxiously rush home from work to hear more about what these amazing girls are up to and learn about Carol’s travels to South Sudan as well. Though these girls have faced hardships recently, with violence close to the school, they anxiously await being able to go back to school at the end of April.

Meet some of the inspiring young ladies at Project Education South Sudan.

The girls have much to look forward to when they return to school, including finding out the results of their exams that they recently took. Last year 17 out of 23 girls graduated from primary school, in a country where just 0.8% of girls ever even attend primary school. There are also a few new amazing programs in the works that the girls will soon be able to immerse themselves in fully. Carol shared with me the following details about each of the areas that this new leadership program structure will cover:

The Girls’ Leadership Development (GLD) program is designed to support the education of young girls at Ayak Anguei Girls Primary Boarding School. The program will focus on a Student Leadership Program enhancing and educating young girls’ understanding of political participation, developing conflict resolution skills through the development of a more comprehensive student prefect school government program, developing decision-making and teambuilding skills, and supporting a healthier and more productive lifestyle for girls and their families through female health education.

Student Leadership Program: is to be implemented in Ayak Anguei Girls’ Primary School and will comprise of several learning components. Each component will integrate a holistic approach utilizing conflict resolution strategies. The development of this program draws upon CARE’s competency-based approach to leadership development, which focuses on developing a girl’s “power within” through the following characteristics: voice/assertion, decision-making, self-confidence, organization, and vision/ability to motivate others. By developing these competencies, girls are positioned to “gain public legitimacy” by developing social networks with other girls and community members and taking a civic action in the community. The student community civic action will be the implementation of a school community garden to demonstrate the CARE competency-based leadership components. It will include teacher and head master/matron leadership development, school prefect leaders & students, PTA, community elders, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Education.

Feminine Hygiene HIV/AIDS Education Program: is to be implemented at Ayak Anguei Girls Primary School with a focus to cut down on girls’ absenteeism due to monthly bleeding. Following a 2010-2012 distribution of reusable sanitary pads to girls, and completing a two year field study to measure the impact of pad use, there has shown measureable success in increased attendance. The implementation of the program consists of three educational components: 1) A reproductive health curriculum that addresses feminine hygiene and reproductive rights, 2) HIV/AIDS education, and 3) The implementation of a vocational training program that teaches girls how to sew their own sanitary pads and bring them to market.

The girls are incredibly excited to get back to school and start on these great opportunities that Project Education South Sudan is working on. I know that I cannot wait to hear more and more updates on how they are going and to tell all of you very soon!