Success·philanthropy‘When our girls succeed, we all do’: Michelle Obama group pledges $2.5 million to adolescent girls’ education effortsBy James PollardBy The Associated PressBy James PollardBy The Associated Press Forrmer First Lady Michelle Obama.Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, FileFormer first lady Michelle Obama is putting new force behind efforts to ensure girls overcome educational barriers in some of the world’s most economically disadvantaged areas.
The Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance pledged Saturday to rally $2.5 million for dozens of grassroots groups who advance adolescent girls’ education by covering school-related costs, challenging patriarchal practices such as child marriage, counseling survivors of sexual abuse and viding other forms of support.
“These groups are changing the way girls see themselves in their own communities and in our world, helping create the leaders we need for the brighter future we all deserve,” Obama said in a released Oct.
11, the International Day of the Girl.
“Because when our girls succeed, we all do.” Nearly three-quarters of the 119 million girls out of school worldwide are of secondary school-age, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Girls Opportunity Alliance — an outgrowth of an Obama White House initiative that invested $1 billion in U.S.
government grams moting adolescent girls’ education abroad — launched in 2018 with a focus on helping that population between ages 10-19 graduate.
But the announcement comes amid stark warnings from international aid groups that budget cuts will roll back recent gress.
UNICEF jects that a 24% drop in wealthy countries’ global education funding will push six million girls out of school by the end of next year.
“The need right now, I think more than ever, is crucial,” Girls Opportunity Alliance Executive Director Tiffany Drake said.
“We were Mauritius and we heard it time and time again that organizations need funding.
They need support.” Girls Opportunity Alliance’s early October convening in Mauritius brought together Asian and African members of its network.
The great demands on local leaders doing tireless work with little resources made it, in Drake’s view, perhaps the most moving gathering they’ve hosted.
But Jackie Bomboma, the founder of Young Strong Mothers Foundation in Tanzania, said connecting with other powerful women there left her encouraged with the knowledge that she’s not alone.
A recipient of GOA’s grants, she said the Obama Foundation’s endorsement not only brings financial support, but increased trust from the international community and additional channels to get resources.
Growing up without a mother and having survived teenage pregnancy, Bomboma said Obama’s example has also instilled confidence in her and the girls she serves.
Her nonfit vides psychological services, vocational training, entrepreneurship skills development and sexual health lessons to hundreds of girls at risk of child marriage, teenage pregnancy and school dropout.
“We call ourselves ‘watoto wa Michelle Obama,’ which means ‘the children of Michelle Obama,’” she said.
“So, everyone feels so ud to have such a mother who is very strong, who is very powerful and who is very loving.” The Girls Opportunity Alliance fund is intentionally designed to vide a range of support.
Drake said anyone can apply for up to $50,000. The grant does not support general operations but instead goes toward a specific ject outlined by the recipient.
Once they’ve joined the network, community leaders have access to monthly training sessions online and in-person gatherings, where they strategies and learn from larger nongovernmental organizations such as UNICEF and the Children.
Girls Opportunity Alliance funds an undisclosed amount and then uses its wide reach to help organizations raise the rest on GoFundMe pages.
The campaigns are moted publicly on its social media accounts and throughout its donor network of celebrities and corporations.
The idea, according to Drake, was to use their “megaphone” to heap additional attention on and garner more support for organizations that often struggle to get by in more remote locations.
Girls Opportunity Alliance hopes everyday individuals are inspired to join them. “We didn’t want to just tell people and say, ‘Google how you can help,’ Drake said.
“We wanted to give them a place where they can take action.” ___ Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonfits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc.
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