School Girls Unite
Innovations in
Civic
Participation is pleased to profile School
Girls Unite, the first-place
winner of the project
Innovations in International
Youth Volunteering, an effort
to
identify and reward innovation in youth
volunteering from around the world.
This project was commissioned by
v
(http://www.wearev.com/),
a charity based in
England
which is
dedicated to motivating a million more youth
to volunteer in their
communities.
School Girls
Unite/Les Filles Unies is a collaborative
effort between high school students
in
Mali
and the
US
to increase
awareness about the educational inequalities
facing girls from around the world.
Girls in the two
countries actively lobby government, work to
solve community problems, and
through their unique intercontinental
connection, build international
understanding.
The
USbranch
of School Girls Unite is based out of the
Greater Washington DC area,
and mobilizes teenage girls to advocate for
the U.N. Millennium Development
Goals of gender equity and universal
education. This nonprofit also raises
funds to support education for girls in Mali,
and has raised over $10,000 in
scholarships and small school improvement
projects which are managed and
monitored by Les Filles Unies.
In
February 2008, School Girls Unite collaborated
with the International Center for Research on Women on
the devastating problem of child
marriage. Testimonials from Filles Unies (the
Malian sister organization of
School Girls Unite) about the ongoing practice
of child brides along with a
youth-produced video petition can be viewed at
http://schoolgirlsunite.org/childbrides.php.
This video was produced by Mira Fleming, who
was featured in the ICP Youth
Global Volunteering Research Project
award.
Meanwhile, girls
in their sister organization
in
Mali,
Les Filles
Unies pour l’Education, have become community
activists for gender and
educational equality. In particular, several
of the girls who have received
scholarships from School Girls Unite have
become extremely active in Filles
Unies, lobbying the Malian government and
speaking in public on the group’s
behalf. In January 2008, Filles Unies did a
15-minute interview on l'ORTM, a
major radio station in
Bamako
about
their activities to increase educational
opportunities for every girl in
Mali.
The girls are preparing to launch a youth
radio training and production program
in March 2008. In addition,
Filles Unies
have also become engaged in villages, working
to create solutions for major
concerns such as water shortages.
Members of both
organizations
meet twice a month to discuss plans for
further fundraising and advocacy.
The girls have also exchanged ideas
between
continents, overcoming the barriers of
distance and language to hold several video
conferences in an effort to increase virtual
communication between the two
groups.
The sister
organizations have
built a relationship which empowers both
groups of girls to consider how they
can improve their communities and the world
and then put those plans into
action. As director Wendy Lesko explains,
“Instead of pity or charity, this leadership
development program engages young women to
examine barriers to girls going to
school and to explore strategies to overcome
these obstacles – and at the same
time, actually see the advantages and
disadvantages of their scholarship
program.”
The members of
School Girls Unite
and Filles Unies have all participated in
conferences, spoken in front of
public officials and journalists, and worked
to convince their peers of the
importance of their work. Their activities
have taught them about project
management and fundraising as well as what it
takes to be a community leader
and public speaker. The international
collaboration between the American and
Maligirls
has shaped their world outlook and increased
their awareness of global
issues and social injustices.
In order to help
other young
leaders stand up for social causes, School
Girls Unite is sponsoring a
public speaking presentation called INSPIRE!
Speak to Motivate on March 8,
2008.The announcement
can be accessed at http://schoolgirlsunite.org/INSPIREMarch8Registration&ParentPermission.doc
For additional
information about School Girls
Unite, please visit their website at http://www.schoolgirlsunite.org or
contact them at info@schoolgirlsunite.org.
