This gift in action
Of the 72 million children missing out on school, girls make up the majority. While boys are encouraged to get an education, girls are often kept at home to help with childcare or household chores. But thanks to Oxfam Unwrapped, girls are getting a head start at school.
We’re supporting community workers like Balkissa Alassane in Mali. She
visits local families to challenge attitudes and ensure girls can get the same chances as boys. She says: “I help parents to see that to educate a girl is to educate an entire nation. That’s why I fight to get girls into school. I want to see girls doing something with their minds.”
“Just a few years ago we had two classes and 18 students. Since then we’ve done a lot of awareness-raising work. Today we have many more students
and the number of girls has especially gone up – 114 girls out of 238 students in the school.”
Oxfam Unwrapped also provided school staples – desks, chairs, sports equipment, school furniture, teacher training, even toilets – to make sure all the students had the materials they needed to get a ‘class’ education.
See how Oxfam Unwrapped is also giving girls a headstart in Ethiopia by clicking on the video link above.