Mission

The Girls Foundation of Tanzania provides intellectual and financial support for educational opportunities for adolescent girls in Tanzania.

What We Do

In January 2012 we established a Sponsorship Program and are now providing sponsorships to eleven highly motivated girls in financial need to attend private girls boarding secondary schools. The girls are from the ages of 12-20 and none of their parents attended secondary school. All the girls come from chaotic backgrounds; half of them are orphans.

We established a Residency Program where the girls reside during long school vacations. The curriculum includes academic tutoring in traditional subjects as well as workshops in teambuilding, computer skills training, ESL, HIV/STD/Family Planning, Nutrition & Hygiene. We find that the variety of this curriculum is valuable in developing well-rounded, informed girls while enhancing the discipline around their academic study. The home environment we seek to create at The Girls Center fosters individual emotional and academic support and community spirit.

In January 2013, we launched The Gap Year at The Girls Center for 3 Form 4 graduates. In Tanzania Form 4 graduates take a Form 4 National Examination, which determines whether or not they qualify to continue their next level of study from O Levels/secondary school to A Levels/high school. It is a 9 month period from November-July when Form 4 students wait for their Exam Results: most students return home during this time and are idle. It presents a significant learning loss while students are not in school or an academic setting. It can also be a risky time for girls who may become pregnant while performing household and farm chores at home.

We launched an Internship Program and Volunteer Program at The Girls Center for the Form 4 graduates from January-July. The students interned at a local bank. (Internships are unheard of in Tanzania!) The internships provided real world skills to the girls and they now have a better understanding of which skills are prized by employers. The girls also volunteered at the local primary school teaching Math and English.