In Senegal’s Fatick region, 75% of families suffer from chronic poverty.  Senegalese families are large, averaging 9 people per household. This often leaves families with scarce resources.  Education is not a guarantee, especially for girls who are often expected to drop out of school early to help with household chores.  Two-thirds of women and girls aged 15 and up cannot read or write and just 8% of girls go on to tertiary education.

One Day’s Wages partnered with Women’s Global Education Project to ensure middle school girls can attend and succeed in school. To overcome the financial barriers that prohibit girls from continuing their studies, 70 girls received comprehensive scholarships that cover school fees, menstrual pads, lunch money, school uniforms, textbooks, notebooks, and backpacks.  Another 90 girls in their final year of middle school received tutoring to pass the national exam that allows them to qualify for high school. Among scholarship recipients, 93% passed the exam!  To further support girls’ empowerment, menstrual and reproductive health workshops were held on weekends for 174 girls.  Finally, awareness meetings drew a total of 7,397 parents and community members who now better understand the importance of girls’ education and of preventing early marriage and pregnancy.