| Promoting Girls Education in the Gambia |
In 2011, The Abundance Fund is focusing on improving girls education in The Gambia.
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According to the UN, "Access to and retention in basic education, particularly for girls, has been problematic over many years in The Gambia. Some of the specific barriers to girls’ education include the following:
- direct and indirect costs of education. Parents invest their limited resources in educating sons before daughters;
- quality and relevance of the curriculum. There is a perception that Western education and special attention to girls contribute to the erosion of moral values and threaten culture and tradition;
- cultural constraints. The subordinate position of women is manifested in many ways, including in a paucity of female teachers and the traditional division of domestic labor, which places girls at a disadvantage;
- safety and security issues. Sexual harassment and exploitation of female pupils constrain parents from sending their daughters to school, as do inadequate latrines, and the long distances girls have to travel to attend school; and
- in urban and semi urban areas, poor school infrastructure, limited classroom availability, and a high population growth rate continue to be major challenges."
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And yet, data shows that bolstering girls' health, education and prosperity will build prospects for her family and her country's economic prosperity:
- When a girl has seven or more years of education, she will marry four years later and have 2.2 fewer children
- When 10 percent more girls go to secondary school, the country's economy grows by 3 percent
- When an educated girl earns income, she reinvests 90 percent in her family, compared to 35 percent for a boy
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