SeneGAD

I am currently in the midst of my first real project as a PCV and would love to share it with all of you. PC Senegal has a special program here that focuses on gender and development, SeneGAD, which works to improve the lives of women and young girls throughout Senegal. Within SeneGAD, there is a program called the Michelle Sylvester Scholarship, that works with girls in the college level, or the equivalent of our middle school system. In Senegal, the rate of enrollment for females is always below that of males, and drops off even more once they reach secondary school. After the fifth or sixth year of schooling, the rate of female dropouts also significantly increases. This can be caused by several factors, such as the family not having the money to provide school fees and supplies, or if the girl is needed in her household to help with cleaning, cooking, etc., or if her family simply doesn't support her educational endeavors, and in some cases the girls are married before they have a chance to finish their schooling. The scholarship identifies nine girls that demonstrate financial need and have a history of academic achievement. The scholarship provides the school fees for each of the girls, three of whom are selected as winners and are also provided with school supplies. The girls are recognized at a ceremony held at the school, and gender-equality events are also held at the school as a way to follow up. I am currently in the midst of the scholarship, and I am working with one of the new volunteers who lives down the road from me. We are doing the scholarship in the town where the students from her village go to college, and next year we hope tot expand to the town where the students from my village go as well. It has been great to have an actual project to do in these first few months, and also to get a chance to work with the girls in my surrounding communities. 

This is the SeneGAD website if you want any more information on the scholarship or the other projects that they work on : http://senegad.pcsenegal.org/

And if you have any interest in donating to scholarship fund you can donate to the Senegal Country Fund, and earmark the funds for either SeneGAD or MSS: https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=685-CFD