Before joining the Glocal Program, I was fortunate to work as the district project coordinator in a project called Girls Read in Ndola, Zambia.

This project, conducted by the Forum for African Women Educationalists of Zambia (FAWEZA) in partnership with Population Council and World Reader )with funding support from PEPFAR/USAID’s DREAMS project( included a two year program that was implemented in 36 schools in the three districts of Chingola, Ndola and Lusaka. The project, which targeted a total number of 1,152 adolescent girls aged 12 to 19, aimed to address and decrease the phenomenon of girls prematurely leaving School, a phenomenon with many harmful consequences and strong links to HIV/ AIDS. 

Focused in selected schools with high percentage of over aged girls, both in rural and peri-urban environments, the project had three key components: after class safe spaces, Parent engagement meetings and E-reading.  The project involved as well two mentors per school that mentored the girls on a regular basis, teach on topics relating to public health and conduct fun learning activities using the E-readers (kindle) provided to them. As a result, the girls have a stronger contact with the institution and its staff and thus tend to remain in school.  

This project was a part of the DREAMS initiative (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe) which is an ambitious $385 million USAID initiative to reduce HIV infection among adolescent girls and young women in HIV priority areas. As a part of this initiative, the two-year DREAMS innovation challenge project/research is meant to address girls prematurely leaving School, a phenomenon with many harmful consequences and strong links to HIV/ AIDS. 

Although I had been already working with FAWEZA before the project started, I was eager to join this specific project because of its unique approach. Through my work, my role was critical because besides conducting all activities and ensuring mentors delivered the curriculum to the girls, I was key in ensuring cooperation and collaborations between the different stakeholders i.e. the government, school managers, donors and implementing partners such as the parents and most importantly the participating girls themselves. 

I was privileged to see the first year of the project conclude with the first group of girls successfully graduating after 19 sessions. The greatest joy was to see girls graduate from the program more empowered with skills and knowledge on HIV/AIDS prevention, pregnancy, goal settings, effective communication and assertiveness. Additionally, it was empowering to see how the parents and teachers appreciated the project and were inspired to create similar initiatives that encourage girls schooling in their communities.