DON'T LET COVID KEEP GIRLS FROM LEARNING!
We believe in the power of education. But when school is cancelled, we have to do what we do best — we IMPROVISE!
*Cue newsreader voice*
A global pandemic has interrupted our regular programming to bring you ... GIRL TOK! It’s new. It’s bold. And it’s all tok tok tok! (talk, talk, talk)
With so much uncertainty around the world, we have to work to stay focussed on our mission — educating girls. It's what makes us tick, and we know you get a buzz out of it too! But the majority of the girls we work with have little to no access to even basic connection necessities like a phone, phone credit or electricity. Home-schooling in Australia during Covid has been pretty rough for a lot of parents (we salute you!), but imagine doing it without technology!
We know situations like Covid-19 lead to school completion rates going down, so we need to provide girls with the tools they need to make it back into the classroom when the dust settles.
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Girl Tok is a pilot designed for remote learning and for keeping girls happy and healthy. Here's how it works:
1. Girls are invited into small online clubs which are hosted on WhatsApp.
2. They then get to complete activities, lessons and competitions, which provide learning, self-confidence and life-skills.
3. They'll receive educational messages and resources about wellbeing, sexual and reproductive health, and sexual and gender-based violence.
4. One Girl staff will conduct wellness checks — phone calls geared to support the girls’ emotional and social needs (kinda like a friend giving you a quick call to check-in and see how you’re doing).
Now we're not about to reinvent our own wheel here because as you know we continually evaluate and improve our programs. All the educational content is from the same amazing programs we're famous for and the girls are still in the driver's seat — but Girl Tok will make it available online so it's just the vehicle that's changed. Basically, we want to give the girls educational hovercrafts (just kidding, we can't afford hovercrafts. But hovercrafts are awesome. I'm looking at you, McFly)!
Girl Tok will help girls build connections with their peers and female mentors and make sure education is still part of their routines. The fallout from this global event could trigger trauma or stress, so we want to train our field staff to provide the support needed to make sure girls have everything they need to navigate their way back to the classroom!
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WHEN YOU EDUCATE A GIRL, EVERYTHING CHANGES.
HOLISTIC SUPPORT
FOR HEADS and HEARTS
$500 is enough to provide two field staff with the psycho-social training needed to support the girls during this time.
$200 can provide a girl with a smartphone so she can stay connected to her peers, access support from One Girl and participate in online Girls’ clubs designed to continue learning while schools are closed!
$130 can provide a young woman with enough data for five months — hopefully, long enough to see her through, right up until schools open again!
$50 is enough to provide a girl with a solar panel to provide electricity to charge her smartphone with!
$30 could provide more than 100 girls with SIM cards to stay connected.
Let's make sure lockdown doesn't become yet another barrier keeping girls from accessing life-changing education!
THE GLOBAL EDUCATION EMERGENCY
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the biggest disruption to education that the world has ever seen. At its height, 9 out of 10 students in the world were out of school, and today 1.2 billion students are affected. More than 80% of them are in developing countries, where school closures are compounding an already urgent learning crisis.
These unprecedented disruptions will have immediate consequences for children’s learning and their wellbeing. The brunt of the impacts, as with most crises, will be borne by those who are already most in need of education. The longer schools remain closed, the greater the damage will be. And the worst may be yet to come.
– Global Partnership for Education
When Ebola swept through Sierra Leone, teen pregnancy increased by 65%, there were more maternal and child deaths and a much higher rate of child marriage. This global pandemic will likely mean similar risks for young women and girls, and the effects will be felt for years — particularly in countries like Sierra Leone and Uganda where access to education, resources and services are already scarce.
We don't just send girls to school for a semester, or even year. We're in it for the long haul and we see each One Girl Scholar all the way through to her graduation. We're committed to these young women. And pandemic or no pandemic we believe they deserve an education!
So with schools closed, this tax time we need you to help us launch Girl Tok to help girls access education and help them look after their health and well-being.
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DONATE BY JUNE 30 TO MAKE SURE COVID DOESN'T BECOME YET ANOTHER BARRIER KEEPING GIRLS FROM ACCESSING EDUCATION!
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What if schools open up again earlier than we think?
If schools in Sierra Leone and Uganda open back up earlier than expected we’ll be over the moon! Getting scholarship students prepped and ready to get back in the classroom will be our number one priority so if this does happen we’ll switch gears and direct all money raised back to getting our regular education programs back up and running.
BUT, this idea didn’t happen overnight. We’ve been designing this program long before COVID-19 and it will be important afterwards too, because we know there has to be a way to reach more girls in more remote regions. So if girls can attend in person that will be our focus and we’ll direct our funding there first, but watch this space because Girl Tok is awesome.
A big thank you to our Supporters
The real heroes who are kindly helping us achieve our goal
Anonymous
$52
Mike Wilson
Hi Gina Hope this helps a little. Love Popxxx
$21
Robert Bellman
$20
Alice Andreu Andreu
$104
Felicity Curtis
$26
Anonymous
$100
Anonymous
$515
Tracy Tervoort
$21
Susan M Rogers
$135
Jackie Price
$52
Jackson Ellis
$104
Veronique Chidiac
$88
Anthony Peyton
Educating girls in Africa is one of the most important tasks for our global community to: reduce poverty, reduce carbon emissions and improve gender equity. A win-win-win.
$1.02k
Rob Youl
$52
Sarah Grace
$31
Asha Kayla
$500
Deborah O'toole
$208
Johan Vandamme
$200
Clive Hawkins
$104
Jungling Taai
$200
Thomas Schofield Schofield
$2k
Anonymous
$30
Emily Bird
$52
Teah
$21
Hayley Urquhart
$52
Matthew Stewart
$203
Anonymous
$52
Kenneth Goodwin
$208
Anonymous
$31
Adam Cooper
$52
Jennifer Nolan
A great initiative and an important cause that we are happy to support
$1.73k
Anonymous
$1,000
Anonymous
$50
Kate
$31
Alison Skene Skene
$208
Blair Trewin
$52
Rod J.
In honour of Rod J.
$52
Michaela Welby
$52
Roshan Sukhla
$50
Mrs Paula Baldi Baldi
$208
Dac Nguyen
Hope this helps in any way :)
$208
Ruby Bannister
$21
Jonathan Trebilcock
$52
Birte Reuver
Good luck Girls! You are great!
$104
Pamela Dagley
$2.02k
Anonymous
I hope that this donation really helps as many girls as possible. They are our future and should be valued more than they are. go girls!!
$49
Daina Mcd
$208
Lisa Henderson
$500
Angus Miller
$52
Jayne Nguyen
Girl power!
$135
Paul Loney
Go grrls!
$260
Lauren
$130
Will Pye
$104
Anonymous
$104
Daniel Weaich
$52
Sofie Sörelind
Stronger together!
$31
Boris Chong
$31
Anonymous
$52
Elena Rajani
$20
Annabelle Helps
$260
Margaret Magarey
$125
Keith Harvey
$78
Fiona Fletcher Fletcher
$130
Dallas Nolan
$52
Pixii
Love the quick innovation. Well done, One Girl!
$578
J Randell
$10
Luke T
$100
Anonymous
$104
Anonymous
$208
Brian Crowley
$20
Aidan Allenb
$130
Michael Saunders
$52
Anonymous
$31
Sarah Connor
$10
Michael Tyler
$100
Christine Douguet
$50
Tia Harmer
From my mum and me, because her education gave me mine x
$31
Gail Vaubell
$21
Fiona A
Good luck on reaching your target and thank you for your work helping girls in Africa.
$260
Anonymous
$52
Beckuy
$135
Catherine Johnson
$208
Generous Donor
Matched by an anonymous donor!
$208
Carol Roberts
$200
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Matched by an anonymous donor!
$200
Phoebe Erickson
$31
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$31
Robert Breitkreuz
$52
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$52
Tiffany Lohs
$39
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$39
Tricia Henwood
$208
Generous Donor
Matched by an anonymous donor!
$208
Konstantin Borovkov
$156
John Stapleton
$52
Generous Donor
Matched by an anonymous donor!
$52
Anonymous
$52
Charlotte Taylor
$52
Anonymous
$10
Samantha Pohl
$52
