Keep her in school

For the girls in our Keep Her in School program, staying enrolled depends on more than just a place in the classroom. Many of these girls return home each evening to households with no electricity, where the only light available for homework is a kerosene lamp. These lamps are unreliable and dangerous, and several families in our program areas have experienced burns or house fires caused by a lamp tipping over, often while a child was nearby trying to finish schoolwork.

Through the Solar Lamp Initiative, we have prioritized distributing solar-powered lamps to girls enrolled in Keep Her in School, giving particular attention to households where kerosene use had already led to injury or property damage. Each lamp charges during the day using sunlight and provides several hours of steady, smoke-free light at night, at no ongoing cost to the family.

The results have directly supported our retention goals. Girls with solar lamps are completing more homework in the evenings and arriving at school better prepared, which matters most during the exam periods and transition years when girls are at highest risk of dropping out. Families have also seen reduced spending on kerosene, freeing up limited income for school fees and other essentials. Caregivers have expressed relief at no longer needing to watch over an open flame near their daughters at night.

With continued donor support through GlobalGiving, we aim to extend the Solar Lamp Initiative to more girls in the Keep Her in School program, particularly in the more remote communities of Eastern Uganda, ensuring that no girl has to choose between her education and her safety after dark.