This is the story of so many girls Lyra works with: I am a Tanzanian rural girl. The chances of completing my education are small. Just 1% of us who start primary school will complete our education. The school is far from my village, & I must walk to school, facing sexual harassment along the way. Some of us stay in a room in the village close to school, but these rooms are not safe. Many of us share a room, and girls exchange sex for rent. 1 in 4 of my teenage friends will become pregnant.
Rural girls in Southern Tanzania face multiple barriers to access & complete secondary education. They have long walks to school where they are often exposed to widespread sexual harassment. Teenage pregnancy & early marriage rates are high especially in rural areas: more than 1 in 4 adolescents are pregnant, and with almost 2 in 5 girls marrying before the age of 18. Due to a lack of adequate sanitary facilities in rural schools, girls are often forced to miss school due to their period.
We build eco-friendly, low-carbon hostels for girls in Government secondary schools. These hostels provide girls with safe spaces to live & study, creating a haven for girls to thrive, increasing self-confidence and well-being. Hostel girls are supported to access the digital education program that Lyra runs in each school, enabling them to study in evenings and weekends. We have seen that these interventions transform girls' chances of not only staying, but succeeding in their education.
Completing a good quality secondary education is one of the most effective ways to reduce the risk of early marriage and pregnancy. As levels of education rise, early pregnancy rates fall. 52% of adolescent girls with no education are pregnant or have given birth, compared to 10% of adolescent girls with a secondary education. Girls who have managed to complete their secondary education, will have smaller, healthier and wealthier families later in life.
