Girls Education for Brighter Futures Post-COVID-19

Dear GWI Supporters:

As the giving season begins, Graduate Women International (GWI) thanks you for standing with us in support of our Girls’ Education for Brighter Futures program. Your generosity makes it possible to open doors of learning for women and girls across the globe, giving them the tools to build stronger futures for themselves and their communities.

Your donation this year will go further. It will:

• Contribute to GWI’s global advocacy for girls’ right to safe access to quality education.
• Support girls’ education and life skills training that help break the cycle of poverty.
• Strengthen our National Federations and Associations projects that aim to increase safe access to quality education.
• Help develop projects to eliminate gender-based violence and harmful cutural norms.
• Enable Bina Roy project workshops that encourage girls to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and income generation.
• Will fund production of global education-related impactful advocacy resources and Sustainable Development Goals.
• And so much more.

Looking ahead, 2026 will bring new GWI initiatives that build on the Girls Education for Brighter Futures momentum. Every gift, no matter the size, helps advance education and prepares the next generation of women educators and leaders.

With much appreciation, 

Stacy Dry Lara

GWI Executive Director

Dear Graduate Women International (GWI) Donors,

We would like to thank you for your heartfelt donations to our Girls Education for Brighter Futures Post COVID-19 programme. We appreciate the impact that your contributions have made on our organization and programmes.

With your generous support, GWI offers every three years, on the occasion of its triennum, a number of international fellowships and grants to women graduates for postgraduate research, study and training. On May 22, 2025, GWI and its International Fellowship Committee announced the recipients of the 2025 International Fellowships  in a press release. These competitive awards recognize and support exceptional women scholars advancing postgraduate research and academic excellence across the globe.

This year, GWI received 80 applications from candidates representing 32 countries and enrolled in PhD programmes at 50 universities worldwide. The selection process was highly competitive due to the exceptional quality of the applicants.

Following a rigorous selection process conducted by the GWI Fellowships Committee, six doctoral candidates were selected to receive fellowships in 2025. Anita Aboagye from Ghana, pursuing a PhD in Health Education and Health Promotion at the University of Alabama (USA), has been awarded the GWI 35th Triennial Rose Sidgwick Fellowship, valued at 5,000 CHF. Maria Grados Bueno from Peru, undertaking a PhD in Development Studies at the University of Sussex (UK), is the recipient of the FfWG-Crosby Hall Fellowship, worth £6,000. Kate Nelson from the UK, whose PhD focuses on Adolescent Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, has been awarded the BfWG-Ida Smedley MacLean Fellowship for £3,000. Gena Sturgon from the USA, studying Peace and Security at the University of Coventry (UK), has been granted the NZFGW-Daphne Purves Grant of 3,000 CHF. Nina Prusac from Croatia, pursuing a PhD in Human Rights Law at the University of Cambridge (UK), is the recipient of the Nazan Moroglu Recognition Grant, totaling €1,000. Finally, Ruoquing Yin from China, conducting a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies at University College London (UK), has been awarded the Cynthia Burek Recognition Grant in the amount of £1,000.

The International Fellowships awarded this year were, in part, made possible thanks to your generosity.

Yet, there is still much to be done. GWI continues working tirelessly to coordinate and manage advocacy projects and initiatives on local, national, and international levels. We need your help too. The generous donations to the GWI Girls’ Education for Brighter Futures contributes to supporting all GWI projects. Contributions of any amount make a meaningful difference. 

With appreciation, 

Stacy Dry Lara and Celia Cherel

GWI Executive Director and Summer Intern, Respectively