Increase Girls' Access to Education in Pakistan

As I write this, it is the first day of spring. Spring means re-birth, continuation and growth, recommitment to what matters. It is the time to remind ourselves what we want to keep and what we need to let go of gently. We at Girls Ed International want to thank you for staying with us, for supporting us and for believing in our mission. Your involvement with Pakistan Project means that hundreds of girls will start and/or continue their education in the remote villages in the Chakwal district. During our March campaign, and in partnership with Global Giving, we raised $18,258 from 330 donors. We are ecstatic and want to thank you from the bottom of our heart.

Despite progress in recent years, girls continue to suffer severe disadvantage and exclusion in education systems throughout their lives in many parts of the world. Providing girls with an education helps break the cycle of poverty: educated women are less likely to marry early and against their will; less likely to die in childbirth; more likely to have healthy babies; and are more likely to send their children to school. When all children have access to a quality education rooted in human rights and gender equality, it creates a ripple effect of opportunity that influences generations to come. The impact of your involvement cannot be overestimated.

We are eagerly waiting to receive an update from the students themselves, which we will share with you promptly. Meanwhile we want to thank and bid farewell to the Executive Director of Bedari (our partner organization in Pakistan), Safeer U Khan. Here is his farewell note to all of us. As we wait for the images from the field, this letter creates a great visual for us about the project. Happy reading!

A Note from the Executive Director of Bedari organization, Pakistan

Education has always been very close to my heart as I believe it is the only way to bring about a sustainable change in a person’s life. Hence, when I heard that there was some American NGO looking for a partner to work for girls’ education in Pakistan, I jumped at the opportunity.

That American NGO was Girls Education International. It is a small organization but has a dedicated team that raises funds for girls’ education and then spends those funds in Pakistan and Tanzania. We worked out the details and started off with a small project supporting 30 girls in their quest for post primary level education. There has no looking back since then. I served as project manager since 2009 till March 2017 – 8 years to be exact.

We did not change the entire world, but we did change the world of a few girls. This project has lighted up lives of scores of girls, and changed the perception of girls’ education in the communities. Girls’ education is no more an insignificant issue in the communities where we work. Parents have started taking responsibility for their daughters’ education; they have found ways to send their girls to schools.

Not a single girl was going to secondary school when we entered Laphi in 2009 – a village situated in inaccessible mountains of Salt Range nearly 50 kilometers to the South West of Chakwal city. We worked there for 5 years. When the first girl under our project completed her secondary education, a teary eyed volunteer from the village told us that it had happened after a break of 30 years that any girl from Laphi had completed secondary education. Though we discontinued our project in Laphi in 2014, the village boasts of 20 girls with secondary education, and 24 more girls are going to secondary school these days without any support from any NGO or philanthropist.

We, then, expanded our program, and moved to another 4 villages to repeat the same process. Currently, we are supporting around 90 girls in these 4 villages. So far, we have helped 84 girls to complete their education up to secondary level, 17 more girls up to higher secondary level, and 2 girls up to graduation level. (Secondary level is 10 years of education, higher secondary is 12 years, and graduation is 14 years of education in Pakistani Education System).

We have not only supported girls in going to school, this project had many additional benefits for girls. The most important of the benefits was delaying their marriages. [5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals]. Most of these girls would have been married before celebrating their 16^th birthday, but only 4 out of 130 girls were married before reaching their 18^th birthday. The remaining 126 girls married after attaining the age of 18 years.

We took girls out on study tours, and it was for the first time that most of these girls stepped out of their town. They saw some historical places of their own district for the first time. These exposure trips are a great boost to the girls’ confidence, and their empowerment. The most important feedback from girls was that they could not believe that they could shout, scream, and sing as per their own liking during these trips.

Another important additional support was Self Growth Sessions – these sessions facilitate them in learning various life skills including communications and negotiations skills, dealing with sexual harassment, confidence building, decision making etc.

These activities – education, sessions, exposure trips, trainings – transformed them from meek and submissive girls to bold and confident girls, who can take their own decisions, and can negotiate with people around them to achieve whatever they want to achieve in their lives. Education coupled with their confidence and other life skills helped some of the girls take up jobs. Around 10 girls have taken up jobs, and a few more have started working from home (home based jobs). This has led to their economic empowerment. It was a great turn around for Bedari. It helped parents realize why Bedari insisted on girls’ education. Parents learnt that girls can also earn, and they are not a mere burden – they are not just mouths to be fed, but living human beings who can support others if provided with opportunities.

Though I am leaving Bedari now, I am proud of having played crucial role in designing, and implementation of this project, and I am sure this project will go on and achieve many more milestones. I would request all supporters of Bedari and GEI to continue supporting this wonderful project, and I assure everyone around that I will be available for any kind of support needed to keep this project going. I will always be a call (or an email) away.

Thank you Safeer and again to all of you for your generosity!

Till we meet again,

Tamrika Khvtisiashvili

Pakistan Project Manager

Girls Education International