Leadership Academies for Girls

  • P Project/Program

A Active

Key Information

Through two leadership academies for girls, SHOFCO aims to create female leaders who have experienced slum-life and marginalization first-hand who will become advocates for their communities. SHOFCO's tuition-free leadership academies, located in Kibera and Mathare in Nairobi, work with 547 students who receive high-quality education from pre-kindergarten through the 8th grade. Every student receives healthcare, meals, uniforms and school supplies. Another 42 students are receiving free high quality secondary education in top boarding schools in Kenya and the United States.

Lead Implementing Organization(s)

Location(s)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya

Activity URL

https://www.shofco.org/approach/girls-leadership-and-education/

Government Affiliation

Non-governmental program

Years

2009 - 2030

Partner(s)

Not applicable or unknown

Ministry Affiliation

Unknown

Funder(s)

Not applicable or unknown

COVID-19 Response

Unknown

Geographic Scope

National

Meets gender-transformative education criteria from the TES  

Unknown

Areas of Work Back to Top

Education areas

Attainment

  • Post-secondary
  • Primary completion
  • Primary enrollment
  • Primary to secondary transition
  • Secondary completion
  • Secondary Enrollment

Other

  • Early childhood development

Other skills

  • Life skills/sexuality education
  • Rights/empowerment education

Quality

  • School facilities
  • School quality

Skills

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Other academic performance-related
  • STEM

Cross-cutting areas

  • Adolescent pregnancy/childbearing
  • Community sensitization
  • Early/child marriage
  • Empowerment
  • Food/water security
  • Gender equality
  • HIV and STIs
  • Menstrual hygiene management
  • Mentorship
  • Nutrition
  • Social and gender norms and beliefs
  • Violence (at home, in relationships)
  • WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene)

Program participants

Target Audience(s)

Girls in school, Youth

Age

4 - 18

School Enrolment Status

All in school

School Level

  • Pre-school
  • Lower primary
  • Upper primary
  • Lower secondary
  • Upper secondary

Other populations reached

  • Community leaders
  • Mothers
  • Other caregivers
  • Other family members
  • Parent-teacher associations/school management committees
  • School administrators
  • Teachers - female
  • Teachers - male

Participants include

  • Orphans and vulnerable children

Program Approaches Back to Top

Access to school

  • Expanding boarding opportunities

Community engagement/advocacy/sensitization

  • Community-based monitoring (e.g. school report cards)
  • Parent Teacher Associations (PTA)
  • School management committees

Curriculum/learning

  • Increased availability of learning materials

Educational Technology

  • Computer-assisted learning
  • Digital devices for the purposes of studying, learning
  • Digital learning materials/programs
  • Digital reading materials (non-textbook)

Facilities construction/improvement

  • Construction/improvement of classrooms
  • Construction/improvement of libraries
  • Construction/improvement of schools

Food/nutrition

  • Deworming
  • School feeding

Health and childcare services

  • HIV prevention
  • HIV treatment and care
  • Referrals to health services
  • School-based clinics
  • Sexual and reproductive health services (including family planning)

Increased availability of learning materials

  • Increased availability of Art supplies
  • Increased availability of Math materials (rulers, protractors, calculators, etc.)
  • Increased availability of Writing materials
  • Textbooks (digital)
  • Textbooks (paper)

Life skills education

  • Comprehensive sexuality education (CSE)
  • Gender, rights and power
  • Negotiation skills
  • Sexual and reproductive health (including puberty education)

Menstrual hygiene management

  • Educating girls about menstruation
  • Raising awareness about menstruation (beyond just girls)
  • Sanitary product distribution

Mentoring/psychosocial support

  • Adult (non-teacher) mentors
  • School-based counselors
  • Teachers as mentors

Other

  • Other activities to address/end violence (not captured above)

Policy/legal environment

  • Advocating changes to existing laws/policies
  • Public-private partnerships

Reducing economic barriers

  • Addressing cost of school supplies
  • Reducing/eliminating school fees
  • Scholarships/stipends for school fees
  • Uniforms

School-related gender-based violence

  • Anti-violence policies and codes of conduct
  • Safe and welcoming schools
  • Safe channels/mechanisms for reporting violence
  • Support in and around schools (e.g. peer counseling, adult-to-student counseling)
  • Training of school personnel (including teachers)
  • Violence prevention curriculum/activities for students

Social/gender norms change

  • Engaging parents/caregivers of students or school-age children/adolescents
  • Group activities with students or school-age children/adolescents
  • Media campaigns
  • Work with community leaders

Teaching

  • Hiring more teachers (both men and women)
  • Pre-service teacher training – pedagogy general
  • Teaching materials (e.g. lesson plans, curricula)

Tutoring/strengthening academic skills

  • Literacy - in the classroom
  • Numeracy - in the classroom
  • STEM - outside the classroom
  • Tutoring - general

Water and sanitation

  • Construction/improvement of toilets (combined use)
  • Improved water access

Women's empowerment programs

  • Advocacy/action
  • Empowerment training
  • Leadership training
  • Self-help groups (financial, including savings and credit groups)

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Program Goals Back to Top

Education goals

  • Improved academic skills (literacy and numeracy)
  • Improved critical thinking
  • Improved social and emotional learning/skills and mindsets
  • Increased enrolment in primary school
  • Increased grade attainment
  • Increased literacy
  • Increased numeracy
  • Increased primary school completion
  • Increased progression to secondary school
  • Increased school completion (general)
  • Increased school enrolment (general)
  • Increased secondary school completion
  • Reduced absenteeism

Cross-cutting goals

  • Changed social norms
  • Improved critical consciousness
  • Improved health - other
  • Improved mental health
  • Improved nutrition
  • Increased agency and empowerment
  • Increased knowledge of HIV, puberty, and sexual and reproductive health
  • Increased knowledge of rights
  • Reduced adolescent pregnancy/childbearing
  • Reduced poverty/increase household well-being
  • Reduced violence against children in the home