May 31, 2023 – Part of WPDI’s strategic realignment since we celebrated our 10 year anniversary last year has been to accord greater focus on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. Our continuing fight to create conditions for lasting peace in marginalized communities and regions affected by conflict places great emphasis on the role of women as mediators and peacemakers.
To turn young women in these communities into active changemakers, it is necessary to implement bespoke educational initiatives. These have been adapted to local contexts and designed specifically to engage young women who would otherwise have been expected to fulfill traditional family roles.
According to UNESCO, 118.5 million girls are out of school around the world and women still account for almost two-thirds of all adults unable to read. Tackling this issue is a crucial part of peacebuilding, and it is why we run programs focused on female empowerment and the bridging of the digital gender gap.
It is in this context that WPDI, in partnership with the L’Oréal Fund for Women, has been implementing a targeted scholarship program for adolescent girls in the Karamoja Sub-Region of Uganda. In March 2023, 285 applications were submitted from the 9 regional districts, all from adolescent girls in underprivileged, marginalized communities whose access to education has been limited. 75 applicants were admitted to the scholarship program, which aims to provide funding for each girl through secondary school education. This covers the provision of school supplies and school fees, which would have been otherwise unattainable for these girls whose family lacked resources to school their children or, as is often the case, would opt to allocate their meager resources to boys’ rather than girls’ education.
For the girls accessing the program, the scholarship has been transformational. “I am humbled by your scholarship. Before I joined this school (Kangole Girls Secondary School) I was in a helpless situation and when my parents told me there is no money for joining senior one, I felt bad but couldn’t do anything because the parents are peasants. We are a family of eight children (four boys and four girls). What I had in mind was to get married, since there was nothing I could do at home. However, in the month of February when WPDI advertised for the scholarship, I applied and submitted the application to the office of District Education Officer in my district (Amudat) and kept praying. On the 13th March, I did interviews with my mother after being shortlisted. The following day, the list came out and I was among the selected girls. I felt happy and informed my mother and father and we were informed by the Organization to report to school the following week. Thank you WPDI for supporting my education. Without your support I would have not been here,” said Cheperker Rebecca, Scholarship beneficiary from Amudat District.
Going forward, WPDI’s focus and commitment to female empowerment and education will be reinforced, as our conviction that young women can lead societal change is vindicated every day. We have many examples of inspirational women being real agents of change in arenas of conflict, and we are determined to create many more.
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