Education is Unequal...

Lets Do Something About it 

In Senegal, girls do not have the same opportunities that boys do.  Many families may only be able to afford to send one child to high school (which normally requires them to leave home and travel many miles away), and they will almost always choose to send their male children over their female ones.  In rural villages like Lambaye the problem is the most severe.

A Boy in Lambaye is more than 2x as likely as a girl to attend high school and 5x more likely to go to college.

 

Our Commitment

Students for Senegal is committed to eliminating this educational gender gap in Lambaye.  We are investing in women and girls in several ways.

The Lambaye Learning Center

Left: Headmaster, Nogoye Diagne.  Right: Pre-school Teacher, Case des Tout Petits two of the key leaders of the LLC design committee  

Left: Headmaster, Nogoye Diagne.  Right: Pre-school Teacher, Case des Tout Petits two of the key leaders of the LLC design committee  

  • The learning center we are building will have areas dedicated to women's education and female empowerment.  We have plans for a women's center where women and girls can gather to learn, share stories, work on crafts and projects and have a space that is entirely their own.
    • There will be facilities to help with the making of clothing and other items that women sell to support themselves and their families 
    • There will also be places for women to sell their merchandise and the increased traffic through the village because of the Learning Center will mean more sales and more income for these women.
  • The Lambaye Learning Center will include: (1) a Sewing Center, (2) places for women and girls to meet, discuss and learn from one another and (3) a library with thousands of books and resources available to the entire village and surrounding community.
  • We are committed to making sure that all voices are heard during the design process and several of our key contacts and leaders of the design comittee are the female educators in the village.
Mira Goodman getting to know some of the female students in the village.

Mira Goodman getting to know some of the female students in the village.

Women’s Education

  • Female literacy is 25% less than male literacy
  • For $50 we can ensure that a young girl gets the opportunity to attend pre-school and gets the best educational start possible. 
  • We plan to sponsor programs in the Learning Center that let women who are too old for traditional schooling, catch up and learn to read and write to better their economic positions.  

Food Production

A major problem in the village is garbage collection.  Most families simply throw all their trash in a pit behind their house.  Our hope is that we can develop ways to cover up these pits and turn them into small gardens that families can use to grow food and add some much needed foliage to the village. 

We are always open to and in search of new ideas and we are currently looking for partner organizations that we can work with to give opportunities to the women of Senegal.  Please contact us if you can help.