Page 62 - 2025_Magazine_91-4

Educational Excellence

PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT: A STORY OF GIRLS’

RESILIENCE AND INNOVATION IN SIERRA LEONE

Sierra Leone is home to over 4 million children under the age of 18, and adolescents (aged 10–19)
comprise an estimated 23 % of the population. Across the country, many children and young people
struggle not only to access quality educational opportunities but also to complete their schooling and
learn the skills they’ll need for the future. Their situation is compounded by pervasive poverty, gender
discrimination, long distances to schools, and a perceived low value placed on education in society.
For girls and young women, especially harmful practices such as Female Genital Mutilation (FGM —
which affects as many as 83%) and early marriage (30% of women are married before age 18), along
with high rates of teenage pregnancy and unsafe learning environments, continue to prevent many
from accessing their right to an education.

Despite the negative stereotypes about girls’ education in Sierra Leone—as in many countries on
the African continent—Anipha feels fortunate that her mother supported her through her schooling,
unlike some of her peers that she saw getting married off early or becoming domestic workers to
help support their families. Recently, Anipha is also more upbeat about what she has been seeing,
remarking that “In my community, girls are starting to be more protected and included.” One of six
siblings, Anipha has always been aware of the challenges girls face. Raised by a single mother, the
sole provider and caregiver in their single-parent household, Anipha’s own childhood was a mix of
resilience and opportunity. “Even though we didn’t get everything we desired, we never lacked the
basics. My mother made sure we attended schools and received a good education,” Anipha shares,
grateful for her mother’s efforts. Anipha also shares she is acutely aware that not all girls in Sierra
Leone have the same experience of having a supportive, visionary, and hard-working single mother
who wants her daughters to be educated. While Sierra Leone has made some progress in advancing
girls’ and women’s rights, Anipha notes that financial restraints have been a key barrier preventing
young women and girls from pursuing an education. “Some girls fund their own schooling by hawking
goods on the streets after classes, sometimes into the night,” Anipha explains. This leaves them
vulnerable to dangerous situations.

For Anipha, joining the GIRL Fund-supported Girls’ Education Innovation Challenge (GEIC)
was a way to address this pressing issue. “When I first heard about the program, I was excited by
the word ‘CHALLENGE.’ I thought of it as a competition, but I quickly realized it was much more.”
After a successful introductory bootcamp to the initiative, Anipha joined forces with some of her
classmates. Collectively, they formed the “HerStory Makers” team and quickly identified the inability
to afford tuition or fees to be a central problem impeding girls’ educational futures. “When we talk to
other girls, many have no plans for college because they can’t afford it. It’s heartbreaking,” she says
passionately.

As the team brainstormed solutions, they gravitated toward the use of the Learning Passport—UNICEF’s
flexible learning solution via an online, mobile, and offline educational platform, thus enabling
uninterrupted access to digital educational resources. “It was the perfect solution—accessible, easy

60 · Volume 91-4