Batonga Girl's Education Program Mentors
in Benin will be traveling on two wheels!
The US Ambassador in Benin, Gayleatha B. Brown, has provided bicycles for the mentors of the Batonga Girls' Education Program in Benin.
One year ago, at the Batonga Girls' Education Program official launch in September 2007, program mentors expressed their need for bicycles to be able to travel from village to village and work efficiently with the girls. Ambassador Brown agreed to provide the bikes and in July 2008, World Ed's two NGO partners in Benin (ACDD and GAJES) received the promised bicycles.
Today, the two NGOs have six bicycles that mentors use to visit the girls they are working. Mentors are an integral component of the girls scholarship program. They are typically volunteers who are business women, dress makers, and housewives who have at least completed primary school and teachers who have been recruited by the communities. The mentors are actively monitoring the girls' academic work, they organize home visits, and help organize and supervise study groups both at the school and in the girls' homes.
The Batonga Girl's Scholarship Program, an initiative of the Batonga Foundation and World Education, is giving girls a chance to attend secondary school and higher education so they can further their studies and take the lead in changing Africa. Toward this goal, the initiative operates by granting scholarships, supporting mentor programs and other extra-curricular activities, as well as advocating for community awareness of the value of education for girls.
Read the Batonga Girls' Education Program official launch press release
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