Left Behind: Girls’ Education in South Sudan (Borgen Magazine)

From the article:

GESS provides training to teachers all over the country, a service desperately needed given that only 47 percent of South Sudanese primary school teachers and 57 percent of secondary school teachers are properly certified. Furthermore, GESS provides female students with grants of up 2,300 SSP to spend on books, clothing and sanitary products, which allow them to attend school more regularly and stay enrolled longer. Since the start of the program, 184,254 girls have received grants. The goal is to reach 200,000 girls by 2018.

The results of this groundbreaking program have been significant. A study conducted by the University of Sussex & Center for Global Development found that cash transfers and grants allowed schools to stay open longer and increased enrollment numbers from 2014-2016, even in the face of widespread violence and economic instability. These small but profoundly meaningful steps toward enhancing education in South Sudan, particularly for girls, give hope that gender inequality in South Sudan may one day be a thing of the past.

Read full article here.