WHO INVESTED IN YOU?
Graça Machel has said: “When we invest in women and girls, we are investing in the people who invest in everyone else.”
According to the Brookings Institution “When girls are educated, they become educated mothers who are far more likely to encourage both their daughters and sons to go to school and to become more dedicated students. And this is perhaps the greatest return from girls’ education: the belief that when a single girl who would have been denied an education receives a high-quality education, it starts a positive cycle of education and empowerment from mother to daughter, generation after generation.”
What encourages girls to go to school? To become educated? Many factors and chief among them: inspiring female educators. When girls are taught by strong inspired women educators their participation level in the class room increases, parents often feel more comfortable sending their daughters to school, and girls see their female teachers and role models and mentors. What’s not to love?
Despite the importance of female educators in girls’ education there can be a lack support and recognition for these teachers and their programs. Acts of recognition, validation and support can have a profound impact on these educators. According to Rana Dajani, Founder and Executive Director of We Love Reading and Top 100 Most Influential Arab Women: “A lot of people have great ideas, but they are unable to turn their ideas into scalable programs. Many funders support organizations, but not individuals at the grassroots level. These people are unable to turn their dreams into reality or they simply continue to operate at a small scale.”
Through an early stage training and support fellowship, Dajani was able to turn her small-scale initiative into a global movement to bring literacy to women worldwide, while building closer knit communities. Dajani credits this fellowship as an essential rung on her ladder to success that led her to fulfill her optimal global contribution. The fellowship bridged an opportunity gap - that foils most - by providing recognition, training, funding, and a support network to ensure her success.
Enter Empowered to Educate:
https://www.empoweredtoeducate.org
a global fellowship program for young women educators around the world. Building on Rana Dajani’s experiences Empowered to Educate creates a group of global fellows who are at the early stages of their professional careers in education. They are young (28 – 35), have demonstrated success with their education programs, have a passion for girls’ and women’s empowerment, can speak persuasively about their work and have demonstrated early leadership. The Empowered to Educate Fellows will receive small program related stipends, leadership training mentors, opportunities to showcase their work in national and regional programs and the chance to join a new network of rising stars!
So, who invested in you? Our guess is that many of us had supporters who invested in us and Empowered to Educate pays these legacies forward. Learn more; join us!