Girls Empowerment Sierra Leone (GESL) is an organization that helps develop girls into effective leaders and social change agents in their communities to realize their dreams. GESL offers year-round support and programming that equips girls with knowledge, tools, resources, and networks to make an impact in their own lives and their communities. To date, GESL has reached more than 5,400 girls across Sierra Leone through its various programs.
In many communities in Sierra Leone, girls are at risk of domestic violence, sexual assault and abuse, and female genital mutilation. Additionally, girls have a high chance of dropping out of school, and there has been a surge of teenage pregnancies after the outbreaks of Ebola and COVID-19. Many girls also lack access to digital learning and are therefore less likely to use digital services or enter tech-related careers. They are also more likely to face online harassment and violence.
With support of the Girls Opportunity Alliance Fund, GESL will implement leadership and empowerment programming for school-aged girls. The program will include peer-led spaces that bring together girls to share learnings on leadership and advocacy. The program will also provide training for girls to develop digital skills and increase their access to opportunities and learning. GESL will facilitate gender-responsive training for teachers and family engagement workshops to support the success of girls.
Through this project, GESL seeks to empower girls through its leadership programming as well as its partnerships with schools, parents, teachers and community leaders to continue creating safe and supportive environments for girls to learn and thrive. Through its holistic model, GESL hopes empowered girls will become social change agents in their communities and advocate for their own rights and those of their peers.
To learn more about GESL, please visit the organization’s social media pages:
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