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For young women in America and Africa to collaborate as philanthropists and political activists to advocate for gender equality, particularly girls’ access to education everywhere in the world.

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Bintou has founded two organisations, both aim to educate girls in rural Mali. The first is called School Girls Unite and covers the education costs and school supplies of 85 girls in Mali. Through this, they have helped 85 families gain access to education through their daughters and motivated a community to have different views on the impact of education. They want to fund 500 girls by the end of 2016. $2,500 from School Girls Unite per year goes into the project. Bintou's second organisation is called Girls for Advancement of IT. 250 women received free IT training and then taught a further 300 women themselves. The women received 10 hours each of computer training.

Last updated: 27 June 2018

Videos and Photos

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School Girls Unite and Girls for the Advancement of IT

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2,500 from School Girls Unite per year goes into the project 250 women have received free IT training and then taught a further 300 women themselves Bintou has founded two organisations, both aiming to educate girls in rural Mali. School Girls Unite covers the education costs and school supplies of 85 girls in Mali.

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Girls in the United States plan fundraisers – anything from raffles to benefit concerts – to sponsor 70 girls in Mali to go to school. A sister organization based in Mali’s capital runs the scholarship program. School Girls Unite students in the U.S. use the information they learn from the scholarship recipients in Mali – such as an 11-year-old former School Girls Unite scholarship recipient being forced to become a child bride – to inform them when urging Congress to pass the Protecting Girls by Preventing Child Marriage Act or when meeting with the Mali minister of education.

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School Girls Unite tackles prejudice against girls worldwide and expand their freedom and opportunities through education and leadership.

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Some participants meet in a classroom at their middle school, Oakland Mills Middle School in Columbia, Md., in a classroom designed for seminars with computers and video equipment. Other School Girls Unite students who attend about 12 different schools in the Washington area meet on weekends at students’ houses. The Mali group often uses the main meeting room of a nongovernmental organization or an Internet café.

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Ad for book promotion. Song: "Ride (Tiësto Extended Remix)" by Cary Brothers.

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Wendy Lesko, founder of the Youth Activism Project, organized the initial meeting and continues to work pro bono as the program’s coordinator.

School Girls Unite is entirely run by volunteers.

Three students serve on the board of directors, and other School Girls Unite members take lead roles planning activities ranging from fundraising to advocacy initiatives.

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In 2004, a group of American seventh-graders and a half-dozen West African women met at a café to discuss discrimination and lack of educational opportunities for girls in developing countries. The slogan, “Give girls around the world the same chances we have,” was developed, and the organization was born.

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Address
c/o Youth Activism Project
3909 Prospect Street
Kensington, Maryland U.S.A.
20895

Phone
301-929-8808

Fax
301-929-8907

Email

Website
http://www.schoolgirlsunite...

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Gender inequalities facing girls around the world led School Girls Unite to mobilize U.S. support to establish a new United Nations International Day of the Girl Child. This annual girls’ rights day was celebrated for the first time on October 11, 2012. School Girls Unite encourages girls across America to draft official city Day of the Girl proclamations to bring attention to the school dropout crisis for girls at home and abroad.

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STOP STEALING HER CHILDHOOD: GIRLS NOT BRIDES MEMBERS DEMAND ACTION FROM WORLD LEADERS TO END CHILD MARRIAGE

By Ettie Bailey-King on Tuesday 15th Oct 2019

12 million girls become child brides every year. That’s one girl every three seconds who is robbed of her childhood, one girl every three seconds who is at increased risk of violence and child sexual abuse. But our global movement won’t stand for it.

Over the past two months, Girls Not Brides members have come together through our #StopStealingHerChildhood campaign to show world leaders that inaction isn’t an option.

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Girls Not Brides is a global partnership of more than 1300 civil society organisations committed to ending child marriage and enabling girls to fulfill their potential.

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Students at School Girls Unite have a unique perspective to share when they speak with their peers or policymakers. The sister organization, Les Filles Unies pour l’Education, is comprised of girls in Mali who have completed secondary school. These graduates are determined to increase the number of girls who go to school in Mali. The young women leaders in Les Filles Unies serve as role models and managers of our Mali Girls Scholarship Program, which sponsors 65 girls from one year to the next. School Girls cover the cost of the basics that include tuition, books, tutors, chalkboards, and other school supplies.

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Our mission at School Girls Unite is to tackle prejudice against girls worldwide and expand their freedom and opportunities through education and leadership. A group of seventh grade girls, together with young African women and several community activists, co-founded this initiative back in 2004. Within two months of our launch, School Girls participated in the Global Campaign for Education’s Global Action Week.

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Mission/Vision

School Girls Unite and our sister organization called Les Filles Unies pour l'Education in Mali advocate for every girl in the world to have equal educational opportunities to build a smarter, healthier, fairer and peaceful world. We do this through our youth-run scholarship program for girls in Mali and by lobbying government decision makers in both countries.

What does the organization do?

Our new action guide written by young women activists in Mali and U.S. is the best summary of all our philanthropic and political advocacy activities. Our free E-book version in French & English of "Girls Gone Activist! How to Change the World through Education" is at www.schoolgirlsunite.org/book.php

Opportunities for Youth

Email us if you live in Bamako or in the Washington,DC area to engage in our scholarship program that sends 70 girls in Mali to school and also lobbying decision makers in Mali and the U.S for gender equality and education opportunities for all.

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Les Filles Unies shares with School Girls Unite the daily challenges that increase the likelihood these younger girls will drop out. For example, one fourth grader won the top academic prize in her rural region—but by age 12 she was married and no longer in school. Another scholarship beneficiary, now in 8th grade, has lost both her parents but her aunt makes sure she studies at night rather than do many chores, so she can succeed in school. This information, direct from our sister organization in West Africa, amplifies our message when we speak with Members of Congress and their staff.

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Ambassador Bintou Soumaroro

of Mali has founded two organisations, whose aim is to educate girls in rural Mali. The first is called School Girls Unite and covers the education costs and school supplies of 85 girls in Mali. Through this, they have helped 85 families gain access to education through their daughters and motivated a community to have different views on the impact of education. They funded 500 girls by the end of 2016. $2,500 from School Girls Unite per year goes into the project. Bintou’s second organisation is called Girls for Advancement of IT. 250 women received free IT training and then taught a further 300 women themselves. The women received 10 hours each of computer training.

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Every year our activists, who range in age from twelve to twenty, take part in GCE-US creative advocacy events designed to educate the public and lawmakers on the critical Millennium Development Goal of universal access to quality basic education for every child worldwide. In previous years School Girls Unite joined the Send My Buddy to School campaign and made hundreds of paper dolls with messages to the President about the importance of education.