​It is a known fact that girls are experts on their own needs and unique realities and all they need is the right support made up of opportunities and skills to make their voices heard. Without this, it is impossible to know exactly what a girl believes is best for her immediate and near future. This is why it is important to give girls a voice and to listen to her when she speaks.

​The voices of girls matter because by giving a girl a voice, she can express herself and limits are removed. There is more participation in decision making about her life; her choices are broadened and ultimately, the quality of education and enlightenment improves. When a girl has a voice, she can make changes in her community; lead, challenge, push boundaries and improve the lives of those around her by inspiring them. 

​Giving girls a voice includes empowering girls and women such that they can participate in decision making at private and public levels and access to resources are no longer one sided (in favour of the male gender) so that both genders become equal participants in leading a productive and reproductive life. When she talks, the world listens.

Every child can reach their full potential through access to education. Without education, girls are exposed and vulnerable and cannot learn how to actualise their ideas and dreams. Education therefore provides the foundation upon which boundless opportunities for future generations of women is built.

Education gives girls a voice because education is key to addressing poverty and fighting disease. An educated woman is an empowered woman that can use her voice to effectively contribute to society, the economy and transforms her family and community through her choices. Being in school makes a girl aware of her rights and improves her own health which in turn affects her family positively.

Education also gives girls the confidence to speak up and increases the probability of them being heard. By giving women and girls a voice, they can join the campaign for equality.

In order to support girls' education, it is important to go beyond providing learning opportunities, it requires keeping girls safe and protecting them from all forms of violence within and outside their places of learning.

An equal future is one in which there is gender equality. Gender equality goes beyond being a fundamental human right, it is the bedrock of a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world. In an ideal world, gender equality should be the norm. Reducing inequality makes economies stronger and builds societies that are stable and resilient allowing everyone equal opportunity to fulfil their potential.

An equal future is one where girls and boys enjoy socially valued goods, opportunities and resources and rewards the same way. It does not mean that men and women become the same; it just means that access to opportunities does not depend on gender.

An equal future by giving girls a voice is linked to the realisation of basic human rights for all. It is a future in which girls and boys enjoy the same opportunities, obligations and rights in all areas of life.

There is equal distribution of power and influence and equal opportunity for financial independence through work or business. Both genders enjoy equal access to education and the chance to build up on their personal talents, interests and ambitions; share responsibility for the children and the home and are free from gender-based violence both at home and at work. Lastly, both genders are completely free from coercion and intimidation in an equal future.

The spread of COVID-19 across Africa has had profound impacts on women and girls as they are particularly vulnerable to the overwhelming effects of the pandemic. As such, it is important for African governments to pay special attention to them as a way to protect them from the ripple effects of the pandemic.

The lockdown and its effects have led to reduced access to health services for women and girls in Africa. With most efforts and resources focused on containing the spread of COVID-19, essential services such as access to sexual and reproductive health services have been affected. Rates of delivery in health centres have also dropped significantly.
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Since informal workers made up majorly of women make up more than 90% of the labour force in Sub-Saharan Africa, these jobs have been affected the most during the pandemic. This means that the ability to make money affected women more than men due to the complete or partial closure of borders by governments. Having both children and husbands at home all (or most) of the time means that women and girls spend even more time in domestic work and unpaid care. This includes women in corporate structures as well. Women and girls are expected to care for the elderly, the sick and other members of their households while most often providing income for the family as well. This places an unfair burden on them.

Women and girls are also at a higher risk of gender-based violence even more so now. Reports of violence against women and girls particularly domestic violence are on the rise in several countries according to a recent study by UN women due to financial worries, security and health worries creating tensions pronounced by confined and uncomfortable living conditions of lockdown. Furthermore, 44% of women across Africa are victims of intimate partner violence with figures climbing higher during the imposed lockdown. In South Africa for example, a 37% increase in gender-based violence was reported during the first week of lockdown. One helpline in Zimbabwe noted that the number of abuse cases tripled.

The increase in gender-based violence is not only towards adult women but also targeted at young girls with perpetrators being mostly those close to the victim. In Nigeria, there has been an increase in rape and gender-based violence with more than 700 rape incidents reported across the country in the period of January-May with abuse cases against women and children 3 times higher during the lockdown.
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Not only this, the closure of schools across the continent posts a grim reality that many girls will never go back to school since a whopping 40% of girls in Sub-Saharan African marry before the age of 18; with parents being unable to make as much money as they are used to, marrying girls off (selling their daughters) will reduce the number of mouths to feed in the household. This means that young women and girls in Africa are particularly vulnerable to the secondary effects of the pandemic as a result of deep-seated harmful social and gender norms and intricate types of discrimination based on their age, gender and other exclusion criteria. There is also an increase in the exposure of girls to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) as well as Child Early and Forced Marriage (CEFM) due to the pandemic.

African governments, therefore, have to urgently address both the direct and secondary effects of the pandemic on women and girls by protecting the progress made in the empowerment and protection of girls particularly in the last decade.

​Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic must include a gender-based approach to the provision and guarantee of human rights including basic rights such as access to food and water, shelter and access to essential sexual and reproductive health services.

There must be special palliatives targeted at girls and ongoing welfare services regardless of the pandemic such that women and girls can seek refuge when needed and get tailor-made responses to their unique and collective circumstances.

The SaGG Foundation (Sponsor a Gambia Girl) is pleased to announce that after reading about the difficult ordeal, faced by a young promising girl caught up in a short-lived marriage that ended in abandonment by her Gambian Swedish-based husband, few days after childbirth. Has taken the initiative to support the girl into further education at the Management Development Institute (MDI).
 
The story which was first published by the widely read online media platform What’s On-Gambia, followed by an in-depth interview conducted by Gambia Talents Promotion, featured Mariama (not her real name), narrating her ordeal. Due to marriage, she stopped her studies and was a stay at home wife facing immense challenges and difficulties. Her situation became worse when she was divorced by her husband only few days after giving birth to her first child. Leaving her with the sole responsibility to take care of her and her son’s wellbeing. Left in such a situation without employment, made Mariama helpless.

The SaGG Foundation, which is instituted based on empowering the girl child through education, took on the initiative to sponsor Mariama to continue her studies. She is now enrolled at the MDI on a two years course, studying for a qualification on National Diploma in Gender and Development, commencing this July. The Foundation is also supporting Mariama with her transportation cost when traveling to and from school.
 
Upon receiving this sponsorship opportunity Mariama reacted by saying ‘I’m appreciative and lucky to be the recipient of this scholarship. I am majoring in activism with an emphasis on gender-based violence. I aspire to have a career as an Activist. With this scholarship, I am one-step closer to my goal, without having to worry about any financial burden; this would allow me to focus on my studies. I intend to take this opportunity and immerse myself in all that it presents to better myself, my family, and my country’.
 
The SaGG Foundation prides itself on using education as the tool to give girls a life of freedom, independence, and a future full of possibilities. Where 100% of all sponsorship goes to the girl’s education. Founded in November 2018, the Charity is now sponsoring 140 girls into education, from nursery through to university. Our Mantra remains the same, Education Changes Everything for A Girl! You can find out more about our work by visiting our social media pages Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

​The barriers to girls Education are historical! I will even go further by saying that girls have always faced obstacles since the introduction of formal education in the Gambia compared to boys. Although progress has been made over the years and the gap is shrinking, more still needs to be done in sensitizing people in this regard. A significant portion of this success can be attributed to the Education for All initiative, which was implemented by UNESCO in 2004.

The impediments to girls' education are many, but if I were to attribute it to any major problem, I would say it’s more of a cultural problem than anything else. I want to focus on culture because it drives the customs and social institutions of a country, thereby controlling the mindset and way of life of the people. With that, the relevance of culture in this cannot be overemphasized. Culture governs how people live, think, and behave. Culture generally determines who we are mentally and emotionally and that it also shapes our belief system.  

​Social expectations have been a form of pressure placed on girls in the Gambian context. The traditional family structure values a girl’s role in domestic labour, from cooking and cleaning to caring for younger siblings, especially as they get older. Domestic work in certain family settings can be daunting, and that has prevented so many girls from attending school. When the culture values girls as nothing but marriage material and prepares them for that, then their education becomes secondary. This problem is even more present in rural areas.
 
And even in the event that a girl is enrolled in school, primary school completion remains a challenge. While the primary school enrolment gap has shrunk, primary school completion is a different story. According to UNICEF, for every 100 boys that complete their basic education in The Gambia, only 74 girls do the same, with the numbers even lower in some areas at 64 percent and 44 percent. At the secondary school level, in The Gambia, the net secondary school enrolment rate is low, to begin with, and girls only constitute approximately 30 percent of all students enrolled in secondary or vocational schools.

​Arguably, the issues of girls’ education circles back to culture. Both the dropout rates at the primary and secondary levels are generally connected to a traditional family structure that values a girl’s role in domestic labour more than education in certain families and certain regions. I see culture as the biggest hindrance here, and a paradigm shift is needed in this area.

​Cultural beliefs have a way of holding society with a tight grip, but with a robust sensitization campaign, we can start to break down the line of thinking that has proven to be a barrier to girls' education. As the backbone of the family unit and keeping players in the economy, women play a critical role. Therefore, it is very important for all of us to join hands and support in the breaking down of the line of thinking that is obstructing girls’ education.

Now back to reality. In The Gambia we live in a patriarchal society and as a society, we need to do more to teach young girls about leadership, be it in the political, economic, business and social spheres. In all progressive countries, their leaders recognize that gender equality is not only the right thing to do but also the smart thing. It makes economic sense as well. However, in a country like ours, achieving gender equality is difficult given some of our cultural and social norms. It is for this reason that young girls from Banjul to Koina need to be taught about leadership and its about time a girl’s leadership and mentorship academy is established in The Gambia. Such a program will build the capacity of young girls and future women leaders to have a much greater impact, build their confidence to compete in the real world as they embark on their career paths. This is one of the ways for young Gambian girls to claim the leadership space in their communities.

Find out about the benefits and advantages of educating girls.

Making up half of the world’s population, women and girls also make up half of the world’s potential. Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, it is the bedrock of sustainable development, peaceful societies and notable economic growth.

Despite this, there is still a huge gap in achieving gender equality and creating an enabled world for women and girls. It is therefore important to consistently work towards creating equal access to economic resources for women and girls; access to quality education and health; adequate participation in decision making and putting an end to gender violence.

An equal world is one in which there is equal and easy access to opportunities and resources, economic participation and decision making for both genders. This is a world in which the differences in needs, behaviours and aspirations of both genders are valued equally and girls, women, boys and men are treated equally at all levels of society.

An enabled world makes things possible for girls and women. It equips them with the tools and resources to be able to do a particular thing and makes the achievement of their dreams easier. It is a world that gives permission or right to women and girls to pursue those opportunities readily available to make their desires come to reality. Both genders are equipped for success in an enabled world.

​In order to create gender equality, it is important to talk to women and girls. The voices of women and girls are not heard in both global and national decision making. By talking to them and making their voices heard, we are one step closer to an enabled world.
It is also necessary to put an end to child marriage and sexual harassment permanently. Early marriage continues to truncate the dreams and futures of many girls, as well as sexual harassment and the ensuing stigma.

It is also important to make education gender sensitive. This can be done by increasing access to education and promoting gender sensitivity and positive gender stereotypes. By the same token, mothers need to be educated and empowered so that they can in turn empower their daughters.
Proper value has to be given to the unpaid work, women and girls do. Likewise, the media needs to highlight this more. More women need to be in leadership position so that they can become change agents by being active participants at the local, regional and national levels.
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Not only this, women and girls need to be encouraged to go into non-traditional vocations to help break social taboos. Lastly, it is important to work hand in hand with women and girls to end violence, reduce backlash and bridge the gap of gender inequality in order to create an equal and enabled world.

In all parts of the world, there are notable discriminatory laws which prevent women from fulfilling their potentials by limiting their ability to work, thereby reducing their economic security and confidence.

On average, women have only three-quarters of the employment rights available to men. It is important to note however that increasing the participation of women in the labour market and giving equal employment rights has major economic benefits. In an ideal world of gender equality, there is no violence against women and girls. This in turn makes the society healthier and enhances overall well-being. The result is more peace.

World economy will also take a positive boost. Some countries like Canada have recorded sharp increases in their GDP when they put strategies in place to advance gender equality. In terms of business, gender diversity in leadership roles improves business performance. Between 15 and 35% increase in financial returns is predicted for companies with the highest levels of diversity (gender, racial or ethnic).

When household work is shared, relationships tend to work better and people are happier. By eliminating gender imbalances surrounding unpaid housework and childcare, the gender wage gap reduces and the likelihood of divorce drops.

Lastly, an equal world makes the lives of children better. When both parents are involved in childcare, gender role stereotypes are broken and children are encouraged to think critically about gender stereotypes, which in turn helps them master the skills to maintain healthy, equal relationships in the future, thus continuing the cycle of an enabled world.

In simple terms, ‘child budgeting’ is not about lining up children and placing  cash in each and every child’s hands. Rather ‘child budgeting’ is about putting national resources – money, materials, services, facilities, institutions and personnel – to sectors that address the needs of children. But why do we have to advocate for ‘child budgeting’?
 
In the first place, children, just as all other citizens, have a right to development. But more than that is the fact that children are the products of society without their consent. No child asked to be born. Hence those who produce children bear the highest obligation, morally, legally and politically to take care of those children. It was Nelson Mandela who noted that the true character of a society is revealed in how it treats its children. Hence society has an indubitable duty to protect and develop children which is directly linked to the survival, strength and security of society itself.
 
Children have rights like all human beings which must be recognized and respected. Thus,  it is the government, parents and adults who  are the duty bearers who must fulfill the rights of the child. Child rights essentially relate to the promotion and protection of the welfare and development of the child, as well as ensuring that the child is  able to participate in family, societal and national affairs. If the saying that children are the leaders of tomorrow, then this means that the existence and development of society cannot be divorced from children.
 
All national and international laws and policies have affirmed that children have rights, and their development is  primarily a governmental duty. A former UNICEF Executive Director Carol Bellamy once noted that, “A century that began with children having virtually no rights is ending with children having the most powerful legal instrument that not only recognizes but protects their human rights.” Hence the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child noted in Article 4 that,
 
“States Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognized in the present Convention. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights, States Parties shall undertake such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources and, where needed, within the framework of international co-operation.”
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A review of these domestic and international laws would indicate that child budgeting is a requirement, a and should be used as a means to the fulfillment of the rights of children and be understood in the context of national budgets. Many people do not realize that the most important tool of a government is not the police, army, roads, natural resources, electricity, offices or vehicles, etc. The most powerful tool for a government is the BUDGET!
 
The budget is about the income or revenue that a government makes out of our taxes, rates, service charges, royalties, loans, grants and donations that it receives from diverse sources and how it plans to spend that money. It is from the budget that a government funds all its operations, builds roads and hospitals, pays salaries and all office operations, and even pays for the travels that the President and members of the Government undertake. Hence, what is not put in the national budget is not therefore a priority for the Government. Therefore, if the issue of children is not topmost in the minds of the people who make the national budget, then it means that they will prepare a budget that will not allocate money to sectors that serve children.
 
Focusing on the 2020 national budget, only 4.3 billion dalasi  will be allocated to the key child sectors of education (D2.6B) and health (D1.5B) out of a total national budget of 21.3 billion dalasi. This represents only about 20% or one-fifth of the national budget. Is this enough to build Gambian children to truly become empowered and responsible adults who could effectively lead and sustain this country today and tomorrow? That is a question for us all.
 
For the moment the state of Gambian children leaves much to be desired even though the country has made gains in universal primary education and immunization. Recent studies have identified key challenges in the education sector these include the following:

• High numbers of out-of-school children
• Stagnant gross enrollment rates,
• Low learning outcomes as indicated by national examinations,
• Below-target primary completion rates
• Student-textbook ratios,
• Low teaching quality
• Insufficient resource mobilization.

 
These are challenges that directly undermine the growth and development of children hence threaten the overall growth and development of The Gambia today and tomorrow. Meantime 7.7 billion dalasi will be spent on debt servicing in 2020 alone! One wonders, where did all of those millions of dollars of loans go to while the country remains highly indebted and poor? 

​It is in light of the above that the need to advocate for child budgeting is urgent and necessary. It is time to make sure that policy makers, lawmakers, politicians, leaders in all categories and citizens in general understand a budget and also know what is child budgeting and why it is so important. In a broader sense, child budgeting also addresses and fulfills gender and pro-poor budgeting as well. They all refer to the need to have the Government spend more resources in the social services so that people can have their needs met.
 
When we talk about social services, we refer to education, healthcare, water and electricity supply  and skills development.  These are opportunities and facilities that will enable children to grow and develop themselves with the right mindset, ability and dignity to become true leaders, inventors, creators and producers of today and tomorrow. Child budgeting is therefore an investment in children hence investment in the future and continued growth and overall development of society. Thus a proper child, gender and pro-poor budget is the bedrock for national development.

Having a child-friendly budget however is not the end of the story. The next step is the monitoring of the budget to ensure that it is properly utilized. All citizens including children should therefore know how to track budgets. This is not merely a question of being an activist; it is a matter for every citizen to become vigilant in order to hold the Government accountable.
 
The foundation for development and performance is accountability. It is only through accountability that we can know whether resources are being used properly or misused; whether we are making progress or failure; whether public institutions and officials are doing their jobs rightly or wrongly and effectively or are lazy. Without accountability, standards fall, corruption becomes the order of the day and provision of social services collapse and everyone gets miserable because cost of living goes up while people are denied opportunities such as good facilities and quality services that they have already paid through their taxes.

Do we want to eradicate global poverty? Give girls access to schooling because educated women usually participate more in the labour market, tend to be healthier, marry later and have fewer children, says the World Bank. This line of argument just moves my moral-o-meter, if that’s even a word, to the red! I think we should never substitute a human rights argument into an economic one. Girls should be given access to schooling equally as boys because it is their right. It is as simple as that.
 
The UN recognises this fact when it called for quality education for all by 2030. However, this is no mean feat and there is a myriad of barriers to achieving this goal. This is the purpose of this blog; to identify the obstacles to girls’ access to education in developing countries, especially in The Gambia. The Gambia will not achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) number four – Quality Education - if it does not recognise and remove the obstacles it faces.
 
Here are 5 of the challenges in girls’ access to education that The Gambia needs to rectify if it is to achieve SDG 4: Quality Education by 2030:

​In a report outlining the status of gender disparities in The Gambia education system, it indicates that the country has so far achieved gender parity at the Lower Basic level of education . A slight disparity can be found at the upper basic level and a further increased disparity at the senior secondary level. As a result, only 25% of girls complete senior school compared to 32% of boys. This figure widens significantly in rural areas. We do know that gender stereotypes are still resilient in the division of labour within the household in The Gambia, particularly in rural areas. These stereotypes must be removed or the domestic workload on girls and women offset by labour-saving devices.

​These stereotypes are usually ingrained into our Gambian psyche that it is carried, and practiced, outside of our borders. For instance, in the UK, where both a Gambian male and female generally do the same amount of work, women usually find that domestic chores are primarily left to them. A Gambian woman is expected to work and earn some income for the family and also expected to do most of the domestic chores and look after the children too if there are any. How, then, can the Gambian girl excel in education if these heavy gender stereotypes are placed on her wherever she goes?

​The right to attend school is a basic human right and in The Gambia, there is a free lower and upper basic school for every child no matter what their financial circumstances are. However, for many families in the Gambia, education remains expensive. The poorest families are left to find the extra cash for compulsory items like uniforms, books and other stationery items, and pay exam fees. Some are even asked to pay to maintain the school building. It is therefore clear that the burden of education is heavier on the poorest than their affluent counterparts. Consequently, poorest families are forced to decide which, or how many of their children are sent to school.

However, there are schemes designed to help alleviate these extra expenses with the support of UNICEF. One of these is the Mothers’ Clubs (a community-led advocacy group), which, among other things provide support for children’s education, especially girls. Although this programme has some visible impacts on the enrolment rate and retention of girls, it has limitations such as mobilisation and management. This limits the number of girls they can reach and prevents timely intervention.

Many a times the distance between home and school are so far apart that it is off-putting for families of girls because of safety concerns, especially if the family was reluctant to let their daughter attend schooling in the first place. However, the donkey “school busses” are helping in allaying parents’ concerns that their children can get to and from school safely.
​Although the Gambia government has increased the number of communities that have schools within three kilometres to 95% in 2018, there are still some communities where girls have to endure a very long walk to school under the blistering sun. 

Menstruation is another key pressure point for girls' education in The Gambia. A lack of hygienic and gender-separated bathrooms in many schools, especially in the rural Gambia can disrupt a girl’s ability to participate in school. Furthermore, teasing from classmates, unsupportive male teachers and access to sanitary materials can prevent girls from attending school during their menstrual period. There are many girls in The Gambia, and around the globe, who feel embarrassed and shameful simply because they are on their period. ​

It is common for girls to rather stay at home than attend school during those few days of their menstrual cycle. Few days that could make all the difference in studies, revision and assessment preparation. There is more that needs to be done for girls to understand what is happening to their bodies. First, we must talk about menstruation so that it can be normalised. Then, copying South Africa, The Gambia must abolish taxes on sanitary products to make it cheaper and thus, make it widely available. In this day and age in The Gambia, menstruation should not stop a girl from attending school. Unfortunately, it does.
If this new and prosperous Gambia that everyone talks about is to be truly realised, the country must unleash its full potential by making sure that all barriers to girls’ education are removed across the entire country, not just the urban areas. Only then can the nation fully make the most of its best resource; its people.