Sahel Girl Power 237: Enhancing Girls’ Education and Rights in Cameroon’s Far North

Background

In Cameroon’s Far North, particularly in the Mayo Sava and Mayo Tsanaga divisions, girls face enormous challenges. The Lake Chad Basin conflict, poverty, and climate change have weakened schools and other basic services, leaving adolescent girls most at risk. Many families still see girls only as future wives and homemakers, not as students or leaders. As a result, many girls drop out of school or are forced into marriage before age 15. While boys are encouraged to learn, girls are pushed toward early marriage and domestic life, limiting their dreams and opportunities.

Our Solution

The Sahel Girl Power 237 project works to break these barriers by promoting inclusive, gender-sensitive education in six communities—Makoulahe, Amchide, Kolofata, Tourou, Maxi-Mabass, and Moskota. We address the root causes of school dropout for girls—child marriage, sexual exploitation, abuse, and child labour—through activities such as:

• Creating girls’ clubs in schools.
• Training teachers and girl leaders on gender-responsive education.
• Setting up community peer support groups.
• Running awareness campaigns on the importance of educating girls.

Our Approach

Our goal is to ensure that girls in crisis-affected communities have access to safe, quality, and relevant education. We focus on four key areas:

• Empowering teachers: We train them on gender equality, positive discipline, and child protection, while providing materials to create safer and more respectful classrooms.
• Engaging communities: We organize dialogues, campaigns, and events to raise awareness and shift harmful attitudes about girls’ education among parents, leaders, and religious authorities.
• Supporting girls directly: Through school clubs and peer groups, girls gain life skills, confidence, and knowledge of their rights. They learn about health, self-care, gender-based violence, and decision-making.
• Improving access and retention: Sixty girls who had dropped out returned to school with scholarships, while 200 vulnerable girls received school supplies to reduce barriers to education.

Our project targets six Boko Haram–affected communities with large numbers of displaced and vulnerable families. Girls themselves are involved in designing, leading, and monitoring activities—ensuring their voices shape the project.

Key Achievements and Impact

The Sahel Girl Power 237 project has already made a strong impact, shifting community attitudes and opening doors for girls.

• Produced the Debbo Rewdo Girls’ Manual, co-created with adolescent girls, covering education, self-confidence, leadership, and financial skills.
• Trained 12 teachers and 18 girl leaders to champion girls’ rights in schools and communities.
• Engaged more than 2,000 girls through school clubs and peer groups—many hearing about gender equality and their rights for the very first time.
• Supported 260 vulnerable girls with school materials and provided 60 scholarships to revive the hopes of girls who had dropped out.
• Sensitized over 3,000 community members, including 300 parents, about the importance of educating girls. Many parents admitted poverty and insecurity often force them to choose boys over girls, but our sessions helped them see the value of keeping girls in school.
• Established girls’ clubs and peer groups as safe spaces where girls can talk about issues like menstrual hygiene, gender-based violence, and education.

Voices from the Field

“For the first time, I understood that I have rights as a girl. Now I want to finish school and become a teacher.” — A 14-year-old club member

“I never believed girls could lead, but today I see my daughter speaking in public with confidence. I am proud.” — A parent in Kolofata

A Call to Action

The progress made by Sahel Girl Power 237 is only the beginning. Early marriage, poverty, and insecurity remain huge obstacles, but with your partnership we can do more.

Together, we can:

• Share the Debbo Rewdo girls’ manual with more communities.
• Expand advocacy with government and traditional leaders.
• Document and amplify girls’ success stories.
• Build a sustainability plan so that change continues beyond the project.

Your support is an investment in the future of Sahel. Together, we can empower a new generation of girls to become leaders, innovators, and agents of change in their communities.