Help Room to Read support girls in Tanzania complete secondary school and provide the support and skills to navigate through major life decisions.

Why we care: In 2010, 63 percent of all secondary school drop-outs in Tanzania were girls, with truancy—which can be attributed to the long distance girls must travel to school—and early pregnancy accounting for 68 percent of these drop-outs.

How we’re solving this: Working at both the community and school level to provide girls with the academic, social, and material support they need to overcome educational and social barriers to completing school.

Although the number of girls enrolled in school increased significantly when universal primary education was introduced in Tanzania in 2000, a large gender gap in education still persists. While girls may have better access to education, barriers such as the cost of school materials, early pregnancy and marriage, and gender-based expectations impede achievement, causing many to fall behind in school or dropout. With only a few secondary schools in rural areas, many girls must travel long distances to attend school, sometimes under risky conditions, further contributing to low attendance rates and safety concerns among parents.

Room to Read is committed to supporting every girl enrolled in our program to complete secondary school by providing life skills education and mentoring, as well as focused academic tutoring and material support. For many of the girls in our program, Room to Read is their lifeline to continued educational opportunity.

We provide our girl scholars long-term financial assistance toward school fees, tutoring, mentoring and life skills training for girls to ensure their ability to complete secondary school with the relevant skills to succeed in school and beyond. Room to Read also works with parents, schools, and communities to positively change the educational environment and address systemic barriers to gender equality.

We have made a commitment to providing a set of core program activities to both girls and their communities as part of our new strategic vision. We believe that when implemented together, these program activities substantially increase girls’ success in completing secondary school with the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions, while helping to build a more gender equitable society.

In addition to providing direct supports to girl participants, Room to Read mobilizes the community to champion girls’ education by hosting a series of parent meetings, community-wide events, and workshops that help community groups better understand their role in supporting girls’ education.

This project will help raise funds for 50 girls to receive support and life-skills training on issues such as self-awareness, decision-making and problem solving, critical and creative thinking, and coping with emotions and stress. This project will also provide material and academic support to girls on a need-basis; this support can include tutors, school materials, school uniforms, and help with tuition when necessary.

Additionally, this project supports one Social Mobilizer who serves as a mentor and resource for the 50 girls who will be funded by this project. The Social Mobilizer works with program participants to ensure they are supported both in school and at home; this support ranges from making sure a girl receives material support if needed to working with a girl’s parents to ensure she stays in school.