Written By Aarushi Dua and Quynh Anh Tran

Of the world’s 774 million illiterate adults, 2/3 are women. The share of illiterate women has not changed for the past 20 years. Among the world’s 123 million illiterate youth, 76 million are female. These gender disparities remain persistent, with little change over time.

The female literacy rate is under 50% in +12 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. In several cases, it’s under 20%. Imagine what this means in terms of deprivation, vulnerability to poor health & exploitation, in terms of mothers sending (or not) their daughters to school.

What is One Girl?

One Girl is a Melbourne-based charity harnessing the power of education to drive change for girls and their communities. It is an organisation that helps girls in Sierra Leone and Uganda not only get access to their basic rights, education but also access to menstruation products and much more.

How did it all start?

Uganda and Sierra Leone are examples of countries that oppress and deny girls their human rights, the rights to go to school. One Girl started when the co-founders, Chantelle Baxter and David Dixon, arrived in Uganda and met Brenda. Brenda is a brave girl who refused the hand she has been dealt. Outraged by the tragic, limiting environment girls lived in, One Girl was founded to help girls fight for their rights and support them in their journey.

Their Mission

One Girl aims to build a world where ALL girls have access to quality education. A world where all girls — no matter where they are born or how much money they have — enjoy the same rights and opportunities as boys. A world where every girl has the chance to be the best she can be. They believe that they can create this world by using the power of education because when you educate a girl everything changes!!

This year they are aiming to raise $100K!

Using donation money, One Girl supports girls through many different ways such as running programs to educate girls about water, sanitation, and hygiene. They also provide them with lunch, school supplies, menstruation products, scholarships and much more.

Especially with pandemics like this one, girls are taken advantage of, and teen pregnancies boom in those countries. One Girl is running a program Girl Tok for those girls so they can take part in online learning and be provided with care packs so their education is not affected.

Why girls? How does it help? How does it make a difference?

More than 130 MILLION girls around the world are denied an education. Educating girls is the number one way to fight climate change, to reduce poverty, and to create a fair and sustainable planet! When a girl is educated, her health, status, income, and entire future changes for the better, and she’ll go on to educate her (smaller, healthier) family and community. The ripple effects are incredible – and best of all, everyone in her community will benefit! It’s hard to imagine, but a girl in Sierra Leone is more likely to be married before the age of 18 than she is to finish high school – and only 16% of girls ever complete high school. But when you educate a girl, her income will increase by 10–25% for every year she stays in school. She’ll get married when she chooses to, be able to think for herself, have control over her own income and break the cycle of poverty. The power of education creates immediate and long-lasting change!

The Girl Effect

Imagine a young baby girl slowly growing up. Now imagine what her future would be like. But the reality is far from what you just imagined. When a girl turns 12 and lives in poverty, her future is out of her control. In the eyes of most, she is a woman now. No, she really is. She faces the reality of being married by the age of 14. She is pregnant by the time she’s 15. And if she survives childbirth, she might have to sell her body to support her family, which puts her at risk for contracting and spreading HIV. Was that the future you imagined for the baby girl?

But wait there is a solution,

If you rewind her life back to the age of 12 where she is happy and healthy. By the time she’s 14, she’s growing and visiting her doctor regularly. When she’s 15 she stays in school where she is safe. By the time she’s 18, she uses her education to earn a living. And now she is calling the shots. What does it look like? She is avoiding HIV. She can marry and have children when she is ready. Her children are health like she is, now imagine this continuing generation after generation. 50 million 12-year-old girls live in poverty.

This is the girl effect and the effect that starts with a 12-year-old girl.

And the clock is ticking.

How can you help right now?

We have organised a few fundraisers this year that are coming up really soon, so spread the word and help us out if you can!!!

Fundraiser 1: Funtastic Fridays

We are running a fundraiser which benefits primary school kids and their parents as well. With remote learning in place, even parents need a break from their kids and it'd be great if they were learning something useful in that time while having fun! We are starting a one month program where on every Friday evenings we will run classes for children ages 8 - 12 to learn things like Descriptive writing, Vedic Maths, How to stay safe during COVID, Origami, including a Curious Minds workshop where answer amazing questions like (Why don't any country flags have purple in them, are boys actually smarter than girls,etc.) Find a full in-detail poster attached at the end of the article. The link given in the poster is tiny.cc/funfri.

Fundraiser 2: Fundraising Time

One of us (Aarushi) is also running another fundraiser for CEOs, business owners, researchers, universities, or anyone who wants an insight from a high school student for the following topics:

Understanding young people/Gen Z
What is the jump from primary school to high school like? How to prepare for it?
Technology (interested in making a poster/video/learning a daily use software)
How to do well in English (especially as a second language)

Please check the poster below for more details

Fundraiser 3: UHS Trivia Night

We are also running a UHS Trivia Night fundraiser. It will be a trivia night for all members of UHS on the 17th of September (Week 10 Thursday), poster attached at the end of the article.

How to get involved directly with One Girl:

Every year One Girl runs an Youth Ambassador program for high school students as well as an Ambassador program for adults! Even though you can’t apply this year to be a One Girl Ambassador, you can next year! And despite that, there are ways you can directly get involved with them this year.

You can donate: Give a girl an opportunity. All a girl needs is an opportunity. Make a donation and together we can give girls in Sierra Leone and Uganda the opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential.
Become a member of the graduation: By joining One Girl’s Graduation program and becoming a monthly donor, you can give girls in Sierra Leone and Uganda the opportunity to complete high school.
Do It In A Dress: Fundraise for girls! Challenge yourself and raise funds for One Girl’s education programs, all whilst having fun! Sign up to Do It In a Dress or create your own fundraiser.

We joined One Girl because we wanted to make a difference. And you can too!!

Help to make a positive impact on the world by spreading awareness about the urgent support girls need to fight this problem. To support girls education and donate to the links below!!

Website: https://www.onegirl.org.au/

Our links you can donate on: https://www.onegirl.org.au/fundraisers/aarushidua/ambassadors-2020

https://www.onegirl.org.au/fundraisers/quynhanhtran/ambassadors-2020

(more in the instagram bios of other ambassadors)