About
Background
The Women's Health Education and Prevention
Strategic Alliance (WHEPSA), an independently audited
and
registered 501(c)(3)
not-for-profit organization, launched the 10,000
Girls program in 2001.
Since then, the local media and Senegal-based
employees of
USAID and
UNESCO have referred to WHEPSA as
10,000 Girls. (Well, the French
10,000
Filles to be exact). Fine with us. WHEPSA is the
parent organization: the 10,000 Girls program, what
WHEPSA does and has been doing. But let's get to
the heart of matter.
Overview
The 10,000 Girls program provides girls in the
villages of Senegal with the tools to succeed. The
program has two interdependent components:
education and
enterpreneurship.
Education
The education program supports girls at risk of
leaving school early by
- purchasing textbooks and providing tutoring and
space in which to study
- monitoring school progress
- encouraging parents to support their
daughters' education
(For more detailed information, please see
Education »
Activities »
Challenges »
Building for the Future).
Enterpreneurship
The
enterpreneurship
program is for girls who have left school. It
provides both vocational training and employment in
one of the two 10,000 Girls successful enterprises:
the pastry shop and catering business, and the sewing
workshop producing handmade dolls, quilts and other
artisanal products for export. Moreover, these
business ventures produce income. Income both for the
participating employees and to support the education
program financially. (Please see
Entrepreneurship »
Celebration »
Young Women Entreprenuers of Kaolack
(J-FEK)). So what makes the 10,000 Girls program
different? Or as some qualified observers
testify, exceptional?
Bottom line
10,000 Girls is
- self-supporting through the girls' own work
- sustainable as it grows
- capable of scaling to the needs of the region
- supported by the local communities
The program currently (as of May 2006) serves
1467 girls, well on its way to the 10-year goal of
serving 10,000 Girls. (For the statistics and more,
please see
Facts and
Numbers).
Contact
We developed this site (with assistance from
Suffolk University Dakar) to share the
mission, message and
accomplishments of 10,000
Girls. We also encourage you to
participate. To join us.But for
questions and concerns not addressed here, please
feel free to
e-mail
Viola Vaughn, the founder of WHEPSA and current
Executive Director of
10,000 Girls.
Thank you for reading.
