Our Projects

OUR FIRST PROJECT

“Ensuring Our Mission” :  Scholarship Fund

Location: Agbugugu Enugu, Nigeria

Who: Twenty school aged girls

For: Full ride secondary school scholarships (6 years)

Cost: Average $200 per girl per year

Why: Many Nigerian parents, especially in large families with limited resources, enroll boys in school instead of or before girls. The national literacy rate for Nigerian females is only 56%, compared to 72% for males, and in certain states the female literacy, enrollment and achievement rates are much lower. With 70% of the population living below the poverty line, girls are often sent to generate income for families by selling wares in the market or on the street. If an African girl has a chance to go to secondary school, there is a lower risk of her contracting HIV/AIDS, becoming a child bride, or a teen mother.

Steps:

• The community needs assessment. In order for W.E.A.P.O.N’s funding and projects to be successful and sustainable, a community needs assessment is crucial. Our primary goal is to answer the question: What are the barriers that women and girls face in their community that prevent them from accessing and succeeding in basic formal education and arts education? The result of this assessment will shape everything W.E.A.P.O.N does in that community to ensure that the women and girls are having the opportunity to go to school and engage in arts programming.
• Allocation of our first scholarships. During the assessment we will locate a minimum of 20 girls whose parent cannot afford to send them to secondary school. The average cost for a girl to go to secondary school for one year is only $200.00. We will provide full scholarships to these girls that ensure that all their said needs are being met to succeed in school, including but not limited to, uniforms, transportation, nutrition, books and supplies. We will work with our community partners to ensure the girls remain supported throughout the school year and that we are keeping up to date on their success. The more money we are able to raise the more girls will benefit from the “Ensuring Our Mission” Scholarship Fund.

Thank you for helping make our first project a reality!

“Adolescent girls in developing countries are the world’s greatest untapped resource for stability and growth. As economic actors and future mothers, safe, healthy, educated, economically empowered girls have the means to escape poverty and ignite progress.”