Sections

Girl Child Network

Project Location: Zimbabwe

Global Partner: IDEX

8+2 Areas:

The Girl Child Network (GCN) provides scholarships for young girls in rural areas without access to an education. GCN supports girls by supplying them with uniforms, meals, shelter, education, and counseling services.

GCN Programs

GCN is a girls' rights organization with a membership of 20,000 girls across Zimbabwe. GCN provides a unique model of girls’ empowerment clubs in schools and villages. These clubs provide a safe space for girls to meet and talk freely about their problems, offer each other support, and develop possible solutions.

GCN provides participants with the resources they need to complete school – scholarships, uniforms, meals, and shelter. GCN also provides counseling to girls to help them overcome any physical or emotional abuse they might have endured.

Since 1998, GCN has helped over 300,000 girls.

Why the need?

In Zimbabwe, a girl’s life has many grave threats. A ten-year economic recession with inflation at 1000% robbed an entire generation of education and health care. The country is afflicted by HIV/AIDS, extreme poverty, and has one of the lowest life expectancy rates in the world. Misconceptions regarding how HIV/AIDS is transmitted and "cured" has made sexual violence an everyday reality for Zimbabwe’s young girls.

How Team Efforts Translate to Impact

GCN dancing

All funds raised will help provide scholarships for school fees, uniforms, and meals for GCN participants. In addition, funds will provide counseling and support to girls who have experienced abuse.

How GCN Creates Sustainable Global Change

The Girl Child Network is designed to address the specific issues facing young girls in Zimbabwe.

GNC draws from the knowledge of successful Zimbabwean women who have experienced abuse and poverty and can now help other girls succeed in life.

*Photo courtesy of IDEX