Meet the Girls Education Expert: Joyce Adolwa, CARE.org

Interview by Lindsey Turnbull at the United State of Women Summit

October 11th is International Day of the Girl, a UN-designated holiday that "helps galvanize worldwide enthusiasm for goals to better girls’ lives, providing an opportunity for them to show leadership and reach their full potential.” All around the world, girls, mothers, aunts, activists, politicians, and more come together to advocate, advance, and organize for girls' rights. This month, we're celebrating girls. In June, we interviewed Joyce Adolwa, the Director of Education for CARE.org, an organization that offers life changing programs around the world.

Hi Joyce, please tell us how you got involved with CARE?

Well, I grew up in Kenya, and CARE, an international organization, was operating in Kenya. I was always fascinated with the types of programs they initiated for the street children and the children who were affected by HIV in some way.

Please tell us about the latest initiative to reach 30 million girls in countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nepal, etc.

That is one of our biggest passions right now. We know that girls have been marginalized from education. After they reach adolescence, they cannot reenter primary school in most countries because they ave policies that prohibit that. The Second Chances Initiative, which is part of Let Girls Learn, is going to facilitate those girls to go through an accelerated curriculum over 9-12 months, where they life skills, leadership, technology skills. We are now in the dot com world, and we need to minimize the digital divide.

Also, we will equip them with career skills. Whether they are soft skills, like business management, or a specific hard skill, like sewing, all those skills need to be informed by the markets. We need to connect what the girls need to learn to earn an income with their specific context and the skills we learn.

We’ve heard repeatedly that educated girls change nations and a nation can’t succeed when half its population is held back. How exactly are these educated young women helping to elevate their countries?

That’s a very good question. When you look at the global statistics, most developing countries lose a billion dollars per year by failing to educate their girls at the same level as boys. That’s one billion US dollars. When you think about agricultural output in sub-Saharan Africa, we could be making 25% more food if all girls had a secondary education. When you think of child mortality, at least a million children would be saved if their mothers had at least a secondary education. We are talking about huge impacts on economy, health, wellness of entire communities, which is part of nation building and development.

So, deaths would decrease, and food and GDP would increase because women and girls have more access to general knowledge and/or specific skills?

It’s not just about general knowledge. It’s about creating spaces to provide opportunities for all. If more girls are participating in education, it means more girls and boys participate in the economy. We have to make those linkages. And what are the drivers for the economies in different countries? Are we talking about agricultural or oil or mining? How do we open up the educational opportunities so that girls can prepare themselves, schools can provide relevant education that has clear paths to employment, be it self employment or working for someone else.

What are the personal benefits a girl gets from receiving an education?

You and I have been to school. Your biggest benefit is that you can make choices based on what you want, not on what others want for you and engage in opportunities. If you do not have an education, your ability to make choices that you are presented with are very few, and they may not be as attractive. The opportunities you’d like to be in are too far away, which limits your potential. Education provides that opportunity- to explore your potential.

A lot of people learn a trade, but do something different. The same is true in our programs, 60% of our students in Mali, that we worked with to give specific skills, are doing really well. Thirty percent of them are in different careers, which is great. They are doing something that earns them income, and doing something they want to do. Yes, opportunities, health and wellness. When a girl is educated, she can earn 10-20% more than if she is not. She will have fewer children, which mean she will have healthier families, and there will be a balance. They will have greater access to healthcare, she will be part of decision making with her husband, she will be a peer, contributing equally to the household.

We’re a magazine for teen girls. How can those girls here in the US help support girls quest for education globally?

One of the most important things they can do is stay in school and start a career. The other thing girls can do is advocate for more funding for education they can raise their voices, regarding international aid. It’s usually the first to be cut. If you go to Care.org, we have a wonderful program for including American citizen and an action-oriented program. You can volunteer, careusa.org.

We will be having Walk in Her Shoes March in October for International Day of the Girl, and we’d love to see teenagers coming out to support other girls.

 Featured photo: CARE’s Director of Education programming, Joyce Adolwa | Photo credit: Charmyonne Bailey for Steed Media Service