Laureates of UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education

2023

  • China Children and Teenager’s Fund, China
  • Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education, Pakistan 

China Children and Teenagers’ Fund, China

China Children and Teenagers’ Fund (CCTF) was founded in 1981 as the first national public-raising foundation in China, committed to create more opportunities for the development of children and teenagers in China to enable them to embrace a brighter future.

The awarded project, the Spring Bud Project, aims to promote equitable, inclusive and quality education for adolescent girls from disadvantaged families with holistic support including subsidies for girls’ schooling, skills training for income generation, mental health education, and digital literacy. Since its launch in 1989, the project has been expanding its work while innovating in its methods and content. Among its innovative features are the Girl Sci-tech Camps which build girls’ science and technology skills and the Girl Friendly Corners which exist in over 100 schools and community spaces nationwide. 

By the end of 2022, the project covered 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and 56 ethnic groups, benefiting over 4 million girls.  

Spring Bud Project

Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education, Pakistan

The Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education (PAGE) is a non-profit organization launched in 2013 to help girls in Pakistan to overcome extreme poverty and cultural barriers to education.

The awarded project, the Star Schools Programme, was established in 2016 to support girls go to and stay in school in some of Pakistan's most challenging contexts. It aims to change mindsets, empower girls and women and strengthen communities through education. The innovative features of the programme include the focus on mental health counselling and sports activities to build confidence and resilience, and the Feed a Paratha nutrition scheme which employs local women to produce the fresh staple every day for students.

PAGE has directly impacted the lives of more than 540,000 girls with Star Schools existing in 169 deprived areas across the country supporting highly vulnerable girls including minorities, Afghan and Rohingya refugees, and those hit by emergencies like the devastating floods in 2022. 

Pakistan Alliance for Girls Education
UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education: 2023 laureates
2023
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2022

  • Room to Read, Cambodia
  • Girls Livelihood and Mentorship Initiative (GLAMI), Tanzania

Room to Read, Cambodia

Room to Read Cambodia is a non-profit organization working in collaboration with local communities, partner organizations and governments to improve literacy and advance gender equality in education.

The awarded project, Girls' Education Programme, aims to transform the lives of girls facing deep inequities in Cambodia. The programme supports girls aged 12-18 to build skills to succeed in school and make key life decisions. The programme empowers girls while transforming harmful social norms and fostering an enabling environment that engages parents and communities, adolescent boys, and government stakeholders. It offers a transformative life skills curriculum, individual and group mentoring, parent and community engagement, and needs-based material support.

The programme has reached more than 17,000 girls in Cambodia, with a broader reach across Asia and Africa.

GWE 2022 laureate - Room to read Cambodia

Girls Livelihood and Mentorship Initiative (GLAMI), Tanzania

GLAMI is an NGO that supports girls in secondary school in Tanzania to safely transition between education levels, complete their education, and develop into confident leaders able to transform their own lives and their communities through two flagship programmes.

The first, Binti Shupavu, meaning ‘courageous daughters’ in Swahili, supports girls as they transition from primary to secondary school. It is a four-year life skills course for girls in lower secondary school to improve resilience and increase graduation rates. The second, Kisa, meaning ‘story’ in Swahili, prepares girls aged 16-20 for university through a two-year leadership course, while empowering them to create social change in their communities.

Working through 42 partner schools, and engaging teachers, families and the wider community, GLAMI has changed the lives of 7,400 girls in 11 districts in the regions of Arusha and Kilimanjaro.

GWE 2022 laureate - GLAMI Tanzania
UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education: 2022 laureates
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2022
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2021

  • {reprograma}, Brazil
  • Girl MOVE Academy, Mozambique

{reprograma}, Brazil

Founded in 2016 by three women, {reprograma} is a non-profit institution working to close the gender gap and diversify companies’ teams in Brazil’s technology sector. With plans to expand throughout Latin America, they provide free training to under-represented and low-income women and adolescent girls who are passionate about technology but who do not have the support or financial means to pursue studies in the area.

{reprograma} is awarded for its project, Reprogramming Brazil’s technology sector – Including Afro descendants and transgender women, which is working to close the gender gap in Brazil’s technology sector through the provision of training to thousands of under-represented and low-income women and girls in coding and other in-demand digital skills.

Over 10,000 women and adolescent girls have participated in free 18-week programming bootcamps, and technical events and hackathons.

Reprograma Brazil

Girl MOVE Academy, Mozambique

Girl MOVE Academy is a non-profit organization that aims to ensure women and girls have equal access to education, opportunities to actively participate in society and to break the cycle of poverty through the empowerment of a new generation of changemakers. The organization’s approach nurtures and develops female role models, with a multiplier effect through mentorship and sisterhood circles.

Girl MOVE Academy is recognized for its project, Unblocking girls’ education and opportunities through new reference models, which empowers adolescent girls and young women to have equal access to education through mentorship, storytelling, sisterhood circles and a unique model of intergenerational support.

Since 2014, the project has changed the lives of more than 5,000 adolescent girls and young women. Today, 85% of participants have successfully transitioned to secondary school education, compared to under 35% of girls nationally. The project’s innovative model is also being replicated to other provinces.

Girl MOVE Academy
UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education: 2021 laureates
2021
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2020

  • Shilpa Sayura Foundation, Sri Lanka
  • Girl Child Network, Kenya

Shilpa Sayura Foundation, Sri Lanka

The Shilpa Sayura Foundation was established in 2005 with a primary goal to develop and provide an e-learning system with digital content for learning national curriculum at rural Telecentres in Sri Lanka to help youth and children.

The awarded project, NextGen Girls in Technology, helps increase girls’ and women’s participation in the emerging technology sector in Sri Lanka by training thousands of girls and teachers on in-demand industry skills.

In the past two years, NextGen has reached all corners of Sri Lanka, online and offline, training over 1,050 young women and more than 500 teachers on in-demand technology sector skills such as machine learning, cybersecurity and design, and increasing internship and employment opportunities.

Shilpa Sayura Foundation

Girl Child Network, Kenya

The Girl Child Network was established in 1995, with its initial objective to facilitate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action in Kenya. It now delivers complex multi-sectorial programmes in education, health and nutrition, human rights and legislation, gender and governance, disaster risk reduction, research and documentation and institutional strengthening.

The awarded project, Our Right to Learn – Reaching the Unreached, increases access to quality primary school education for vulnerable children, including girls, in Kenya’s hardest-to-reach areas while empowering them to raise their voices in and out of school.

Since 2012, the project has reached over 51,900 children in 240 primary schools, including more than 25,900 vulnerable and marginalized out of school girls, and over 740 female teachers. Through education programmes, gender- and disability-friendly school facilities and community-based social mobilization, the project aims to transform negative attitudes standing in the way of girls’ education.

Girl Child Network
UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education: 2020 laureates
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2020
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2019

  • Sulá Batsú, Costa Rica
  • Department of Education, Government of Navarre, Spain

Sulá Batsú, Costa Rica

Founded in 2005, Sulá Batsu is a Costa Rican cooperative using digital technologies, art and culture to tell the stories of girls and young women and foster social transformation in local communities.

The awarded project, Voices of Central American Girls empowers adolescent girls through digital skills to raise their own voices and create solutions for themselves and their communities. Implemented in schools, the project provides girls from vulnerable backgrounds with extracurricular training combining digital literacy, coaching, mutual learning and prototyping innovative digital solutions.

Since 2016, over 4,000 girls have enrolled in the trainings, a network of more than 600 girls has been established and 300 technological prototypes have been developed. The project was originally developed in Costa Rica and has since been extended through much of the Central America region.

Sulá Batsú

Department of Education, Government of Navarre, Spain

The Department of Education of the Government of Navarre in Spain is recognized for its project, SKOLAE: Growing in equality which addresses gender stereotypes in education and beyond. This holistic school programme empowers learners to choose their course in life in conditions of equality, working on the principle that meaningful change begins in the classroom.

The project’s training programme enables learners to identify inequalities, fight them and exercise their individual right to equality regardless of culture, religion, sexual orientation or identity. It aims to prevent all forms of violence against girls and women, bring forward women and their contributions and value egalitarian masculinities and empowered femininities.

Since 2017, the project has been implemented in 116 schools (30% of the region’s schools) and has had an impact on 8,705 girls and 8,902 boys aged 3 to 18. Some 1,808 female and 495 male teachers have taken part in the project’s teacher training programme.

Department of Education, Government of Navarre
UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education: 2019 laureates
2019
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2018

  • Misr El Kheir Foundation, Egypt
  • Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, Jamaica

Misr El Kheir Foundation, Egypt

The Foundation’s programmes support girls’ transition from primary to secondary, and the completion of a full cycle of basic education. They empower girls to acquire literacy, life and future employment skills, and support teachers to deliver gender-responsive teaching and practices and to create safe teaching and learning environments.

The awarded project, Educational Opportunities for Children in Underserved Villages through Community Schools, has helped expand girls’ access to quality education and further their career development and life options in more than 290 of the country’s poorest and most underserved communities.

Since 2010, 27,750 children (62% female) have enrolled in over 1,000 schools, and 2,000 community educators have been trained in modern teaching methods. More than 7,000 children have graduated from community schools, including 3,500 girls who completed their primary education. The gender parity ratio has improved; girls now represent 62% of the school population. Community engagement is also leading to declines in early marriage.

isr El Kheir Foundation

Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation, Jamaica

Established in 1978, the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation provides continuing education for pregnant adolescent girls and mothers who had to drop out of school. Over 47,000 girls and young women have been empowered through a second chance to complete secondary education and realize their life goals.

The awarded project, Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate, supports the reintegration of adolescent girls into the formal school system after the birth of their child. Receiving the Certificate means that young women can advance to tertiary education and find meaningful careers. The project offers an academic curriculum in core subject areas, as well as courses that provide young women with income-generating skills, both face-to-face and in virtual settings.

Young mothers attending the Foundation have been more likely to complete their education, establish a career path and find better paying jobs than young women who have not participated in the course. The Foundation’s project has become a powerful model and is replicated in countries including Grenada, Guyana, and South Africa.

Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation
UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education: 2018 laureates
2018
UNESCO
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2017

  • The Development and Education Programme for Daughters and Communities Center in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region, Thailand
  • The Mini Academy of Science and Technology, Peru

The Development and Education Programme for Daughters and Communities Center in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region, Thailand

The Development and Education Programme for Daughters and Communities Center in the Greater Mekong Sub-Region (DEPDC/GMS) is a community-based non-governmental organization (NGO) in Northern Thailand committed to preventing child trafficking and exploitation through protection, education and life-skills training. Founded by Mr. Sompop Jantraka in 1989, DEPDC/GMS is helping children to understand their rights and build sense of self-worth, and also works on family and community development to create environments in which child exploitation does not occur. DEPDC/GMS was formally recognized by the Thai government in 1995, and has been working for over 20 years to protect child rights and empower girls

DEPDC/GMS was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education for its “Education and Life Skills Training Programme to Help Stateless Children and Women Migrating from Shan State to Thailand”. The innovative programme uses education and life skills training to protect migrant girls and women from the risks of human trafficking and sexual or labour exploitation. It also works on the rehabilitation of girls and women who have fallen prey to these abuses. It is recognized as a model that can be replicated in the country and elsewhere in the world.

DEPDC/GMS

The Mini Academy of Science and Technology, Peru

The Mini Academy of Science and Technology (MaCTec) is a non-profit in Peru aiming to create the first generation of Peruvian women scientists that can change the world and close the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The MaCTec model enables girls to attend workshop with established scientists where they can wonder, create, and experiment and then return home to their peers and community to share their experience, and apply their learning.

MaCTec Peru was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education for its “Mobile MaCTec Bus Labs/Mini Academy of Science and Technology” project. 200 girls from diverse social and economic sectors of Lima, Huancayo and Huaraz have benefitted from MacTec's training and have gone on to hold workshops in schools and reach out to their peers. MaCTec estimates that at least 20,000 children have been reached in 5 years, without counting the impact of MaCTec girls in their family and community at large. MacTec has been developed in partnership with state authorities, private donors and the academic community. It is scalable and can be replicated in other countries.

Mini Academy of Science and Technology

2016

  • Female Students Network Trust, Zimbabwe
  • Directorate of Early Childhood Education Development, Indonesia

Female Students Network Trust, Zimbabwe

The Female Students Network Trust (FSN, Zimbabwe) is a non-profit, membership-based organization that works with young women enrolled in tertiary education in Zimbabwe. Founded in 2005 by a network of students at the University of Zimbabwe, FSN became a non-profit organization in 2010. The organization empowers female students to take up leadership roles, and supports policy and media advocacy on issues affecting female students. FSN works with 36 institutions across 10 Provinces of Zimbabwe.

FSN was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education for its programme Empowerment of tertiary education female students through leadership development and mentorship programmes in Zimbabwe.

The programme stems from a survey on sexual harassment in learning environments, particularly in tertiary education, which found 98 per cent of students were affected and the perpetrators were often lecturers. FSN launched a campaign to establish sexual harassment policies and to improve accountability of tertiary education institutions in creating safe learning environments. The programme supports the development of institutional policies against sexual harassment, and is expanding access to counselling and legal recourse among women in 36 tertiary institutions across Zimbabwe.

Female Students Network Trust

Directorate of Early Childhood Education Development, Indonesia

The Directorate of Early Childhood Education Development of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Indonesia, supports the delivery of early education services to children aged four to six in centers across the country.  

The Directorate was awarded the UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education for its project Improving Access and Quality of Girls' Education through Community-Based Early Childhood Education and Early-Year Gender Mainstreaming.

The project is based on the belief that in order to improve girls’ access to and quality of education in the long-term, gender mainstreaming is needed in early education to address potential gender bias, discrimination and harmful stereotypes. The Directorate targets girls and boys from birth to eight years, teachers, mothers and education administrators in five provinces of the country through early socialization, training, workshops and multi-media campaigns.

Directorate of Early Childhood Education Development