The "Girls in Crisis" project uses Chipua's model of comprehensive sustainable development, including literacy training; economic development assistance and training; and education on character development, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, human rights and gender equality.
Information from the United Nations, the World Bank and The Girl Effect indicates that girls who do not continue a programme of formal education are considerably more likely to marry early, engage in risky and negative life-altering behavior, have more children, achieve a lower level of income, reinvest less of their income into the family and bear less healthy and ultimately less successful children.
Beneficiaries of the project are disadvantaged girls who have little recourse to improve their lives. Many of the girls have seen one or more family members die from HIV/AIDS (including one or both parents) or other health complications common to sub-Saharan Africa (malaria, tuberculosis, cholera, etc.). They are universally young and undereducated, most only going as far as Grade 7 and many more even less. With a lack of direction in their life and ill-equipped with the tools and skills necessary to lead a better life, many of the girls turn to prostitution or poorly arranged early marriage as a solution to their problems.
The project both delays marriage and serves as a deterrent to prostitution by providing a formal environment of study for the participants with a curriculum that focuses on life skills, including reproductive health and gender equality, and obtaining the vocational and business skills needed to achieve some degree of financial independence.
"Girls in Crisis" sets in motion an ongoing process of intellectual and moral development. It imparts the skills necessary to become financially independent by establishing a sustainable business and socially developed by building the capacity to navigate the social rigours associated with living in an extremely impoverished society. Lastly, it fosters a realization of the interconnectedness of the community and instills a desire to help advance society.
The effects of the "Girls in Crisis" project extend well beyond the girls who directly participate. Participants are encouraged to share information they have learned during the training with family members, peers and community members. Accordingly, they become effective portals for disseminating important information into their communities, such as the equality of men and women, trustworthiness and accountability in business and service to the community.
