Global Pearls has an entrepreneurial culture. We experiment, evaluate results, modify, experiment again… Our Kenya program is an example. We started working the Moi Girls Samburu Secondary School in 2021, and our primary goal is to rescue girls or protect them from forced child marriage. Most girls are married off to community elders when they graduate from the 8th grade because that is when free tuition ends. Getting/keeping girls in secondary school is the strategy we use to combat this. Even if their educations end with secondary school, by then the girls are more confident so our hope is they are better able to resist a forced marriage. But if they could qualify for university studies, they could access government scholarships and loans and subsequent job opportunities which would truly change their lives! We modified our program design twice before we found the right combination of support, confidence building, and incentives.
Students graduating from secondary school take an exam called the KCSE. The results of that exam determine if a student can pursue higher education. Last year (2023 results) Moi Girls Samburu was honored for having the biggest improvement in exam scores in Samburu County. The 2024 results just came out and, for the second year in a row, Moi Girls Samburu had the biggest increase. The top 200 secondary schools in Kenya (out of more than 9,000) are published on a list, and this year, for the very first time, Moi Girls Samburu made the list! They were ranked 146 – about the top 1.5% of all the secondary schools in the country!
This year 99% of our graduating seniors (vs 50% for Kenya as a whole) qualified for higher education – either college (easier to qualify) or university (harder). I’m particularly amazed by the increased # qualifying for university. 83% of the graduating girls (compared to 26% for Kenya) qualified for university!!!!
I encourage you to watch this video as the girls gathered to hear the results. They knew the news was good, so they were in a celebratory mood, but don’t miss the part just after 2:22 when Alice announces the actual results.
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