Sponsor a Girl for the Future of Families
Women are the natural life-givers in our world. From pregnancy and birth to creating a home and raising children, women can be the key to a child’s upbringing and outlook on life. This is why it’s important to ensure that the girls in our world are given every opportunity to flourish. When you sponsor a girl, you are lifting entire families.
According to UN Women, 388 million females of all ages were living in poverty in 2022. Of that, 244 million of them were in sub-Saharan Africa.[1] Rates of women and girls in poverty always outpace rates of men and boys. Many factors contribute to this, often cultural and physical. The odds are stacked against women and girls worldwide in nearly every area. Any kind of crisis in a country, such as a weather disaster or illness outbreak, will always disproportionately affect women and girls.[2] Solutions are needed to protect and promote them.
“We know from decades of research that when girls and women are educated, we see faster poverty reduction, better maternal health, lower child mortality, greater HIV prevention and reduced violence. Each additional year a girl spends in school can also boost her earnings as an adult by up to 20%,” writes Jodie Mann Batson for UN Women.[3]
Additionally, UN Women reports, “There is a close correlation between gender equality and stability, resilience, poverty reduction, growth, and social cohesion. When women and girls in all their diversity live up to their full potential, they are the key to unlock our common challenges. To realize that aim, we do not need to fix women – we need to fix the systems and structures that are currently preventing progress and reverse the regressive social norms that are pushing back women’s rights and limiting their full and meaningful participation.”[4]
Many organizations recognize the disadvantages of girls but also a proven solution: sponsor a girl to go to school. Getting an education is proven to give girls the tools and pathways they need for a better life, which in turn creates stronger communities and nations.
Daya was one little girl who had no hope and no future. She joined her grandmother every day to beg at bus stations and anywhere someone might have pity on them. Her parents had abandoned her, splitting up and going their separate ways. Daya did not go to school, did not get regular food and did not understand how to take care of herself.[5]
One day, a cook who works for a GFA World Child Sponsorship Program saw Daya while she and her grandmother were begging and invited her to enroll in the program. It was a huge relief for her grandmother. Daya was able to go to school and get regular meals. She got better and better grades at school, dreaming of being a teacher and learning how to take care of herself. This is one little girl whose life was saved from death, violence or human trafficking, things that often happen to vulnerable girls and women.
With GFA, when you sponsor a girl, education is a top priority. We know that providing her with a path into betterment is the key to releasing her from poverty. To sponsor a girl in Africa is to release one of the millions held in that bondage of never enough.
“In sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of the world’s poorest live, the number of women and girls living in extremely poor households is expected to increase from 249 million to 283 million between 2021 and 2030,” UN Women estimates.[6]
A sponsorship of $35 per month helps ensure that a little girl like Daya is placed in school, receives help with her education, gets nutritious food and the loving care of GFA program staff to make sure she’s growing and thriving. It’s the kind of support and care many parents can’t afford when survival is all they can think about on any given day.
You can change the life of one little girl with your monthly sponsorship. You may be all that stands between her and a life cut short. Start today.
Learn more about how to sponsor a child in Africa
[1] “Poverty Deepens for Women and Girls, According to Latest Projections.” UN Women. February 2022. https://data.unwomen.org/features/poverty-deepens-women-and-girls-according-latest-projections#:~:text=New%20projections%20of%20global%20poverty,outlook%20could%20be%20far%20worse.
[2] “Leaving No Girl Behind in Education.” UN Women. Sept. 16, 2022. https://data.unwomen.org/features/leaving-no-girl-behind-education.
[3] “Leaving No Girl Behind in Education.” UN Women. Sept. 16, 2022. https://data.unwomen.org/features/leaving-no-girl-behind-education.
[4] “Accelerating Action on Gender Equality.” UN Women. March 10, 2023. https://data.unwomen.org/features/accelerating-action-gender-equality.
[5] “Why Are You Exploiting This Girl? GFA World. 2012. https://www.gfa.org/news/articles/why-are-you-exploiting-this-girl/.
[6] “COVID-19 Is Driving Women and Girls Deeper into Poverty.” UN Women. Oct. 17, 2020. https://data.unwomen.org/features/covid-19-driving-women-and-girls-deeper-poverty#:~:text=In%20sub%2DSaharan%20Africa%2C%20where,a%20resurgence%20in%20extreme%20poverty.