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DOCTOR OF EDUCATION PROGRAM: Contemporary Approaches to Educational Problems Ed 855.716: Spring 2014
Name of Organization URL Contact Information Email and Phone Skype Focus The Batonga Foundation http://www.batongafoundation.org Stephanie Cate Stephanie@batongafoundation.org; 202-510-7169 stephanieshearercate Access and Equity
Mission and Purpose The Batonga Foundation is committed to providing vulnerable and marginalized girls in Africa with the opportunity to overcome financial, cultural, conflict and health-related obstacles in order to further their secondary school and higher education. Batonga takes a holistic approach and aims to equip adolescent girls with the skills, tools and guidance they need to complete their education. We also aim to cultivate African leadership and support expansion of local NGO capacity, while calling on world leaders and funders to agree that primary education is only the start for Africas promising next generation of girls and women. They must also work to overcome the systemic barriers to education that affect girls. We currently work in Benin, Mali, Cameroon, Sierra Leone and Ethiopia and we hope to expand into other countries in the future. We focus on girls because we believe: (a) the most cost-effective way to help African nations improve the quality of life for their citizens is to support education for girls; (b) when a woman is educated, it changes not only her life but those of her children and her family; (c) educating women translates to higher economic productivity, reduced child mortality, improved family nutrition and the prevention of AIDS.
While we believe wholeheartedly in holistic education and the need for African leadership, we also need to consider the research base for making these assumptions in order to make a case for developing a sustainability plan. A systematic theory of change can help us test our assumptions objectively and customize our program to meet the needs of our community. We do not expect to have researchers do our work for us. We seek a collaboration that can engage our NGO in asking the right questions so that we plan accordingly. We seek support to explore the issue of holistic education and sustainability from a cultural, historical, best-practice lens.
Context Describe the challenge in terms of what research can do to support progress toward your intended goal. What obstacles are you facing? Examples may include strategic design, resistance from above, policy constraints, resource constraints, and integration of new knowledge on gender equality measures. The more focused the target (specific population and specific challenge), the more productive the results will be. Please keep in mind that we need to build a collaborative rapport, select the challenge, create a research design, write a paper, and create a slide presentation in 6 weeks
While research shows that investments in adolescent girls education provide a multitude of diverse benefits for girls, their families, and their communities, the prospects of achieving the Millennium Development Goal of gender parity in primary education by 2015 are dismal for many developing countries, particularly those in subSaharan Africa. The statistics for secondary school and higher education are even worse. Adolescent girls are most often the first forced to give up their schooling due to the debilitating effect of poverty and the AIDS pandemic, creating a vicious cycle that persists across generations. Adolescence is a critical occasion to educate and influence young girls and teach them the skills they need to live healthy lives and better care for their future children. Secondary school education in particular, is a key intervention to empower adolescent girls with the skills and future income that they need to dramatically impact disease spread, hunger, infant and child mortality in their countries. When adolescent girls lives are compromised, everyone loses. Families, communities and entire economies are stunted when girls human potential is squandered.