Back-to-School Hope Initiative reaches more than 200 children

The Back-to-School Hope Initiative, led by Foundation President Ngong Sonedita Nyeah, reached more than 200 children with educational materials and other essential support ahead of the new school year.

The initiative went beyond distribution. Alongside the materials, it incorporated conversations with children on education, dignity, personal safety, girls' rights and speaking up against abuse.

Why school materials decide whether a girl stays in class

Girls in Cameroon face significant barriers to education, and almost none of them are academic. They are early and forced marriage, domestic responsibilities, school fees, distance to school and unsafe school environments. Cameroon's female literacy rate remains below 70%.

Books, uniforms and equipment are among the most commonly cited reasons a family keeps a girl at home. Where a household must choose which child to equip, a daughter's schooling is most often the one dropped. A girl's education rarely ends through a single decision — it ends through an accumulation of small, practical pressures, and materials are one of the most immediate.

Combining distribution with protection

Pairing the distribution with conversations about personal safety and speaking up against abuse reflects how our education and protection work is designed to operate together. Education is among the most reliable long-term protective factors against violence: girls who complete school marry later, earn more, and are better placed to leave a dangerous situation.

Keeping a girl in school is a safeguarding intervention as much as an educational one, and the Foundation treats it that way.

What this builds towards

Our girl-child education pillar aims to enrol at least 300 underprivileged girls back into school in its first year through bursaries and the provision of school materials, and to support at least 1,000 girls to remain in and complete school by year three.