Thank you to the Williston Federated Church in Williston, Vermont for raising over $800 for the Honduran Girls Transportation Fund!

Sponsors are needed for the Honduran Girls Project. You can also make a donation to the Honduran Girls Education and Transportation Fund.  Please email Carolyn Cruikshank or call her at 802-767-3303 for more information.

• Become a sponsor of a Honduran Girl

• Make a donation to the Honduran Girls Education Fund

• History of the Project

• Project Description

• Future Plans

It has been documented many times over in international development literature that one of the best ways to break the cycle of poverty is to empower the women of any developing country. If women can obtain more education, avoid early pregnancies and the subsequent burden of overly large families, and learn a skill to enable them to earn more money, then the whole country benefits because a significant positive change will have taken place in the social structure. Worldwide, the mean educational achievement of girls is 40% below that of boys, yet as women, they are the primary educators of the next generation. Research shows that educating girls yields the highest rate of return compared to any other investment in human development.

Become a Sponsor of a Honduran Girl

Sponsors are needed to sponsor a Honduran Girl.  You can also make a donation to the Honduran Girls Education and Transportation Fund. Please email Carolyn Cruikshank or call her at 802-767-3303 for more information.This program is supported by individuals, families, schools, and private sector associations in the U.S. who adopt a primary school in Honduras and provide a scholarship to a carefully selected girl.

Commitment of the Sponsor:

• Provide the annual scholarship of $120 by October of each year. You can also choose to provide an annual scholarship of $320 annually to pay for tranpsortation expenses of girls as they move on to high school and must take the bus out of thier village.

• The money from the sponsors is used as follows: 70% goes directly to each girl, which she must budget and account for, to buy whatever is needed to attend school, 25% is used to help pay for two training seminars each year, and 5% is used for administrative purposes (mainly mailing girls’ correspondence to their sponsors).

• Correspond at least three times annually with the sponsored girl, her family, and her school

• You are encouraged to arrange a visit to Honduras

Commitment of the Scholarship Recipient

• To complete studies through 9th grade level

• To attend regioinal seminars organizad for scholarship recipients

• To communicate at least three times with the sponsor, including letters, pictures, and school reports

Honduran Girls Education Fund

The Vermont Chapter has recently established the Honduran Girls Education and Transportation Fund as an alternative to sponsoring a specific Honduran Girl.  All donations will be used to cover emergancy sponsorship costs, transportation, housing, meals, refreshments, teaching materials for girls, parents, and teachers that attend training workshops.  To donate to the Honduran Girls Education Fund, contact Carolyn Cruikshank at (802) 767-3303 or email Carolyn Cruikshank or contact Vicki Torsch, at (802) 864-6632 or email Vicki Torsch . All donations are tax deductible.

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History of the Project

The Honduran Girls’ Education Project was initiated in 1995 by a core of Honduran teachers associated with the then operating scholarship office of USAID/Honduras and volunteer members of VHP. Since the closing of the USAID’s scholarship office, Hondurans who had been involved there formed an Association for Peace Scholars for the Development of Honduras (ANEDH) to carry on the education projects they were deeply committed to. The goal was set to focus on perfecting a pilot project in one of the smallest and poorest Departments (states) of Honduras which began in 1997 with 31 sponsored girls. In 1998, the Vermont coordinator of the project was invited to represent the POA at the first world conference focusing on girls, entitled Educating Girls: A Development Imperative. An exhibit was presented on the Honduran Girls’ Education Project that generated great interest because its international people-to-people focus and leadership development potential can be replicated in any country as well as the rest of Honduras. The high level of success the project has already achieved is in part due to the caring relationships that have developed by uniting sponsors and girls through communication.

Computer purchased by Tom Plumb (pictured) for the Honduran Girls Project.Tom is standing with Dixia Hernandex, the Director of the Honduran Girls Project in Nacaome and her relative.  She now has internet access and can communicate with Carol Cruikshank of VT-Honduras Partnership.

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Project Description

The project is located in the Department of Valle in Honduras that is a very arid and impoverished area and contains 260 primary schools.

The goal is to select one poor girl from each primary school who demonstrates a high level of academic achievement and motivation in her first two years of school. This is a critical period because the largest percentage of drop-outs among girls occurs in the 3^rd and 4^th grades. She must also have parent(s) interest/support. With the presently available administrative resources the project has had to hold its enrollment to 100 girls representing 100 schools.

These girls must:

• Keep up their grades,
• Maintain excellent school attendance,
• Attend two training seminars per year with her parent and teacher, and
• Sustain a regular communication between herself and her sponsor.

The success rate and leadership development have surpassed expectations even in the face of the devastating effects of Hurricane Mitch when Valle was one of the hardest hit areas.

Each girl is sponsored by an individual (child or adult), a family, a church group or an organization in Vermont and Honduras, as well as 11 other states and 7 other countries. Each sponsor pays $120 annually for each girl and some sponsor as many as five girls. The money from the sponsors is used as follows: 70% goes directly to each girl, which she must budget and account for, to buy whatever is needed to attend school, 25% is used to help pay for two training seminars each year, and 5% is used for administrative purposes (mainly mailing girls’ correspondence to their sponsors).

The Training Seminars are an extremely important part of the project because this activity brings all the girls together along with their teachers and mothers. In addition to the very important social interaction there are educational sessions on such topics as personal health and hygiene, sexuality, creative expression, environmental conservation, soil improvement and plant production for healthier diets, opening and maintaining a school library, and setting personal goals. The girls are divided into three groups by year of enrollment and each group attends one all-day session with topics selected that are appropriate to that age group. The girls are encouraged to share what they learn at the training seminars with their classmates and the teachers have observed this taking place. It has been demonstrated that many of the girls have already become leaders in their school by encouraging other students to do their best, strive for good attendance records and stay in school. They truly give hope, encouragement and inspiration to their classmates. Since the project started there have been only five drop-outs, three of these were because the family moved away. One girl was removed by her mother who decided a sixth grade education was enough for any girl and needed this daughter’s help to care for her ten children. This case demonstrates the importance of mothers attending the training seminars to hopefully change such hopeless attitudes. Some separate sessions are planned for parents and teachers to increase their knowledge and skills.

Keeping the girls in school until they complete ninth grade will demonstrate significant improvement over the norm and the participants are excellent role models. However, many of these young women will still become working mothers and assume the role as the gatekeeper to child and family welfare. To upgrade their economic situation they will need to enhance their basic education with specific education and training to develop specific job skills. A realistic appraisal of the situation indicates that for most girls this additional education must be available in Valle. This will require a centrally located facility to function as project office and training location for the Honduran Girls’ Education Project, and will also serve as an educational support center for programs beyond 9th grade. This center will also be the distribution point for books and exhibits to be circulated among the primary schools. The center should have at least one computer with E-mail and Internet capabilities, plus the usual inventory of office equipment such as a copier, fax machine and telephone. This facility needs to be constructed as no suitable building has been located in the area. In addition to purchasing the necessary building materials, at least two masons, two carpenters, and four laborers would need to be hired. This basic crew can be supplemented with volunteer labor from the communities. The center will not function without the services of a full-time professional staff person and a qualified candidate is available if reasonable compensation and benefits are provided. Adequate housing is scarce in Valle and the center could be constructed with living quarters for the staff and program participants.

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Future Plans

The Partners believe the project cannot be realistically expanded without building the center described above and also securing more funds for administration. The percentage of funds budgeted for the seminars does not begin to cover the costs which includes transportation, housing, meals, refreshments, teaching materials for all attendees as well as expenses of any trainers that must be brought to Valle and housed for the three days.

Future activities:

• Build a central library and several mini-libraries in the Valle area.
• Sponsorship of girls at $320/year to cover transportation costs.
• Establish a Honduran Girls Education Fund for donations as an alternative to a sponsorship.

For more information, to become a sponsor of a girl in the Honduran Girls Education Project, or make a donation to the Education Fund, contact Carolyn Cruikshank at (802) 767-3303 or email Carolyn Cruikshank

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