Transforming Obstacles into Opportunities for Vulnerable Adolescent Girls
The EmpowerHer project by Restless Development Sierra Leone is a dedicated initiative to help vulnerable adolescent girls in Moyamba district overcome systemic barriers to education. Through a girl-led, community-centered, and systemic approach, it aims to empower over 500 girls with the skills, confidence, and support needed to complete their academic pursuit.
The EmpowerHer program specifically targets 250 vulnerable adolescent girls aged 14-19 in Sierra Leone’s Moyamba district. These girls face significant educational obstacles, including low completion rates, deeply rooted socio-cultural norms, early marriage, teen-age pregnancy, and insufficient accountability within the school system.
Our Focus Includes:
- Low-income homes
- Those under non-biological guardians,
- Teenage mothers and girls with disabilities.
The Project Approach
The program employs a holistic, three-pronged strategy to cultivate a supportive ecosystem for girls’ education, focusing on fostering individual agency through:
- In-school and community-based interventions that cover STEM, life skills, employability, digital and financial literacy, and comprehensive sexuality education, alongside mentorship, role models, scholarships, and menstrual hygiene support.
- It cultivates community support by establishing girl-only safe spaces, implementing “Positive Parenting Initiatives,” and conducting community sensitisation and intergenerational dialogues to shift harmful norms.
- Lastly, the program strengthens school accountability by empowering community leaders, parents, and girls to participate in community-driven accountability systems, enhancing safeguarding mechanisms, training educators in gender-sensitive teaching, and monitoring the implementation of national education policies to ensure girl-friendly, inclusive
