Scholorship Programs >
MED-USAID Ambassador Girls Program
The MED-USAID partnership focuses on promoting girls education in primary and secondary schools. MEDpartnered with USAID in 2003 and though two of its implementing partners,SAIC and AED the partnership implemented theAmbassador Girls Scholarship Project. TheAmbassador Girls Project, a White House initiative, has continued to fund a minimum of 500 young Maasai girls in primary and secondary schools in the area in which MED works. The program provides Maasai girls with financial support to pay for their books, uniforms, transportation, tuition, and other expenses necessary to attain their education. In addition to the girls' scholarship program, the partnership also supports a mentoring program geared towards empowering young girls as well as to guide them through achieving their goals in life. Due to high levels of poverty and cultural factors like female genital mutilation (FGM) and early forced marriages, many girls in the Maasai community do not have access to education. MED has undertaken sponsoring these girls, providing them with an opportunity they otherwise would miss. The scholarship program has initiated a significant increase in the levels of retention of Maasai girls in schools.
