Empowering grandmothers for children's education

Grandmother Project – Change through Culture (GMP) Girl’s Holistic Development (GHD) promotes the development and well-being of girls. Grandmothers are the guardians of traditions and can help bring about change for girls. They traditionally play a central and influential role throughout the life cycle of women and children and have the power to influence men’s decision-making. 

With resources from generous donors, GMP recently implemented a series of All Women Forums and Under the Tree informal education sessions in 12 different communities. These innovative sessions bring together three generations of women to engage in dialogue on key issues relating to the development of girls and to build community census for change to support them.

These sessions empower grandmothers with new knowledge and leadership skills to take collective action to support girls. Adolescent girls demonstrate increased confidence and determination to continue and to succeed in secondary school. 

“Grandmothers play an important role in the lives of children, especially girls. The people we have grown up to become today are a result of the considerable support that our grandmothers have provided in our upbringing. They have instilled into us all the good values we possess”. Grandmother Leader

“With GMPs’ approach, I am beginning to feel inclined to frequently attend its meetings. I feel I have gained much from them and I now feel confident. I feel like I could have my say in any kind of gathering and I didn’t feel any sort of limitation or restriction when expressing my opinion. Furthermore, the forum encourages everyone to have their say.” Adolescent Girl