Our Work: Protecting Girls

Major catch-up:

These are pictures form a girl's protection workshop in Porto Novo, the capital of Benin about 1 hour from Cotonou.  This is the some of the work my office at USAID does that I'm most proud of:  rallying communities around protecting girls.

 Though it can be admittedly tough being a girl or woman in the US, imagine growing up a girl-child in a country where girls are often sent away to relatives for "schooling" and end up working in some distant relative's home as domestic help.

Imagine living in a community where you may go to the market in the morning and be kidnapped, ending up in you new "husband''s home because your father decided to "marry" you off to pay back a debt owed to another family.

Imagine managing to make it to school and being accosted by your teacher or school director, threatened with failing mark if you don't subject yourself to his desires.

Painfully, these are all realities that many girls in Benin face, particularly in rural, poorer areas. At this community workshop with attendees from approximately 10-60 years old on how to identify and address issues around the safety of girls in the community and schools.