OPIS Foundation

Despite widespread agreement that all people have the fundamental human right to education, 100 million children, at least 60% of them girls, do not have access to primary education. 960 million adults in the world are illiterate, and more than two-thirds of them are women. Women and girls continue to face discrimination at all levels of education, a fact which poses tremendous obstacles to their advancement.

By providing access to education, The Opis Foundation is addressing one of the main sources of underdevelopment for women. Without an educated population, a country cannot succeed and is left to the mercy of outside assistance. The Opis Foundation plans to provide women and girls with access to education and resources for them to create their own futures.

We believe:

♦ Education and investment in human potential are the best ways to achieve economic and social development

♦ Grassroots initiatives and local activism are agents for positive global social change

♦ Women possess innate capabilities and motivation to be leaders in their communities

♦ Women have important knowledge that should be shared across borders

♦ Access to education, information and training is fundamental to women realizing their full capabilities

♦ Sustainable development cannot be achieved without women's active participation in social, economic and political decision-making.

♦ For girls and women living in poverty, education is not only the key to a brighter future it is also a key to survival.

Using education as a primary strategy, the Opis Foundation aims to harness the potential of girls and women to learn, lead and act on their vision of change for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Consider this:

♦ Women in Sub-Saharan Africa are more than 1.5 times as likely as men to contract HIV.

♦ Millions of women in America have difficulty understanding practical health information.

♦ More than 10,000 girls a day will get married before they turn 15.

♦ More than 60% of the 110 million children out of school are girls.

♦ One in three women and girls in the developing world live on less than $2 a day.

Educated girls and women are less vulnerable to HIV infection, human trafficking and other forms of exploitation, are more likely to marry later, raise fewer children who are more likely to go to school, and make important contributions to family, and their communities.

Through our educational program, The OPIS Foundation examines the issues that keep women and girls from accessing education in the communities we serve and is developing solutions that address these issues on multiple levels:

 ♦ Help more women and girls enroll in school by providing scholarships for those whose families are not able to send them to school because of lack of funds

♦ Help more girls stay in school by providing secondary school scholarships to girls who finish elementary school, as well as providing mentoring and after-school tutoring for both our scholars and other girls whose families can afford tuition but need extra help with exam preparation to pass rigorous grade-level exams.

♦ Help break down barriers that prevent girls and women from receiving and completing their education. 

We plan to achieve this through such activities as:

♦ promoting community awareness in rural villages on the importance of girls' education and women's rights

♦ providing scholars with necessary school and health supplies that their families cannot afford

♦ providing literacy classes to adult women to help them support their daughters in school

♦ hosting health training and providing mosquito nets to prevent malaria and health-related school absences

♦ combating harmful social practices such as early marriage and female genital mutilation that prevent girls and young women from seeking and completing their education

♦ providing alternative rites of passage that emphasize education, empowerment and community instead of genital cutting and gender bias

♦ training local teachers and school administrators so they can get their certification, gain higher wages and pensions, and increase their spheres of influence and opportunities to set education policies and affect change on a larger basis

♦ organizing empowerment workshops to help women and girls believe in their ability to build the future of their choice