Projects
"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special."
Nelson Mandela
The projects and institutions we partner with focus on investing into education in the most sustainable way.
Selection
We have education at our core. All projects we support have a need to strengthen the educational infrastructure in their community. Moreover, accountability of the local organization and long-term sustainability of the project and partnership are vital to us.

Visit & Planning
Before potential partnerships are formed, we visit the project in person and determine the terms of the partnership. In the next step, we develop a budget and action plan for the upcoming months. The girls well-being and long-term impact determine these plans.

Monitoring
We are in regular contact with our partner organizations. This includes follow-up visits, exchange of status reports, regular online "in person" meeting were we analyzing and discuss the impact of the collaboration in order to make adjustments when needed.

UGANDA
Abato Foundation - Mpigi, Uganda
Background
The "Abato Foundation" is a nonprofit organization serving children in one of the poorest communities in Uganda.
It all started in 2014 with a small building and a vision by Moses Kalanzi, founder of the Abato Foundation, who wanted to transform a community by making a difference and giving children the opportunity to receive a good education within a safe environment.
Nowadays the Abato Foundation is a low-cost private school which provides high standard education for around 450 children from kindergarten until secondary school. It's accessible to everyone no matter which religion and abilities.

Pearl of Africa - New secondary school
In 2020 the Abato Foundation started the construction of its own secondary school, seeing the need to have access to next level education on the same campus. The Pearl of Africa opened its doors to 80 students in February 2021.

Health Care at Abato
Health care is often a problem in rural areas. To transform the community and create impact the Abato Foundation also started constructing a health facility in 2018. At this small medical center, the children along with the surrounding community can be treated for common diseases like malaria.
During COVID times the center also serves as COVID crisis center.

Project Partnerships
In 2017 the "Girls On A Mission" campaign was formed and started its work by raising awareness about menstruation and sexual education throughout the village. In 2019 the "Toni Garrn Foundation" had the opportunity to support the "Girls On A Mission e.V." in constructing the "Women's Empowerment Center". Moreover, with the support of the Toni Garrn Foundation the medical center was enlarged with a maternity center, where women are able to give birth in safe environments.
Present Status
Primary School: 378 students 54% girls
Secondary School: 80 Studens 63% girls
Empowerment Center: 52 women in training
Future Projects
The Pearl of Africa Secondary School started in February 2021. During this year the hope is to add a boarding house, science lab and a fully equipped library.
Besides projects, we are always raising funds for scholarships. Each scholarship will ensure that a girl can attend school with all expenses covered.
Uganda Education Insight
Attendance at primary level has grown due to a universal primary education policy.
Secondary education is still inaccessible to most adolescents. Less than 24 per cent of them are enrolled at this level. Early marriage, teenage pregnancy, abuse at schools and school fees keep many teens, especially girls, out of secondary schools. (Source: UNICEF)
Impact
Since 2019, the foundation has supported 1.356 children. With the maternity center the entire facility is upgraded to a Health Center three status. In 2020 28 girls graduated from the Empowerment Center, all of them are now employed! The Center is also a safe space for young women who have been affected by abuse and domestic violence.
Moses Kalanzi
Director & Coordinator
Abato/ Pearl Of Africa
Kirabo Kalanzi
CEO Women Empowerment Centre & Leader "Defend" Programm Girls On A Mission e.V.
Lisa-Mareen Walther
Founder
Girls on a Mission e.V.
GHANA
Wioso Senior High School - Ashanti, Ghana
About Wioso
The unique approach of the Wioso Senior High School located in the Ashanti region is combing a secondary high school with an organic farm providing sustainable, high quality and geo-specific education in rural Ghana.

Farming at Wioso
The management of the school farm is integral to the whole Alma Mater Model. Around 3 acres of land is given over to growing food for the students. Ingredients such as Plantains, Cassava, Maize, Tomatoes, Chillies, Ginger etc, to ensure the pupils have a nutritious menu. Not only provides the farm an excellent source of nutritious food for the students, but also acts as a center for conducting different training programs.

Project Partnerships
A dormitory for girls and two female teachers was completed in the beginning of 2019 with the great support of the i engineering group. The construction was a key wish from local community leaders and parents since most of the students live far away from the school. Also, two school busses have been donated through Toni Garrn's network, by Atlantic Street Capital, which guarantee a safe transportation. A new science Lab adds to the achievements in 2019 fundraised by the Toni Garrn Foundation.

Partners
The Toni Garrn Foundation is teaming up with Alma Mater Education, an NGO based in England to leverage both core organizational competencies and successfully support the community on-site.
i engineering group - a provider of engineering infrastructure solutions to the telecommunications and power industries supported extensively in the construction of the new dormitories.
Present Status
Year 2 and 3 students: 165 students, 55% girls
Year 1 students expected in March: 90, 50% girls
Boarding school: 90 boarding girls (135 expected)
Projects
2021 will be focusing on enlarging and upgrading the facilities. An extension to the boarding facilities is planned, along with a new solar power system that will support the entire compound. Moreover, we will be working on providing all girls with scholarships for the running school year.
Ghana Education Insight
The average number of years of education that the poorest girls from rural areas aged 20 to 24 can attain is about 4 years as compared to 13 years for girls from affluent homes in urban areas. Gender differences tend to become more significant at the secondary level even in the wealthiest households. (Source: UNICEF)
Impact
The construction of the dormitory provides girls with a safe place to live so they can fully focus on their studies. The new science lab ensures that the students receive their chemistry and physics education on the Wioso campus and saves facility rental costs at other schools.
Dennis
Project Director at Alma Mater Education
based in Ghana
Paolo
CEO at Alma Mater Education
based in UK

Wioso Health Centre and Maternity Ward
About the Health Centre
The Wioso Health Centre (WHC) is located at the western edge of Wioso Village. It was established as a health centre around 40 years ago.
Doctor Naydia, the head Physician Assistant at WHC and the nurses at the clinic are serving about 7.000 people to ensure medical care for the farming community including the students from Alma Mater Education and St. Joseph schools. The next bigger and well equipped hospital is a 45 minutes drive away.

The main patient group are children between ages 1-5. They regularly suffer from malaria and can get treated for free at the clinic. In July 2021 the center treated 129 children under 5 with Malaria. This is 4 children per day.

New Maternity Ward
The maternity section was formerly made up by one room for the nurses and one room for active deliveries. After giving birth the mother and child had to leave the hospital due to the lack of rooms available.

Together with our partners, Dr. Naydia and skilled architects we made up plans to construct a new maternity ward for the women in the community. Construction started in 2021 and finished in August 2022. The new maternity ward has 2 labour rooms with 4 beds a separate toilet and washing room for the women and space for 8-10 more women post-labour or pre-labour and for check ups. The centre will also be a hub for sexual education and female health advocacy in the region.
Present Status
Main Building: three departments at the WHC with OPG (general) and Child welfare care.

Maternity Ward (2022): Opened in August 2022

Projects
Our next goal is to finalize the equipment needed at the new maternity ward e.g. professional ultrasound machines, new scissors, heating lamps etc.
Dr. Naydia
Physician Assistant
Head of the Wioso Health Centre
Debbie
Head midwife
Head of the new maternity ward
Photocredits: Florian Schüppel

St.Joseph's School
Domeabra
Domeabra is located in the Ahafo – Ano South-West District of the Ashanti Region of Ghana with a population of about 5.000 inhabitants. The district is one of the poorest areas of the region with mostly farmers living in the community.
Domeabra borders at Wioso and St. Joseph's School is just a 5 minutes drive from the Alma Mater Education Secondary School.

About St.Joseph's School Domeabra
Today St.Joseph's has a nursery (ages 2-3), a Kindergarten (ages 4-5), a primary school (ages 6-11) and a Junior High School (ages 12-15). St. Joseph and TGF are partners since 2020.
Currently the school has twelve classrooms and one room for Information and Communication Technology (ICT), one staff common room and a bookshop.

New nursery block
In 2020 St.Jospeh's opened the new nursery block to be able to serve the youngest in the community with age-adequate space and toilet facilities. Since the opening the intake of nursery children has increased by a great deal. In August 2022 there are 50 enrolled kids, 30 boys and 20 girls.

St.Joseph's School in numbers
Currently St. Joseph's School has an enrollment of 368 children out of which 100 are in the nursery and Kindergarten classes, 233 in the Primary section and 35 in the Junior High School section. There are 17 teaching staff.

Sr. Juliet
Head of St.Joseph's School
Photocredits: Florian Schüppel
BURUNDI
Village Health Works - Kigutu, Burundi
Background
Village Health Works ("VHW") transformed the mountain village of Kigutu, 60 miles southwest of the capital city of Bujumbura, into a center for quality, community-driven health care and education. Since 2007, VHW has provided health care in this village and served a population of approximately 200,000. They also provide development programs focused on sustainable agriculture, education, arts and culture, gender-based violence prevention, and economic empowerment.

In 2020, the Kigutu International Academy (KIA), the new secondary school at VHW, opened its doors to a diverse group of promising young boys and girls from across Burundi. Rather than memorizing facts, KIA uses hands-on and creative learning opportunities, both inside and outside the classroom. KIA students build the skills they need to be entrepreneurs, problem-solvers and innovators in their communities and beyond.

Project Partnerships
The Toni Garrn Foundation supports improvements to KIA's school building and provides scholarships for girls to attend the school. TGF also supports girls at KIA and in the local community with girls empowerment and leadership programming.


Present Status
KIA students: 31 students, 58% girls
KIA students from July 2021 on: 60
Projects
In the upcoming months we will be focusing on supporting the girls at KIA with scholarships and a joint mentoring program focusing on personal growth and empowerment.
Burundi education insight
Schooling of children aged 6 to 11 has risen sharply in recent years. However, school enrollment rates for children 12 to 14 also fell considerably. Household poverty, early pregnancy, coupled with school violence and low-quality education are the main causes of drop in school enrollment rates among adolescents. (Source: UNICEF)
Impact
VHW's health impact includes 45,000 clinical consultations in 2018, a 19% increase from 2017. Almost 65% of the patients who visited the clinic in 2018 were women. KIA delivers a high standard of education to its students, and its community based education programs benefit several hundred local girls in Kigutu.
Clare Korir
Head of School at KIA
Roshi Matewere
Administrative Dean
Deo Niyizonkiza
Founder and CEO of VHW
RWANDA
Childhood education - Bugesera, Rwanda
Background
In Bugesera, two new centers for early childhood development (ECD) will be established and 75 community members are currently trained to become caregivers for small children. They are trained in pedagogy and learn about the minimum standards for early childhood development and the national curriculum for early childhood education.

Vocational Training
In addition, 50 young mothers are given vocational and entrepreneurial training so they can earn their living expenses by themselves and ensure that their children receive early childhood education and care.

The planning stage has been completed and the project realization has already started.

For more information review the interim report of the general project from Plan International. Please note that the Toni Garrn Foundation is supporting part of the project concentrating on the Bugesera region.
Present Status
This project is finalized.
Projects
The ECD and training initiatives are focused on their full implementation during 2021.
Rwanda education insight
18 per cent of children in Rwanda are enrolled in pre-primary education. There are too few pre-primary facilities, insufficient government budgeting for pre-primary education, and inadequately trained pre-primary educators. Although nearly every child enrolls into primary school, only 71 per cent of children complete their primary education. (Source: UNICEF)

Impact
This project has an impact on the whole family and community. Giving little children the chance of an early childhood education, they are supported from the very beginning. But also other family members are relieved of their task of taking care of the young ones, enabling them to pursue their own educational goals.
Pamella Ingabire
Child Rights Program Manager
Etienne Niyitulinda
Project Coordinator
Tuyizere Petronile
Community Development Facilitator
Photocredits: Plan International

Ghana - Alma Mater Education - Lunch
Burundi - VHW construction site clinic
Uganda - Abato Primary School
Uganda - Abato Empowerment Center
Uganda - Abato Secondary School
Uganda - Abato dormitory room
Ghana - Wioso High School - Inauguration
Ghana - AME construction of new kitchen
Make a donation
Help us create education opportunities for girls in Africa!
38 EUR* will cover a girl's expenses to go to school for one month.
460 EUR* will sponsor a girl with her school and living expenses for one year.
6.000 EUR* will kick off the construction of a new science lab.

*This is an average calculation across our projects. Expenses usually include: school fees, school materials, housing, meals, transport, hygiene products.
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