Ghanaian Institute for the Future of Teaching and Education (GIFTED) Women’s Fellowship Program

Newsletter !Volume 1 !Issue 3 !October 2014

GIFTED  FACTS  June  2013  -­‐  September  2014  Number  of  GIFTED  Fellows:  24  Number  of  Change  Projects:  12  Number  of  Participants  Enrolled:  329                              *Registration  still  happening!    Number  of  Club  Sessions  to  Date:  253    

GIFTED, part of the larger Ghana Wins! Project, is a professional development program that aims to build capacity in women leaders in education. GIFTED began in June 2013 and is a partnership between New York University (NYU), University of Minnesota (UMN), the University of Education Winneba (UEW), and Mujeres por Africa, sponsored by Banco Santander.

GIFTED Fellows Travel to New York City

The first cohort of GIFTED Fellows travelled to New York City for a weeklong Summer Institute at New York University. The 12 Fellows continued their leadership training, visited New York City public schools, attended presentations on gender and education, participated in a data analysis workshop, and presented at an educational symposium at NYU. The Fellows also found time for fun! They toured the city on a double decker bus, enjoyed a sunset boat ride around Manhattan and saw a movie in 3D.

Educational Symposium at NYU

The NYU Summer Institute concluded with an educational symposium where each GIFTED team presented the preliminary results of their yearlong change projects. This symposium also enabled the women to utilize the presentation and public speaking skills they developed throughout their GIFTED training. NYU Administrators, faculty and students, as well as invited community guests, including a representative from New York Congressman Nadler’s office, were in attendance to learn about girls’ education in Ghana and the work the GIFTED Fellows have done in their communities. The symposium was followed by a reception where the GIFTED teams displayed their girls’ work.

Highlights from Change Projects

v In the Girls of Difference Club, Martha and Grace used cultural dance and drumming to bring girls to school. In the past year, female enrollment in the school more than doubled! Martha and Grace added a reading club now that so many girls are regularly attending school.

v Emma and Louisa’s Little GIFTED Club taught tie-dye and batik to disadvantaged girls. The goal of Little GIFTED was to build the girls’ confidence and develop leadership skills. By the end of the year, 84% of the girls held leadership roles in school government, cultural groups, or sports!

v In Rebecca and Serwaa’s Creative Minds Club, which included special education students, English scores improved 11% from the beginning to the end of the year, and the average class rank position moved up by 3 spots. Rebecca and Serwaaa began holding daily instead of weekly sessions to keep up with their girls asking to learn even more!

v In the Art for Life Club, Rebecca and Elizabeth taught bead making to keep girls in school. The girls produced over a thousand pieces of jewelry, which they sold at community markets. The profits were used to purchase school supplies, health products, and snacks to support girls' basic needs and the girls gained valuable entrepreneurial skills.

v Mercy and Rita’s Amazing Girls Club focused on improving math proficiency. The club was successful at keeping girls in school for more days than their peers and math scores improved by 4%!

v The GIFTED Winneba Club, led by Rita and Faustina, built leadership capacity in local teachers. 75% of their teachers now hold leadership positions in their schools and communities, 50% are pursuing further leadership training, and 100% have reported feeling more confident and effective in their current roles.

 

 

 

The 12 Fellows represent six schools in the Effutu Municipality. The Fellows attended their first leadership training in Accra in June. Since then, the Fellows have been hard at work to ensure their change projects are up and running by the end of September.

We look forward to seeing the second cohort’s projects benefit the girls in their schools.

With the addition of the second cohort’s change projects, GIFTED is now working in a total of 11 schools in the Effutu Municipality!

 For  more  information  about  the  GIFTED  Program,  please  contact  the  PI  of  the  project,  Kristie  Patten  Koenig,  at  kristie.koenig@nyu.edu  

GIFTED Newsletter !Volume 1 !Issue 3 !October 2014  

What’s next for the GIFTED Program?

Fall 2014

v Co-PI of the GIFTED Project, Rose Vukovic, has made an exciting move to the University of Minnesota as an Associate Professor of Educational Psychology where she will continue her collaboration with GIFTED.

v Mrs. Priscilla Yaaba Ackah, a lecturer in the Home Economics Department at UEW, has joined the GIFTED UEW team. Welcome!

v Launch of second cohort change projects.

v Leadership mentoring by NYU team.

v Mentoring by subject area mentors from UEW.

v Site visits by UEW team.

v Site visits by NYU team.

The GIFTED Ripple Effect

Over the past year GIFTED has impacted not only the female students in the GIFTED clubs but entire schools and communities. We like to call this the “GIFTED Ripple Effect.” Examples of the ripple effect include:

v After seeing the work being done in GIFTED schools, local tribal chiefs and community associations are now working to supply the schools with electricity, land, and running water. Two schools have received temporary electricity and one school has received running water.

v GIFTED clubs are becoming part of community life. The clubs have been showcased at community celebrations and festivals.

v Because of the GIFTED clubs, parents have become more actively involved with school and club activities: they come to watch their daughters participate in club activities, attend Parent Teacher Association meetings, and help advocate for school resources in the community.

GIFTED Welcomes the Second Cohort of Fellows

Sustainability

v The Cohort 1 Fellows have written their first grant applications to seek funding for the sustainability of their change projects. They received mentorship from the NYU team on the grant writing process and all the GIFTED teams have submitted their grant applications. The grant writing skills learned will allow the Fellows to seek funding and gain support locally and internationally so they can continue their projects and support the girls in their schools.

v To bring local exposure to the work the GIFTED Fellows are doing, Mrs. Hilda Eghan, the Municipal Director of Education, Winneba has committed to having Cohort 1 present their findings to schools within the circuit.

v To bring national exposure and secure support for GIFTED in Ghana, Mujeres por Africa, in conjunction with the Ghanaian Minister of Education, is looking into organizing a national conference that features the work of the Fellows.

v Five of the Cohort 1 teams have resumed their change project activities for the 2014-2015 school year.

The  GIFTED  program  would  like  to  thank  Mrs.  Hilda  Eghan,  Municipal  Director  of  Education,  Winneba;  staff  at  UEW;  and  NYU  Accra  for  their  continued  support.  

 A  special  thank  you  to  Congressman  Nadler’s  office  for  helping  us  bring  all  the  Cohort  1  Fellows  to  New  York!  

Congratulations to the entire first cohort of GIFTED Fellows for their outstanding work and

tremendous impact!