“Educate A Woman, Empower A Nation”: Mirabel Ngong

I believe educating girls and women is the best investment a country can ever make. After the MWF I am working with WVED Cameroon (World Vision for Education and Development) as PRO and LitWorld Mentor to reach out to teenage girls between the ages of 10 to 16 encouraging them to stay in school, spurring their ambition, confidence and keeping them on track by helping them set and achieve their goals. It is important to strive on keeping girls in school because in Cameroon, the primary school enrollment rate for girls is 80% compared to 94% of boys. 40% of girls abandon school before they reach the fourth and fifth year of primary education, 31% get married before age 15, especially in rural communities. In the far north region fewer than 18% of girls attend school. (UNESCO reports 2015). We reach out weekly to more than 50 underprivileged girls in 2 schools in Bamenda and look forward to doubly expanding the number by January 2016.

Through this outreach program we help underprivileged girls share their stories, providing them a safe, structured setting to read, write, raise their voices and explore talent. Weekly sessions are structured around seven strengths believed to help guide girls to understand themselves and the world better. These strengths are belonging, community, curiosity, friendship, kindness, confidence, courage and hope.

I have also continued to be a Venture Creation Facilitator within WVED’s Creating Opportunity for Rural Youths (CORY) project, where together with other facilitators we are training rural youth on agricultural and non-agricultural business venture creation, enabling them to acquire business loans after training and mentoring them to develop their businesses in their communities. We have trained 50 young people and look forward to training 25 more before the end of 2015. A total of 75 young people will be trained majority of whom are young women between the ages of 18-35.

I have also started the Inspire Mentorship Network that focuses on teenage girls and young women especially in rural areas who are not in school. The Network aims to improve their livelihood through guidance, enabling them to explore and grow their potentials for personal, community and national development. I have continued to use my voice in every opportunity to encourage young women and teenage mothers to be the change they seek because it is possible. Educated women are twice more likely to send their children to school and build healthier and stable families. Our target is minority groups and rural communities of Cameroon.

This November I will be joining The Media Foundation for West Africa in Accra, Ghana for professional Practicum within the YALI program. My personal mission remains: “Educate a Woman, Empower a Nation”.