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A New Generation of Empowered Women
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| GPI girls outside the organization's center in Calabar, Nigeria. |
GPI was founded in 1993 to provide 16 young girls with life skills education not afforded in standard school curriculums, including the daughters of co-founders Bene Madunagu and Grace Osakue and a handful of their classmates. Now, 15 years later, GPI is an international model for educating young women about human rights and gender equality, reaching thousands of girls every year through centers in four Nigerian states, activity programs in 28 schools, a Gender Development Institute, a newsletter, and a TV and radio program. GPI's comprehensive curriculum provides girls between the ages of 10 and 19 with vital information about their bodies, their rights, and their responsibilities, empowering them to take control of their reproductive and sexual lives and realize their full potential as individuals. The organization has made critical contributions to Nigeria's National Sexuality Education Curriculum, adopted by the federal government in 2000, and is currently training teachers to implement it. At the policy level, GPI's leadership and advocacy has inspired state and community leaders to take a stand against harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), which threatens girls' reproductive health and human rights.
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| GPI girls emerging from their Sunday session in Calabar. |
Ask anyone in the communities where GPI works—parents, teachers, doctors, community leaders, even the governor of Cross River state, where GPI has its headquarters—and they will tell you: the difference between a GPI girl and a non-GPI girl is striking. In a culture where women are encouraged to be seen and not heard, GPI girls are strong, assertive, articulate, informed, and keenly aware of their rights. And in a country where adolescent girls are disproportionately vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, unwanted pregnancies, and trafficking, GPI arms girls with the strategies, skills, and self-esteem they need to negotiate their adolescent years in good health. Today, these young women represent Nigeria's next generation of feminist leaders, committed to realizing their vision of social justice and gender equality.
For more information, visit GPI's website.
IWHC has supported GPI since the organization was founded in 1994.
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