Ghanaian Institute for the Future of Teaching and Education (GIFTED)
Women’s Fellowship Program
Newsletter ! Volume 1 ! Issue 3 ! October 2014
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 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 Fellows Travel to New York City
Highlights from Change Projects
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.
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!
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.
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.
GIFTED Newsletter ! Volume 1 !Issue 3 !October 2014
The GIFTED Ripple Effect
GIFTED Welcomes the Second Cohort of Fellows
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.
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 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!
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.
Congratulations to the entire
first cohort of GIFTED Fellows
for their outstanding work and
tremendous impact!
The GIFTED program w ould like to thank Mrs. H ilda Eghan, Municipal Director of Education, Winneba; staff at UEW; and NYU A ccra 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! For more information about the GIFTED Program, please contact the PI of the project, Kristie Patten Koenig, at [email protected]