Special Scholarship for girls
“When you educate a girl, you educate the next generation.”
Economics, cultural bias and gender discrimination often exclude girls from educational opportunities in the developing world. Yet, it is widely acknowledged that educating girls is the most powerful and effective way to address global poverty and the single best investment one can make.
More than 180 national governments have pledged to achieve gender equality in education by 2015 with special focus on ensuring girls’ full and equal access to, and achievement in high quality, basic education (UNESCO, 2000).
When girls learn, their families, communities and societies all benefit. Educating girls is directly linked to positive outcomes, including:
- Lower infant mortality rates
- Increased eventual wages
- Increased likelihood of educating the next generation
- Improved family health
- Success in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS and other preventable diseases
- Improvement of general economic development
Despite these known benefits, girls are less likely than boys to attend school; and those girls fortunate enough to enroll are likely to drop out when transitioning from primary to secondary or high school.
Our Approach
In response to this need, Working For Children established our special scholarship program in 2011 to educate and empower girls. 
Today, the program is supporting 20 girls in our target area at Reul commune, Puok district , Siem Reap province to complete secondary and high school with the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions. The program is provide who is moving from secondary school to high school (typically grades 8- 10) who are at risk of dropping out, and helps ensure that they have the opportunity to complete school with the skills they need to succeed.
Our approach is long-term, holistic, and relevant. We provide material support (school fees, textbooks, uniforms, school supplies and transportation). We also work with parents, teachers, school administrators and community members to ensure each girl has a strong support system in place that enables her to thrive.
Our Goals
Our special scholarship for girls program supports girls to complete secondary and high school with the skills necessary to 
negotiate key life decisions. At present, the majority of our participants range in age from 13- 22.
An education provides security and support to girls and enables them to make informed life decisions. In addition, education is critical to improving the status of women, which has proven to result in a ripple of positive effects throughout society.
Supplying Necessary Resources
Working For Children a long-term commitment to each girl in the program: as long as she attends classes and participates in program activities, we will continue to fund her education through the completion of high school. This promise provides an incentive for her to do well in school and for the family to support her in her academic endeavors.
We are working closely with these girls to give them the support they need to be successful. Our teams work tirelessly to identify and help remove the roadblocks that the girls encounter, meeting regularly with girls, their families, school administrators and teachers.
Because the barriers to girls’ education and empowerment extend past household economic conditions and material costs, additional program components are designed to holistically support girls and create a more conducive and enabling learning environment for them.
Before the start of each school year, we selection process to choose students to participate in the program depend on funding from our donors
Generally, these are areas where we have worked and thus know the local communities. Inspection is very strict before choosing who would be good candidates and would like to study reach high school. Each girl and her family complete a simple written application.
During the school year, we monitor the attendance and performance of our special scholarship program participants through visits with teachers, administrators and families. In addition, at the end of every school year, we evaluate each student’s performance through report cards and discussion with her teachers. This allows us to track each girl’s progress, better meet her needs, and improve the program.
