MWIKA DEVELOPMENT TRUST FUND
(Click on Mom’s Blog to read about their village development projects)

Over the past few years, my parents have hosted several A Lot Like You screening events in Tanzania.  All the funds raised at these screenings go towards the girls’ dormitory construction project at Vunjo Secondary School in our village of Mwika. 

This seemed like a fitting project for us to support given A LOT LIKE YOU‘s themes of gender violence, inequality, and lack of access to education that we explore in our film.

In Mom’s research of Vunjo Secondary School, she found that:

Last year, 100% of girls who were boarders in Form IV (~8th grade) passed their O-level exams to proceed to Form V (9th grade)

~ as compared to ~

Only 9% of day girls who commuted to school from home passed.  These findings are consistent with the World Bank and others – that girls perform far better when they board at school.

Furthermore, more than 90% of girls who made it into Form V (9th grade) and boarded at the school went on to college!!

So the tipping point of a girl’s educational success is in supporting their ability to pass their O-level exams.  Given the 100% pass rate of boarders to 9% pass rate of day students, we believe strongly that there is a need to construct an additional girls’ dormitory to meet the growing demand.

2 relevant articles addressing the challenges facing school-age girls in Tanzania.:
1) UNICEF study on the prevalence/impact of sexual abuse for Tanzanian girls
2) an article in Daily News (TZ) about the rising rates of “unwanted school pregnancies” that are forcing girls to drop out of school.

In Mom’s write-up of the Vunjo Girls’ Dormitory Project outlines the benefits of constructing an additional girls’ dormitory to meet the growing demand.
 

A portion of the net proceeds from our film 
will help fund this Vunjo girls’ dormitory construction project.