By Hindaty Traore, Girls Project Coordinator
Mali was one of the last West African countries to have confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The country recently confirmed their first cases in late March. Since that time, the government has taken measures to limit the spread of the pandemic, including the closing of schools, meetings of more than 50 people, curfew from 8 p.m., etc.
Several NGOs and other organizations have closed their offices pending the end of the pandemic. The coronavirus epidemic in a poor country like Mali, especially in the villages, could devastate the entire population. This will have very negative impacts on the country, including causing even more extreme poverty and limiting opportunities for education of children, especially girls.
Despite this difficult moment that Mali is going through, we continue to work from home because we care a lot about our partner villages. In such a situation, it is necessary to think of alternatives. Since we cannot go to the villages for the meeting with the girls and the parents, we are in the process of making the evaluation of the girls by telephone calls, we are developing radio programs to sensitize the girls and parents of pupils on the pandemic and the negative impact on girls' education, the value of girls' education, and more. These radio broadcasts will allow many parents to understand the danger of the virus and also to avoid early marriage, because in this period many parents could be discouraged and give their daughters in marriage.
Thank you for your support as we all try to get through these tough times together!
A Girls’ Group meeting pre-COVID-19 at Denik Middle School in Zambougou. These days, we are trying innovative ways to stay in touch with girls without risking infection, such as radio broadcasts.
