Words by Smiley Team
Fundi Girls is a purpose-led mission that aims to increase classroom engagement and bring more girls into STEM and science fields in Africa.
It intentionally engages more girls and women, by providing increased resources, training and exposure where necessary. According to Fundi Girls, science education in Uganda has been reduced to merely teaching enough theory to pass exams.
Practical, problem-based learning and experimentation has fallen by the wayside, leading to poor overall classroom performance, poor skills and development, low job and career prospects, and weak economic development.
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For those girls facing societal challenges, biases and stigma – both at home and at school – it’s even harder to access good quality science education. Consequently, young women are disadvantaged when it comes to pursuing STEM disciplines, and developing future careers.
This is where Fundi Girls comes in. It targets girls between six and 25 years of age, and since 2016, Fundi Girls has helped 5,925 girls and 315 teachers across four regions in Uganda.
From January 2019 to March 2021, Fundi Girls impacted an impressive 3,725 girls.
Its overall vision is to see Africa transformed through science. It offers practical, hands-on training for students in everything from building robots to coding, and project-based learning, with engaging methodology to increase students’ performance in classrooms.
For example, their robotics and STEM training school outreach programme offers hands-on robotics training workshops, speaker presentations, science project assistance, soft skills training and career guidance.
The programme was designed to tackle some of the challenges indirectly affecting science learning for girls, such as self-esteem, mental health, sexual and reproductive health, bullying, and building both healthy relationships and friendships.
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Other programme initiatives include teacher training, internships for university students, and an enhanced science curriculum, which is designed to be directly embedded within the national curriculum.
Fundi Girls also works in partnership with other community-based organisations, to engage women and girls in the communities to participate in robotics sessions, basic ICT training and soft skills training to provide career development opportunities to out of school girls under the age of 25.
Girls who have participated in Fundi Girls programme activities become members of the Fundi Girls community for alumni and beneficiaries, to build relationships with each other and support one another.
You can find out more about Fundi Girls here and support them so they can continue their goal of educating girls in Africa.
