For more than 20 years, the URDT campus has been developing as a flourishing hub of learning, collaboration and progress in the Kibaale district. The Girls School, launched in 2000, selects and enrolls girls from the poorest of the poor families in the district, and challenges them to fully embrace this rare opportunity to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. They learn that they can be part of the solution, not the problem.

Programs at the school uniquely link their education to community development. The girls develop and deliver programs in their villages to people of all ages - on topics like improving health, eliminating corruption, and the empowerment of girls and women. The girls also develop crucial skills to grow new crops, start new enterprises, and create prosperity and health for their families and villages. The girls learn organic farming methods by working on a 35-acre demonstration farm at the URDT campus.

As part of a unique two-generational approach to learning, the girls lead workshops at the end of each term to teach their parents what they have learned. The parents and students then develop specific “back home projects” together, and go home to implement them as a family.

The combined impact of these projects has been central in shifting the entire Kibaale district onto the path of becoming a prosperous, peaceful, flourishing region – a model for Africa and the world.

Since the girls set and met the challenge of their 14K run in the spring of 2008, their active participation in running and sports has been flourishing, and is playing a central role in their learning and development as leaders.

Your contributions go a long way to support these girls and young women becoming strong, self-reliant leaders in Africa. The more we can help, the bolder the strides they will take to pass forward our caring, and empower others in their communities. Learn more>