The outcome of any charitable assistance is always hard to measure. However, given our mission to help girls stay in school,
We can measure the effectiveness of the CdA program through graduation rates.
Preliminary results have been compiled of the girls that have stuck with the Circulo de Amigas program to achieve milestones that were not available for their parents. Given the enormous challenges of living in poverty, we are delighted with these results.
Circulo de Amigas has sponsored roughly 250 girls throughout its history. Most of the girls that were initially part of the program were in elementary school and slowly worked their way through to university. Dropouts happen for a variety of reasons but we have seen 28 girls make it all the way through thanks to the support of volunteers, sponsors and donors.
This year we were delighted to see 5 girls make it through the university who are now working or actively seeking employment in their respective fields. Their degrees span marketing, medical technology, accounting, nursing and natural resources.
As expected the elementary and secondary students will transition up into their next level of study and they are excited to keep moving ahead.
Unfortunately, we have several girls who lost their sponsors this year, some of whom are at the university level. Our in-country director has identified them as her top priority because the university degree is so critical in making that leap out of poverty, therefore, we need to do our part to find new sponsors for them.
As this calendar year comes to a close, we are enormously proud of our graduates who made the long-term commitment to keep up their grades and engage with the resources that Circulo de Amigas offered.