Providing the women of Afghanistan with a proper education
A project that focuses on equity
Pitch:
This project is about women’s rights in Afghanistan. I am hoping to soon build an all-girl’s school in the small but densely populated capitol, a place currently known as Kabul, Afghanistan. I would like to also raise awareness about the issues regarding women’s rights in Afghanistan. The women of Afghanistan do not, and have never had the rights and freedoms that us women in Canada have today. Ever since the Taliban took over in 1996 the Afghan women have been restricted to almost being able to do nothing outside of their own homes. This includes not being able to leave their homes without a male family member, not being able to step outside showing any body part excluding their eyes and not being allowed to live alone. This means that they could not live without a male in the house. You can pretty much count out being allowed to work or attend school up until very recently where some women have been given the privilege to get jobs and receive an education. This is where building an all-girl’s school can really benefit the women of Afghanistan. Currently only 12% of women in Afghanistan are literate. Over 4.2 million women in Afghanistan do not have access to an education. Hopefully by building an all-girl’s school in Afghanistan, I can change that because I believe everybody should be able to get an education and live a long happy life in which they can support themselves.
Critical Need:
There are many reasons why Afghan women should have a chance to become educated. The first reason is to gain independence. As long as they stay uneducated, they will always depend on male family members to care for them and make their decisions for them. The next reason is that failing to educate the women of Afghanistan robs the country of half its resources. If the education level of Afghanistan were to increase, the countries profits would increase. This is because the increase in jobs will increase the countries earnings and ultimately increase the country’s GDP. Lastly, women are routine victims of violence in Afghanistan. If they remain uneducated, this is unlikely to change. Instead, the practice of hurting these women with force and violence will continue to seem normal. Allowing this to continue has not only a negative effect on the women of Afghanistan, but also the country of Afghanistan. Poverty rates will continue to rise as many of these women have children and leave their homes with these children when they move out to get away from the abuse. Because they are not educated, they cannot receive jobs and they end up homeless with children to tend for. In order for this to change the percentage of women who are educated needs to change. Between 2001 and 2010, the percentage or girls attending school has risen from virtually zero to 37%. Although that is a substantial increase, that number is still too low. I feel that building an all-girls school in Afghanistan will not only give them an education, but it will also give them the confidence and recognition that they do not receive in their everyday lives.
Impact:
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How will the world benefit from this?
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How will the world benefit from this?
If the women of Afghanistan become more educated the world will definitely be impacted. A higher literacy rate in Afghanistan won’t only affect their country. It will also affect all the surrounding countries and all the countries on peace keeping missions. One of the main reasons for refugees and peace keepers in Afghanistan are because the women aren’t educated or safe and the only way to be safe is to get out or to get help. Because these women aren’t educated they can’t get jobs therefor cannot get their own homes and this will not help get rid of the old customs (men would beat the women, they would have no say, etc…). If more women become educated, there will be fewer refugees in nearby countries and the peacekeepers will have less work to do.
If more women in Afghanistan became educated, this would give them opportunities to get jobs and this will raise the country’s GDP and ultimately help the global economy. Afghanistan's poverty rate would also decrease and countries like Canada wouldn’t have to help out as much and could help out in other countries that desperately need our help. Furthermore, the higher the literacy rate is the lower the death rate will be because more people will have jobs and be able to sustain themselves and their families leaving less of a chance for them to end up on the street or starve to death.
Feasibility:
Projected time period: In order to build an 8 classroom school, it should take no longer than a year and a half if all goes as planned.Start: January 2015
*note. Materials will be delivered and set up will commence 2 months prior to projected start time.
Finish: July 2016
Building the school
Suppliers:
The Home Depot: I am hoping to use The Home Depot as one of our main suppliers for the construction of the school. The Home Depot has a program called The Home Depot Foundation in which they give out up to 25,000 dollar grants to Canadian charities in order to build small-scale buildings. I am hoping to ask them for one of these grants so that we can buy the products and materials needed to finish this project.
Rona: I am hoping to use Rona as the other main supplier for the construction of the school. Although they do not have a program like The Home Depot, they do give out grants to people in need. I am hoping to reach out to them and explain to them what I am trying to do and hopefully they help me change the lives of the girls in Afghanistan.
Estimated cost: $2,000,000
Furniture and equipment
Ikea: The Ikea Foundation is a program about empowering women and girls around the world who are not fortunate enough to receive a proper education. They have donated over 10 million dollars to empower women in Asia through education by providing for 840 scholarships and grants.
In addition, funding goes to programs that give women a better chance to contribute to the family income by having the skill set to receive jobs. I think this program would be perfect for what I am trying to do. I think Ikea would be more than willing to provide me with the grant I need in order to purchase the furniture needed for the children that are going to attend the school.
Chairs: 250 x $100 = $25,000
Desks: 250 x $150 = $37,500
Tables: 20 x $200 = $4,000
Carpets: 8 x $20 = $160
Shelves: 48 x $75 = $3,600
Cabinets: 20 x $150 = $3,000
Total: $73,260
Staples: I would like to go to staples as they carry office and school supplies that the children and teachers will need at the school. Staples has a program called The Staples Foundation. This program gives out grants to organizations and people that provide education to underprivileged kids. I would ask staples to give me a grant or a gift card to their store so that I can buy school supplies for the children and teachers.
White board: 8 x $100 = $800
Staplers: 8 x $20 = $160
Pencils: (10 pack): 75 x $5 = $375
Erasers: (10 pack): 75 x $5 = $375
Paper: (400 sheets lined): 24 x $4 = $96
Paper: (400 sheets blank): 24 x $4 = $96
Notebooks: (lined): 500 x $5 = $2,500
Notebooks: (grid): 250 x $5 = $1,250
Calculators: 250 x $10 = $2,500
Binders: 250 x $10 = $2,500
Computers: 8 x $1000 = $8,000
Printers: 8 x $200 = $1,600
Total: $20,252
Oxford: Oxford is a company that provides textbooks for schools. I would like to ask them to supply my school with the textbooks needed for their education. I believe they will be willing to do this because they make educational books that are required in schools and hopefully once understanding what I am planning on doing, they will provide me with the books necessary for educating these children.
Textbooks:
History: 250 x $80 = $20,000
Geography: 250 x $80 = $20,000
Science: 250 x $80 = $20,000
Languages: 250 x $80 = $20,000
Math: 250 x $80 = $20,000
Total: $100,000
Chapters: Finally I would go to chapters to buy books for the different classes in the school. The chapters “love of reading foundation” would be perfect for this as they provide books for underprivileged schools. I would purchase around $10,000 in books for the school and these books would be for class and the children’s leisure. This is essentially the library for the children, except the books are in each different class according to the level of reading the students are at.
Great blog Chloe! I really enjoyed and supported the message your blog conveyed and how you used very persuasive language to engage readers. Your use of pictures according to the corresponding text was very effective as it gives a visual image that people reading can relate to. Something to consider overlooking would be that your references are not in the correct MLA format. Overall though, your blog was very intriguing and captivating to the eyes of anyone reading it.
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