Education offers children globally a brighter future and an opportunity to step out of the cycle of poverty. Through our Africa team, the Lloyd’s Asia-Pacific Middle East and Africa (APMEA) region supports Education For All (EFA), a charity set up in 2007 which provides secondary school education for girls living in the most remote villages in the Atlas Mountains, Morocco.
This transformative project offers girls an alternative to early marriage and the prospect of futures beyond the mountains, which see high illiteracy rates for women – up to 70% in some areas – due to lack of access to, or awareness of, the value of education for girls. Lloyd’s partnership with EFA and funding of £20,000 sponsors the entire year of education for 21 girls who are in their final year of their Baccalaureate (A Level equivalent). This sets them up to continue onto university and give them broader options for employment.
The grant goes towards safe boarding houses next to schools, each one managed by a house mother, with spaces to study and relax, cosy dorms, three nutritious meals a day, access to books, computers and essential sanitary items and toiletries and transport home at weekends. A team of supportive staff and international volunteers give academic and skills-based support. EFA’s programme, which Lloyd’s and many others help fund, has seen great success, showing the life-changing impact of EFA’s work and the achievements of these rural young women.
Over 600 girls have passed through EFA’s doors, with over 200 of them going on to university. Kabira, an alumnus of the programme, received her Master’s degree in the summer of 2022 and has now been accepted to begin her PhD, with many other students embarking on global internships and finding full-time employment in those companies.