Press Items

Ambassador's Girls' Scholarship Program

Girls account for 60% of the 40  million children in Africa who do not attend school because of economic hardship or other adverse circumstances.  As announced by President Bush in June 2002, the Ambassador's Girls' Scholarship Program (AGSP) will provide 250,000 scholarships to school girls in sub-Saharan Africa.  The objective is to support the retention of girls in school. 

At the US Embassy Libreville, the AGSP will help 450 girls in Gabon and 400 girls in Sao Tome and Principe during the 2005-2006 school year.  While overseen by the Embassy, it is administered by Winrock International, a partner organization.  Local partners in Gabon are the Lion's Club, L'Association des Femmes Educatrices du Gabon (AFEG), and Femmes Gabonaises.  In Sao Tome and Principe the local partner is Step-Up.

Lambarene School Girls Benefit from the AGSP

Amb. Walkley & a local schoolgirl.

Ambassador and Mrs. Walkley attended an AGSP launching ceremony in Lambarene, Gabon on December 2, 2005.  The ceremony was attended by local and provincial officials.  The Lambarene program is implemented by the Association of Women Educators of Gabon (Association des Femmes Educatrices du Gabon, AFEG).  This association works with 20 schools in the interior of Gabon (in the provinces of Moyen-Ogooue, Ogooue-Lolo and Woleu-Ntem) and has identified 200 school girls who will benefit from the AGSP.

 

AGSP Begins a New School Year

Recipients of the scholarhsip program.

On September 24, 2005, the Lion's Club, with funding from the AGSP, provided assistance to at-risk school girls so they would stay in school.  During the opening ceremony, Ambassador Walkley stateed, "In today's world it has become clear that education is the key to development and that women's participation is also important to a country's development."  He added that the objective of the AGSP is to assist in women's education, fight against HIV/AIDS and combat poverty.