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2002 Girls' Conferences
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General Information
About the Girls Conferences
What others are saying about the Girls Conferences
Photos from the past Conferences
The Girls Conferences are in their 5th year of operation. Volunteers gather girls from cities and villages in regional centres for a 2-day conference on careers, health, and education. Collecting of donations is centralized by Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP).
The conferences are to take place in February, 2002. We need to raise $7000 by January 1, 2002, in order for this marvelous event to continue!
Friends of Guinea (FOG) has pledged to give 1/2 of revenue from all new memberships for the month of December to the conferences. You can also donate additional money for the conferences when you sign up.
| Note: As of January 1, there was only $250 left to raise. If extra money is raised, it will go to other Peace Corps projects. If you wish to donate, but want to ensure that your money is spent on Guinea projects, please donate directly to FOG and indicate that you want the money to go to future projects. |
Click here to join FOG and donate to the conferences (check or credit card)
Click here if you wish to donate only to the conferences (credit card)
If you wish to donate only to the conferences, by check:
Make your check or money order payable to "Peace Corps Partnership Program," write Project Number 675-075, Guinea Girls Conference, on your check or money order, and send it the address below:
Peace Corps Partnership Program
1111 20th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20526
The Peace Corps’ Gender and Development (GAD)
Committee in Guinea is composed of Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) who
are committed to supporting activities that foster the equal participation
and treatment of all members of the society. The GAD Committee’s
main philosophy is that education is the
key to women’s empowerment. To date, the biggest and most effective
project related to Gender Consciousness and Equity that has been executed
by GAD in Guinea are the Regional Girls’ Conferences. In 1997,
Peace Corps Volunteers in the Forest Region of Guinea organized and
facilitated a conference for girls to provide a forum for self-expression
and the exchange of ideas and experiences, in the hopes of encouraging
them to pursue their studies and to consider options beyond traditional
village life.
In 1998, PC-Guinea expanded their conference, so that it would not only take place in the Forest but also in Upper Guinea. Building on their success, Girls’ Conferences were then held in all four regions of the country in 1999 and 2000 (Forest, Upper, Lower, and Fouta Djalon). Due to political problems in the Forest Region, Peace Corps Volunteers haven’t been stationed there since the end of the year 2000, which explains why the Girls’ Conferences were held in only three of the four regions in Guinea in 2001.
With funding from PCPP, we plan to continue holding the Conferences in those same three regions (Upper Guinea, Lower Guinea and the Fouta Djalon) early in 2002. The Peace Corps’ Regional Girls’ Conferences have become very well-known throughout Guinea, and the young Guinean girls are already eagerly anticipating the event in 2002.
What others are saying about the Girls Conferences:
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"This is a really important project. My son, PCV - Kathy Palakoff, mother of PCV |
| Volunteers often describe participation in the conferences as one of their most important contributions to their service in PC. It is certainly one of the most immediately rewarding: 30-40 girls from volunteer villages all are selected for their motivation, self-expression skills, and academic acheivement and brought in to the regional capital to attend a 3-4 day conference covering a range of topics. Sessions are lead by volunteers, teams of volunteers and "alumni girls" from previous years, and other resource people including local women leaders and professionals. Topics include study skills, staying-in-school strategies, issues in women's health (including early pregnancy, AIDS, and excision), critical thinking and decision making, and goal planning, as well as a "career day" when each girl has the opportunity to shadow and interview a local working woman. Each conference ends with a "now what?" session to help girls plan how they will take what they've learned back to their villages. Traditionally, at least two members of PC Guinea -Jennifer Bradley-Swift, current PCV |
| "These conferences are an amazing thing and a wonderful representation of what PCVs can do. We often feel disappointed (at least I did) by not seeing "immediate results" in our work. I believe that every volunteer who has participated, especially those who did behind the scenes work--understand the value and "immediate" impact these meetings have had for many of the girls. Please let us do something to make sure these conferences stay active. They are a lot of work and often frustrating in the planning, but what isn't over there?? " - Shannon Fagerlund, RPCV |