Educating Girls: Creating the framework for leadership in developing nations.

WIL is delighted to have panelists from global organizations promoting the teaching and mentoring girls.

Christen Brandt is the Director of International Operations of She’s the First.

She’s the First sponsors girls’ education in developing nations, giving them the chance to become the first in their families to graduate from secondary school. To fulfill this mission, She’s the First guides supporters to organize creative fundraisers and gives them a clearer understanding on complex global issues related to poverty.

Harnessing technology and social media, She’s the First is committed to connecting sponsors and scholars around the world in innovative, mutually beneficial ways to foster mentorship, philanthropy, equality, and leadership. Ultimately, the student leaders and scholars become the change agents who break cycles of generational poverty and transform our world. To date, She's the First has sponsored more than 350 students and more than 600 years of education. They work in ten countries and have 83 campus chapters across the U.S.

Christen Brandt Lexi Hensley

Lexi Hensley is Director of Community & Outreach at SHOFCO’s U.S. headquarters.

In 2009, Shining Hope for Communities founded The Kibera School for Girls, the first tuition-free school for girls in Kibera. By providing a superior education, daily nourishment, uniforms, and schools supplies all free of charge, we are able to give the brightest and most at-risk girls the power of hope and education. Instead of traditional curricula used across the developing world where students passively listen, demonstrate knowledge via exams, and suffer corporal punishment, education specialists helped to design our innovative curriculum to capitalize on how children best learn. The Kibera School for Girls currently serves 140 students grades pre-K through 4th grade. The school will follow students through 8th grade. The hands-on curriculum fosters independence and creativity, instilling a love of learning that motivates students to surmount the many challenges that they face.