Episode 027: Empowering Girls in Uganda with Smart Girls Founder & CEO, Jamila Mayanja

The Days for Girls Podcast

Jamila Mayanja is a gender equity champion and the founder of Smart Girls Uganda: a nonprofit that empowers young girls and women with the educational, vocational and practical tools they need to thrive – including access to safe, effective, reusable menstrual pads.

To date, Smart Girls has reached 500,000 girls with their signature menstrual kits (including 10,000 who have consequently stayed in school), 300 women with skills-based trainings and 50 women with career placement opportunities. The organization’s efforts have also had a ripple effect impact on the families and communities of women and girls across Uganda.

In this episode, Jamila talks to us about the inspiration behind Smart Girls; how it evolved from a self-esteem mentorship program to a “360 degree empowerment” system serving thousands of women and girls across Uganda; the menstrual/gender equity challenges it seeks to address; and incredible stories of women who rose from the ashes through the Smart Girls program to become successful “power queens.”

Highlights:

• Why Jamila’s experience with childhood bullying inspired her to create Smart Girls as a safe space for young girls suffering from low self-esteem
• How widespread period poverty keeps Ugandan girls from staying in school
• All about Smart Girls’ three core programs:
  • Smart Bags 4 Girls, which helps girls stay in school with reusable menstrual kits and solar-powered study lights
  • Girls With Tools, which trains women in traditionally male-dominated skillsets like carpentry, welding and mechanics
  • Business Girl Magic, which incubates Girls with Tools graduates and connects them with career opportunities
• How the Smart Bags 4 Girls program is keeping girls in school - while also giving second-chance education and income-generating opportunities to those who never had the opportunity to graduate in their youth
• Stories and numbers that illustrate Smart Girls’ incredible impact

Connect:

Website: www.smartgirlsfoundation.org

Instagram/Twitter: @smartgirlsug

Facebook: @SmartGirlsUganda

Bio:

Jamila Mayanja has eight years of experience working with for-profit companies and social ventures. While completing her bachelor’s degree at Makeire University Business School in Kampala, she was hired to join the marketing team of one of the top SMS companies in Uganda. She also volunteered with a number of nonprofits including IRI’s Green Light Movement, and became a member of the Generation Change US Chapter.

In 2012, Jamila started a social venture called Smart Girls Uganda: a nonprofit company that empowers young girls and women through trainings that build self-esteem. In 2017, she innovated The Smart Bags 4 Girls product: a comprehensive menstrual hygiene bag with kits and educational programming designed to help girls in Uganda to stay in school during their menses. Because of her work, she was chosen to be part of the 2015 Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders Initiative where President Obama recognized her for curbing youth unemployment. Jamila’s Smart Bags 4 Girls idea has also been selected as a winner of the Openideo UNFPA Young People’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Challenge.

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