GPI’s unique flagship initiative is the Ambassadors Scholarship Program, an all-encompassing program committed to the lifelong flourishing of GPI Ambassadors, elevating them into future community leaders by providing them with the resources they need to excel. It represents and embodies our deep and abiding commitment to the pursuit of scholarly endeavors in uplifting and serving communities globally. We look for applicants based on scholarship, service, and demonstrated need, and strive to cultivate future leaders who will proactively engage with and better their communities. Our inaugural Ambassadors Scholarship Program currently provides full academic scholarships to 40 elementary to secondary school students/ambassadors in the Samburu region of northern Kenya, with 10 ambassadors receiving additional financial scholarships.
By developing relationships with trustworthy grassroots organizations, we also offer direct support to communities, determining the best course of action for each environment. We focus on establishing high-quality and gender-sensitive curricula and learning materials, girl-friendly infrastructure, safety in schools and freedom from violence (which means including boy GPI Ambassadors as needful allies), and supporting girls’ leadership capabilities and their ability to make choices, with Ambassadors leading and participating in Community Building Projects which they determine themselves with guidance from GPI. One such Community Building Project is the development of maternity houses in GPI Samburu!
As an international endeavor, GPI also aims for worldwide solidarity and camaraderie among Ambassadors. Through working with girls from different backgrounds and connecting them with resources and other girls around the globe, we foster intercultural dialogue and build bridges across borders. On a longer timescale, the Ambassadors Scholarship Program focuses on creating a global network of established and up-and-coming girls that will work together to help each other and the communities they come from. Rather than perpetuating a reckless trend of “voluntourism” and a “saviour complex”, GPI builds up girls who are culturally attentive to the needs and nuance of their homeland, giving them educational tools to continue a positive cycle of change in ways better than we could ourselves!
In the Fall of 2021, GPI and our Girl Pride Samburu Chapter organized our first ever Ambassadors Induction Ceremony. We are proud to announce that 40 GPI Ambassadors, including boy allies, aged 7-18, from 1st to 12th grade, received 40 Ambassadorships, 40 tuition scholarships, with 10 Ambassadors received additional financial aid packages for the furthering of their educational career, helping build a foundation for their vocations and life journeys!
In the coming months, we are working to expand our Ambassadors Scholarship Program into an annual event that will also include a “Model Ambassadors Scholarship,” where highly accomplished Ambassadors will receive additional renewable academic and financial scholarships, and will work towards helping train and lead other Ambassadors in organizing community building projects.
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