"Ten years in, two things are clear to us: a girl will do extraordinary things to stay in school, and nothing about her place there is guaranteed"

Dr. Hauwa Balami and Uloma Ogba are the co-founders of Give Girls A Chance.

Both truths have shaped this organisation since we founded it in Abuja in 2016. A scholarship opens a door. What keeps a girl walking through it is mentorship that builds her confidence, families and communities who back her right to be in that classroom, and patient work on the constraints that compound quietly around her period poverty among them- alongside the life skills she will need on the other side. As we close our first decade, we are proud to share the year behind us.

With your support, our Scholarship & Mentorship Programme reached over 70 girls across seven partner schools in Abuja during the 2025/2026 school year. Fifteen of them reached graduation, ten moving up from Junior Secondary to Senior Secondary, and five completing Senior Secondary and leaving our programme for whatever they choose next. Becky Korie, who has been with GGAC for over six years, was named Best Graduating Student and Valedictorian of her set. Two of our Junior Secondary graduates collected nine awards between them. We have watched these girls grow up, and we know what stood between each of them and that stage.

Our work reached beyond our own cohort. On Menstrual Hygiene Day, we met roughly 400 girls at Government Secondary School, Gui, with education, an open Q&A, and period kits because period poverty costs some girls a week of learning each month, and no scholarship covers that. Our annual essay competition asked girls to write on the role they can play in building peace after conflict in their communities, a question many of them have already had to answer in real life.

We also built for the decade ahead, establishing a new Advisory Board of five leaders whose expertise spans risk and security, advocacy, strategy, partnerships and law, to guide how we grow and how carefully we grow.

In the year ahead, we are working to bring 100 more girls into the programme. That means 100 more scholarships to fund, and 100 more girls to stay with until they finish.

Thank you for standing with them, and with us, as we begin our second decade.

With gratitude,

Dr. Hauwa Balami & Uloma Ogba, Co-founders, Give Girls A Chance

Read the 2025/2026 annual report → · Donate · Mentor or volunteer: info@givegirlsachanceng.org