Susanna Manziaris was only 15 years old when she founded GirlsHelpingGirls, a not-for-profit organization that works to raise the status of women through education. GirlsHelpingGirls began when Susanna visited a rural and marginalized community in Kenya where she helped build a school.

While there, Susanna saw the struggles that girls in the developing world face on an everyday basis, such as walking for hours to collect water or caring for multiple children,sometimes even their own. Women were not seen as valuable in their communities and were rather given menial labour. These girls did not show hope or aspiration for the future.

While on the same trip, a highlight for Susanna was visiting an all girls boarding school. The girls that attended the school were all hopeful for the future. Many of them wanted to go on to pursue careers, such as becoming doctors, journalists, and teachers. Susanna could see that these girls were going to go on and become true leaders in their families and communities.

Upon returning home from her trip Susanna saw the compelling documentary called It’s A Girl, which highlights female gendercide, the systematic killing of girls. While the producers of the documentary recommended writing in protest to governments in countries where gendercide occurs, Susanna knew that she had to do more.

Build
Schools

Build schools to support a healthy and stimulating learning environment.

Provide
Teachers

Provide teachers with the proper training and resources so they can best support their students.

Create
Scholarships

Create scholarships for students to go to school.

Park Mountain Primary School needed a new building. It was originally built in 1937 and it was in poor condition.

Building
Park
Mountain School

It Just Takes
an Education

Educating women raises their status in society, gives them greater credibility in the public sphere, and increases their economic power, undercutting the factors that motivate gendercide.

New School for
Park Mountain

Girls Helping Girls teamed up with Food for the Poor and Helping Hands Jamaica to give the community a new school building, with GHG contributing the funds (and some workers!), FFP providing the infrastructure, and HHJ recruiting most of the volunteer builders.

Newsletter #1

I am so happy to send you the very first GirlsHelpingGirls Newsletter! It has been an exciting year for GHG and I want to share the impact your support has had this past year.

Your Impact

In 2013, GirlsHelpingGirls established 18 scholarships in three different countries: South Africa, Kenya, and Jamaica.

Awareness Campaigns

A large part of the GHG mandate is to create awareness about the low status of women and the positive effect of educating girls. With this in mind, GHG hosted two free documentary screenings in 2013 that explore these themes.

GHG Club

In September of this past year GirlsHelpingGirls became an official community partner of Havergal College, a leading independent University preparatory day and boarding school for girls in Toronto, Ontario.

Corporate Sponsors

We are very happy and proud to have several corporate sponsors committed to supporting Girls Helping Girls.

Volunteer Trips

Volunteer trips are wonderful opportunities to meet and connect with people from different parts of the world, while building a deeper understanding of the joys and challenges that different people and communities face.

Goals for 2014

In the coming months GirlsHelpingGirls is looking forward to growing and expanding awareness around the issue of the low status of women and the benefits of educating girls2