Western New York Girls Schools' Coalition: Afghanistan Project

Clotilde A. Dedecker 
Buffalo, NY 
Issue: Girls' Education 
Age: 17

Clotilde A. Dedecker was a busy sophomore at the all-girls' Nardin Academy in Buffalo, NY when an International Women's Day presentation grabbed her attention.

The leader of an Afghan women's group recounted how the Taliban regime had deprived girls of an education, and how many children in her home country still did not have the resources to go to school. Clotilde resolved to help girls in Afghanistan get the educational opportunities they deserve.

In September 2002, Clotilde went to local all-girls' schools with a proposal to build and adopt a school for girls in Afghanistan. She recruited six of the schools to establish the "Western New York Girls Schools' Coalition: Afghanistan Project." Under her leadership, the coalition has

created an array of educational and fundraising initiatives to reach students, their parents and educators.

Thanks to school drives, an annual dance event, awareness-raising campaigns, as well as presentations in religious and global studies classes, Clotilde and her coalition have raised over $18,000. In partnership with a local partner organization, the coalition has used the funds to help construct the Zarghona Middle School in Kandahar, one of the poorest and most dangerous parts of the country.

In describing the coalition's work, Clotilde says: "It's about girls helping girls so that we can, as up-and-coming leaders for the 21st century, create a sustainable, equitable global community." Thanks to her efforts, some 1,500 Kandahar girls now have the educational opportunities they had been denied. Equally important, young women in her own community have learned valuable lessons about Islam, Middle Eastern cultures and tolerance. Clotilde is worked on laying the groundwork for the coalition's future by recruiting younger students to continue the work after she graduated.