The First Lady, Mrs Jeannette Kagame, will join today the 11th edition of the Best Performing Girls Campaign, in Ngororero District.

36 Best Performing Girls (BPGs) from the Western province are to be rewarded for their academic excellence, through Imbuto Foundation’s Best Performing Girls (BPG) Campaign—which is part of the promotion of girls’ education project launched by the Foundation in 2005.

According to a statement from Imbuto Foundation, Mrs Jeannette Kagame, who is also the Chairperson of Imbuto Foundation, will be the keynote speaker at the closing ceremony of this year’s Best Performing Girl Campaign, which began on 5 March in Rulindo, and continued in Gicumbi, Nyamagabe, and Kirehe districts, over the following weeks.

"The 2016 Best Performing Girls Campaign is among the various events held under the celebration of the 15th anniversary of Imbuto Foundation,” reads the statement.

This year marks the 11th year of the promotion of girls’ education, labelled as "Ba Inkubito z’Icyeza n’ishema ry’abakobwa”, with 198 girls from across the nation, awarded for their academic achievements, in the following school cycles: 143 from primary school; and at the secondary school level, 30 girls from S3, and 25 from S6.

According to the organisers, various guests, including senior government officials, diplomatic corps, among others, are expected to join Ngororero residents in this event honouring their province’ best performing female students. 

Historically, girls have faced social, economic and cultural barriers that have prevented them from performing as well as they could.

Media messages, promotional material, the creation of networks made of inspirational role models, community mobilization, and partnerships with the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion (MIGEPROF), Rwanda Education Board (REB), Tumba College of Technology and the One UN, provide a platform for these barriers to be broken, to help Rwandan girls truly succeed.

Since the beginning of this campaign in 2005, over 4,200 BPGs have been recognised and rewarded with scholastic materials, essential funds to create savings accounts, and girls in senior 6, were also rewarded with a laptop and IT training. The purpose of the training is to equip the girls with basic IT skills, as they continue with university education.