Worldwide friendships: Introducing Roots & Shoots Global Pen Pal Program

“She likes music and her friends. The music she likes is Billie Eilish – she is the best singer of her life. She writes very well too. I want to say hi to the Jane Goodall group, and thank them for allowing me to join this because it is interesting and enjoyable.”

~Roots & Shoots Global Pen Pal Program participant, Uganda

Cross-cultural connections

The Global Pen Pal Program is an initiative run by Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots Australia with other global Roots & Shoots chapters, that started in September 2021. It provides primary, secondary and university students with a chance to connect to young people in other cultures, build friendships, develop literacy and communication skills, plus deepen global engagement.

Roots & Shoots members write bi-monthly letters to one another, sharing around key themes such as: environmental conservation; peace and wellbeing; family and culture; faith and belief; and their dreams for the future.

Beginnings: Australia to Africa

In May 2021, a group of Australian Roots & Shoots volunteers with deep connections to Uganda and Sierra Leone had the idea for a digital letter-writing program to link Australia with their roots in Africa. The goal was to support girls secondary education engagement across the African nations, after they were disproportionately affected by the consequences of the Covid-19 global pandemic.

Via a small fee for Australian parents, the program also raises vital funds for our Girls Empowerment project in Uganda – helping girls achieve a full education by ending period poverty.

Today: Creating a worldwide network

The current pilot includes Roots & Shoots chapters in Australia, Sierra Leone, Uganda and Tanzania. Later this year Turkey, Austria, Canada and the Democratic Republic of Congo will also join. The program provides a unique opportunity for global Roots & Shoots chapters to connect relationally as a global community.

“When I wrote my letter I shared what foods and animals I like. Foods which I like most are turkey, irish potato. The animal I like the most is the chimpanzee.

“My friend in Australia likes mangoes. I was so excited to hear that she also likes mangoes, as I thought that people from Australia don’t eat Mangoes.”

~Roots & Shoots Global Pen Pal Program participant, Uganda

Acting local, thinking global

By taking part in Global Pen Pals and building wonderful connections, Roots & Shoots equips members across the world to:

• Share their lives across cultures and languages with other students
• Make new friends across the world in various continents
• Improve their confidence in reading, writing and communication

The program is vital in:

• Building cross-cultural awareness and empathy across nations, cultures and continents
• Girls developing friendships by improving their relational and communication skills
• Increasing girls educational engagement in participating nations, improving literacy and language skills
• Building a global sense of identity as a Roots & Shoots community

Future leaders, trained today

The program continues to grow as new Roots & Shoots chapters join across the world!

A small team of Australian volunteer facilitators currently perform regular child safety checks as a global ‘Post Office’. This year, we aim to train additional global facilitators and develop a digital platform to assist in easy, safe and effective letter exchanges.

“I’m proud of the girls and this initiative. I’m very happy for those who started because it has really helped the girls and motivated their talent. They learn about plants, trees and natural things from other countries, plus how to read.”

~Royal Alinaitwe, Roots & Shoots Patron and Teacher, Everest High School, Uganda

Video Credit: Roots & Shoots Uganda

How girls’ education benefits our entire planet

Inspired by her own experience witnessing the Jane Goodall Institute’s work in Uganda, our Africa Programs Manager, Natasha Coutts, shares proven reasons why female education has positive reverberations for our entire planet.

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

-Nelson Mandela, Former President of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

 

Significant gains in closing the gender gap in education have been made globally over the past 30 years, however regional disparities between the number of years of school completed by boys and girls still persist. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the lower secondary school completion rate for boys is 42 percent compared to 36 percent for girls. A similar difference exists for upper secondary school completion rates, with 29 percent for boys and just 22 percent for girls. Here are eight reasons why bridging the educational gender divide in Sub-Saharan Africa can help save the world

Forests

Africa has lost 3.94 million hectares of forest per year since 1990, the highest rate globally.1 These forests, particularly the primary tropical rainforests around the equator, are extremely rich in biodiversity. Their loss and degradation imperils the survival of innumerable plant and animal species, many endemic to these locations. For example, habitat destruction and degradation is a leading threat to endangered chimpanzees.2

Multiple studies have shown traditional fuel consumption to be the greatest driver of deforestation in the region, due to large numbers of poor rural populations living in and around forested areas being reliant on wood fuel and charcoal for cooking.3-5  In addition to energy, many people across rural Sub-Saharan Africa depend on forests for between 30 – 45%  of their total household income.6-9 However, forest dependency tends to decline with more years of education, as it presents alternative livelihood opportunities that are often more profitable than forest extraction activities.10-14

Find out more about our campaign Educate Girls, Change The World >>

Resilience

Education helps buffer women, their families and the countries that they live in from financial and environmental shocks.15 At the family level, women with more education can better handle economic fluctuations that might impact their ability to provide food and health care to their children. At the national level, female education provides the best return on investment for enhancing a country’s ability to mitigate the impact of natural disasters.16

Predictions suggest Africa will face a number of climate and environment related challenges –  such as decreased food security, water availability and biodiversity loss – over the coming decades. Critical to ensuring vulnerable populations are equipped to deal with these challenges is the education of girls: there is massive untapped potential for them to emerge as leaders in this space. For example, in 2015 women represented only 30% of forestry graduates from the level of technical diploma through to doctoral degrees.17

Closing the gender gap in secondary education will give girls the foundations they need to pursue further education and realise their full potential to gain leadership positions within academia, civic associations, business, and politics.18

Climate

Sub-Saharan African countries are among the world’s most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. By decreasing fertility rates and population growth, educating girls can substantially contribute to reducing global carbon emissions.19

Project Drawdown – the world’s leading resource for climate solutions – ranked educating girls the sixth most effective strategy for curbing climate change. Estimations suggest over 51 gigatons of CO2 emissions could be saved if free universal secondary education is implemented globally by 2030.20

How do reusable sanitary towels reduce deforestation? Learn more >>

Population growth

High population growth can be a challenge to increasing standards of living in Income Level 1 & 2 countries. More people means budgets for public services and available resources are spread more thinly. Increasing population size is also strongly associated with greater deforestation.21,22

If all countries prioritised rapid expansion of free universal secondary schooling, the global population will likely be 843 million people fewer in 2050 compared to projections based on current enrollment rates.23, 24 In Sub-Saharan Africa, where most countries are currently at Income Levels 1 & 2 and large gaps in educational attainment between boys and girls still exist, women with secondary education average 3.9 births while those with no education average 6.8 births.25, 26

Future earnings

There is a strong relationship between the number of years of schooling a girl undertakes and her future income. Sub-Saharan African women with primary education are likely to earn between 18 – 30% more than those with no education. The difference increases to between 130 – 165% for secondary education, and a staggering 448 – 567% for tertiary education.27

Education also helps reduce gender income inequality. Ghanian women with secondary education earn 16 percent less than secondary educated men, whereas the gap increases to 57 percent for women and men with no education.28  Because higher incomes help alleviate poverty, which in turn can lower dependence on forests29, educating girls over time contributes to the preservation of natural ecosystems.

Health

Education leads to better health outcomes for women and their children. During the peak of the HIV crisis in the 1990s the likelihood of testing positive to the virus was three times less for adolescent rural Ugandans with secondary education than those with no education.30

Across nine Sub-Saharan African countries, the chance of a child contracting malaria – a leading cause of death in the region – is reduced by approximately 27 percent if their mothers have completed at least six years of primary education.31  Child health and nutritional status is most strongly associated with a mothers’ education in rural Uganda.32

Economies

Educated women make economies stronger, both locally and nationally. Increasing the number of years of education improves women’s prospects for participating in the formal labour market.33 Estimated labour market returns on education are higher for women at 11.7 percent compared to 9.6 percent for men.34

Sub-Saharan African women are responsible for 75 percent of food produced in the region, yet their average number of years of education is far less than that of men.

When women’s educational attainment levels increase, so too does their productivity. Female farmers with more years of education in Kenya were shown to increase yields by up to 22 percent.35

Child marriage

Cultural norms and poverty force many girls to marry before the age of 18. In most cases, marriage and schooling are mutually exclusive.36 The chance of marriage is reduced by 7.5 percent for every additional year of secondary school completed by girls in 13 African countries.

In a survey of married Ugandan women, 39 percent who married in adulthood enrolled in secondary school, compared to 13 percent who married as a child.37 Programs that focus on increasing educational attainment for girls are one of the most effective strategies for reducing child marriage.38

Learn how JGI helps girls stay in school to protect chimps >>

 

References

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  • Plumptre, A., Hart, J.A., Hicks, T.C., Nixon, S., Piel, A.K. & Pintea, L. 2016. Pan troglodytes ssp. schweinfurthii. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T15937A102329417.
  • Bawa, K. S. and Dayanandan, S. (1997). Socioeconomic factors and tropical deforestation. Nature, 386, 562 – 563.
  • Hosonuma, N., Herold, M., De Sy,V., De Fries, R. S., Brockhaus, M., Verchot, L., Angelsen, A., and Romijn, E. (2012). An assessment of deforestation and forest degradation drivers in developing countries. Environmental Research Letters, 7, 044009.
  • Mulenga, B. P., Tembo, S. T., and Richardson, R. B. (2019). Electricity access and charcoal consumption among urban households in Zambia. Development Southern Africa, 36 (5), 585 – 599. 
  • Garekae, H., Thakadu, O. T., and Lepetu, J. (2017). Socio-economic factors influencing household forest dependency in Chobe enclave, Botswana. Ecological Processes, 6 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13717-017-0107-3.
  • Mamo, G., Sjaastad, E., Vedeld, P. (2007). Economic dependence on forest resources: a case from Dendi District, Ethiopia. Forest Policy Economics, 9 (8), 916 – 927.
  • Appiah, M., Blay, D., Damnyag, L., Dwomoh, F. K., Pappinen, A., and Luukkanen, O. (2009). Dependence on forest resources and tropical deforestation in Ghana. Environment, Development and Sustainability, 11, 471 – 487.
  • Kalaba, F. K, Quinn, C.H., Dougill, A.J. (2013). Contribution of forest provisioning ecosystem services to rural livelihoods in the Miombo woodlands of Zambia. Population and Environment, 35 (2), 159 – 182.
  • Adhikari, B., Di Falco, S., and Lovett, J. C. (2004). Household characteristics and forest dependency: evidence from common property forest management in Nepal. Ecological Economics, 48, 245 – 257.
  • Gunatilake, H. (1998). The role of rural development in protecting tropical rainforests: evidence from Sri Lanka. Journal of Environmental Management, 53, 273 – 292.
  • Panta, M., Kim, K., Lee, C. (2009). Households’ characteristics, forest resources dependency and forest availability in central Terai of Nepal. Journal of Korean Forest Society, 98 (5), 548 – 557.
  • Fonta, W. M., and Ayuk, E. T. (2013). Measuring the role of forest income in mitigating poverty and inequality: evidence from south-eastern Nigeria. Forests, Trees, and Livelihoods 22 (2), 86 – 105.
  • Masozera, M. K., and Alavalapati, J. R. R. (2004). Forest dependency and its implications for protected areas management: a case study from the Nyungwe Forest Reserve, Rwanda. Scandinavian Journal of Forest Research 19 (4), 85–92.
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  • Streissnig, E., Lutz, W., and Patt, A. (2013). Effects of Educational Attainment on Climate Risk Vulnerability. Ecology and Society, 18 (1), 16. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-05252-180116.
  • FAO. (2020). Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020: Main report. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9825en.
  • O’Neil, T., Plank, G., and Domingo, P. (2015). Support to Women and Girls’ Leadership: A Rapid Review of the Evidence. Overseas Development Institute, London.
  • O’Neill, B.C., Dalton, M., Fuchs, R., Jiang, L., Pachauri, S., and Zigova, K. (2010). Global demographic trends and future carbon emissions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107 (41), 17521-17526. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1004581107.
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  • Busch, J., and Ferretti-Gallon, K. (2017). What Drives Deforestation and What Stops It? A Meta-Analysis. Review of environmental economics and policy, 11(1) 3-23.
  • Uusivuori, J., Lehto, E. and Palo, M. (2002). Population, income and ecological conditions as determinants of forest area variation in the tropics. Global Environmental Change, 12, 313-323.
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  • De Walque, D. (2004). How Does Educational Attainment Affect the Risk of Being Infected by HIV/AIDS? Evidence from a General Population Cohort in Rural Uganda. World Bank Development Research Group Working Paper. World Bank, Washington.
  • Siri, J. G. (2014). Independent Associations of Maternal Education and Household Wealth with Malaria Risk in Children. Ecology and Society, 19 (1), 33.
  • Wamani, H., Tylleskär, T., Astrøm, A. N., Tumwine, J. K., and Peterson, S. (2004). Mothers’ Education but Not Fathers’ Education, Household Assets or Land Ownership is the Best Predictor of Child Health Inequalities in Rural Uganda. International Journal for Equity in Health, 3 (1), 9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-9276-3-9
  • Patrinos, H., and Montenegro, C. E. (2014). Comparable Estimates of Returns to Schooling Around the World. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7020. World Bank, Washington.
  • Sperling, G. B., Winthrop, R. and Kwauk, C. (2016). What Works in Girls’ Education: Evidence for the World’s Best Economy. Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC, USA.
  • Quisumbing, A. (1996). Male – Female Differences in Agricultural Productivity: Methodological Issues and Empirical Evidence. World Development, 24 (10), 1579 – 1595.
  • Wodon, Q., Nguyen, M. C., and Tsimpo, C. (2016). Child Marriage, Education, and Agency in Uganda. Feminist Economics, 22 (1), 54 – 79. doi:10.1080/13545701.2015.1102020.
  • Wodon, Q., Montenegro, C., Nguyen, H., and Onagoruwa, A. (2018). Educating Girls and Ending Child Marriage: A Priority for Africa. The Cost of Not Educating Girls Notes Series. The World Bank, Washington.
  • Botea, I., Chakravarty, S., Haddock, S., and Wodon, Q. (2017). Interventions Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health Outcomes and Delaying Child Marriage and Childbearing for Adolescent Girls. Ending Child Marriage Notes Series. The World Bank, Washington.