Educating Girls
The Karat School Project was founded by Evelyne Keoman in November 2017. Evelyne was born and raised in Ivory Coast, West Africa. She had limited opportunities for education and became a teen mom at the age of 16. From early childhood, she understood first-hand, what it meant to live in poverty, go hungry and be unable to go to school. She recognized early on that without a good education her options would be limited. Evelyne taught herself how to read and, when she had finally reached the reading level that allowed her to attend school, she sold cold water at the market to pay her tuition. Later, after having her son, she went on to attend night school.
At the age of 26 she moved with her young son to the United States, in hope of a better future for both of them. Her very first task was to gain an education that would allow her to integrate into society. Today, Evelyne holds a bachelor’s in psychology and hopes to obtain her master’s degree in special education. Her son is currently attending college.
By U.S. standards, Evelyne is a low-income single mother. Even so, she has financed herself most of the KSP fundraising efforts. She is on a mission to give back to her community and become the help she wished she had when she was younger. She wants to make sure that children - particularly girls, get a chance at a quality education for a better life and future. She wants to ensure that children are not on the street working for meals instead of attending school and putting their lives at risk of being raped and/or kidnapped by local black-market organizations.
The women in the community, including widows, single mothers, and young girls have been a focus of KSP’s community outreach program. Evelyne’s passion is to educate women to empower them, bring them to literacy and financial stability, so that they, in return, can raise tomorrow’s generation of next leaders.
Evelyne Keomian, Founder of The Karat School Project
Educating and Empowering Girls
In the Ivory Coast, two out of three school-age girls are not enrolled in school. These numbers are predicted to increase due to the pandemic. Research has shown that educating girls and women has direct, positive effects on communities. Young girls who do not receive education are often at risk of exploitation, rape or kidnapping. In the Ivory Coast, over 1200 girls are reported victims of rape every year. This is likely to get worse as the effects of the pandemic hit vulnerable communities the hardest.
We are proud to have removed barriers for 18 girls and their families, who are now enrolled full-time in our school.
Join us to become part of the solution and reach more families.
Rewriting the Future of Communities
We believe education is the most sustainable way to break the cycle of poverty. Since opening our full-time education center in the Ivory Coast in 2018, we have welcomed over 600 children across all our programs. We welcome both boys and girls who benefit from a world-class education using technology and a culture-sensitive curriculum. This year, we have 45 full-time students enrolled in our education center. With your support, we aim to enroll more students, especially girls in the years to come.
Empowering Women Empowers Communities
Since our inception, we put women at the center of our programs.
We believe that empowering women as leaders today, enables them to raise the leaders of tomorrow. We support communities to solve their daily challenges so children can focus on their education.
These communities face poverty, adult illiteracy, food insecurity and malnutrition, and no access to clean water. These challenges make it harder for families to enroll their girls in school and ensure their children stay focused on their education.
We invest in Education Incentive Programs for women who enroll their daughters in school. These programs cover farming, financial literacy, and trade skills training. Our support helps these communities sustainably reduce their daily life challenges and encourages them to keep their children focused on school. By also providing clean water for communities and daily meals to students, we help these families alleviate many of the daily challenges they face.
Join us so that we can reach more families.
The KSP’s Education Incentive Programs support at least 18 families and their daughters
International Women’s Rights Day Training at The KSP 2021
Our Current Impact
