Empowering grandmothers for children's education

Grandmother Project – Change Through Culture (GMP) promotes lasting change by engaging entire communities—elders, adults, and youth—through a culturally rooted, intergenerational approach. Central to this model is the active involvement of grandmothers, who hold strong influence over family decisions, traditions, and girls’ futures.

 By recognizing grandmothers as trusted leaders and allies, Grandmother Project builds dialogue across generations, uniting girls, mothers, and grandmothers to challenge harmful practices like FGM and child marriage, while fostering support for girls’ education. This inclusive method has led to remarkable results, including reduced teen pregnancy and stronger community backing for girls’ schooling.

 Community voices affirm this shift:

• “We must revitalize solidarity to develop our communities.”- a Grandmother leader
• “We need elders’ guidance to succeed in life.” – a young girl
• “The whole community must unite to educate children.”- an Imam

 By involving grandmothers alongside community leaders—imams, chiefs, mothers, and youth, Grandmother Projectcreates a collective responsibility for children’s wellbeing and girls’ holistic development. This culturally grounded, community-led approach not only strengthens education but also nurtures girls as future leaders who can shape their communities with confidence and vision.

 As one visitor reflected:

“This is a unique African model. Instead of isolating one group, it engages all generations to find sustainable solutions. Grandmother Project – Change Through Culture approach to empowering grandmothers for children education should be shared widely across Africa and beyond.”

Here is a true story which reveals how several grandmother leaders involved in the training have been empowered and were able to save a 14-year-old girl from child marriage. 

How did they manage to save this young child from being marry of?

After a long discussion with his brothers and uncles, the father of 14-year-old Fatou agreed to marry her off to an emigrant working in Spain, during his vacation in the village. When the grandmother leaders learned about this situation, three of them visited Fatou’s mother. She was distraught but said she could do nothing to prevent the marriage. They then met with Fatou’s father to try to dissuade him but he refused to change his mind. Determined, they also went to see the village headman who agreed to talk to the father.

However, even before the village headman did undertake the necessary step, the three grandmothers, joined by three other grandmother leaders returned to talk with the father. Pressured by the six leaders, with strong arguments that “it is dangerous for Fatou to be married at such a young age”, he abandoned the marriage plans.

One of the grandmother leaders who orchestrated this action said, “Before our involvements to the under-the-tree sessions and trainings, we didn’t have the courage to do such a thing. But now, we have greater confidence in ourselves, we are empowered and united to take action to protect our girls”

Grandmothers are natural leaders, trained thanks to Grandmother Project – Change through Culture programs, strengthens their capacities to take action through dialogue and communication in their communities