Ugandan Volunteers
African Girls Can is a Ugandan established and operated organization. Our volunteers in Uganda are dedicated to social change and women’s empowerment – and educating girls as a first step. These women have other jobs (several in fact) and families, but still find the time to work with bright girls in rural Uganda who are at great risk of missing secondary education. They arrange for the students to have the supplies they need to go to boarding school, facilitate the application process, and provide ongoing coaching and encouragement to the students. They are university educated, which makes them success stories and incredible role models!
Jennifer Nyakober
Jennifer, a math and geography teacher at St. Katherine, graciously accepted the role of Teacher Liaison for our organization starting in 2018. She has taught math for 10 years and is very proud that she has inspired many girls to work hard in math, especially because it is considered a boys’ subject and girls tend to shy away from it. She also heads up the Career and Counseling Department (bringing back successful alumnae to give motivational talks to the girls) and organizes the week-long orientation for the new students at the beginning of each school year. Jennifer earned her Diploma in Secondary Education, as well as a Bachelors Degree in Procurement and Logistics Management from Kyambogo University. She has extensive experience coaching kids to reach their goals, acting as a mentor for 10-12 BRAC Scholars for the last 5 years. In conjunction with the MasterCard Foundation, BRAC has a nationwide secondary scholarship program for 5,000 academically talented yet economically marginalized kids.
Phoebe Aringo
Phoebe believes that education is the key to improving the lives of girls and women around the world. Reflecting on her own upbringing, she feels that she would be a poor, non-empowered woman
living in a remote village in Uganda if not for her education. Instead, she is a seasoned professional in women’s empowerment organizations, serving as Partnerships Coordinator for BeadforLife and Street Business School. When she is not organizing entrepreneurial training sessions or out filming
success stories, she is very industrious with a variety of her own business enterprises, including bridal and party make-up and selling delicious peanut butter from her own recipe. She earned a Bachelor of Social Science degree from Makerere University in 2005. Phoebe lives in Kampala, Uganda with her
husband Ben, and their children Tendo, Carol, and Victor.
US Volunteer
In the US, volunteers support the activities of the Ugandan volunteers. This includes marketing and communications related to increasing awareness about the general importance of investing in girls’ education, as well as sharing specific information about the region where African Girls Can is working, the school and the students. Fundraising is critical for providing scholarships to as many girls as possible.
Alecia McClure
Alecia enjoys putting her marketing skills to use on passion projects. After a career in marketing with large corporations, she developed her interest in girls’ education while working for BeadforLife, a social enterprise that teaches Ugandan women entrepreneurial skills. She also served as the blog curator and editor for AfricAid, which has a mentoring program for secondary school girls in Tanzania. Alecia lived in 9 places by the time she left for college and she is grateful that her parents sought out the very best schools for their children in every place that they lived. This fortunate circumstance has influenced Alecia to work to provide educational opportunities for other young women. She graduated from the oldest women’s college in the US, Mount Holyoke, and earned her MBA from Duke University. Alecia lives in Washington with her husband Pete and their small dog Willie. They have two grown sons, Kyle and Evan.
