Father and Daughter Alliance (FADA)

FADA's theoretical foundation is "positive deviance" - that is, personal, social, and structural motivation and ability. FADA actively seeks out stories or graphics or visuals to communicate with and help persuade fathers of the importance of valuing their daughters and ensuring that they return to school. To cite a few examples, first, the short (Oscar-winning) film "Father and Daughter" is posted - with permission - on the FADA website. In addition, FADA launched a photo contest with the theme of "Father and Daughter Together in Education." FADA invited anyone, anywhere in the world to capture images - with a cell phone camera, for example - and to submit them by email (to BAdams@FatherAndDaughter.org prior to July 15 2009). Only photographs related to the 25 countries lagging behind most dramatically with regard to girls' education were to be considered: Afghanistan, Chad, Niger, Yemen, Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Guinea, Mozambique, Togo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Morocco, Guatemala, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Senegal, Ghana, Uganda, Mauritania, Malawi, and Gambia.

In India, FADA is working with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) called Deepalaya to organise monthly meetings for fathers and daughters. At these meetings, participants play games and help them connect with each other, and help the fathers see the value and dignity of their daughters and the need to take them to school. The Chief Minister of Delhi is also lending her support to the effort, particularly in light of the great need there (426 girls outside school for every 100 boys outside school).

"Hey Pedro!" is an internet radio programme produced at the WPRZ.org studios featuring the father who started FADA. Through these broadcasts, Pedro hopes to draw attention to FADA and to help change the thinking towards girls and women in traditional cultures by appealing to their fathers for help.

Girls, Education.

FADA's first-year goal is to, with fathers' help, ensure that 5,000 girls get back to primary school - rather than, say, fetch water all day, or fall victim to abuse or trafficking. The focus is on 5 countries from geographic areas with stubbornly low rates of completion of primary school by girls: Afghanistan (literacy: 51% male, 21% female), Benin (literacy: 48% male, 23% female), Guatemala (literacy: 75.4% males, 63.3% females), India (literacy: 78% male, 55% female), and Yemen (literacy: 70% males, 30% females; 80% of boys in primary school, and 50% of girls). Helping these countries would, FADA contends, significantly contribute to achieving universal primary education for boys and girls, particularly in light of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to be completed by 2015.

Of the 774 million illiterate adults worldwide, 64% of them are women. Girls are often kept from school because they must take care of relatives, and/or cook for, serve, or work for their families. They may be deterred by lack of appropriate sanitary/bathroom facilities, sexual harassment, adverse cultural practices, and/or distance to schools. Partly because of this lack of education, many girls end up in domestic servitude, early marriage, abused and/or neglected, trafficked and prostituted, genitally mutilated, unable to access opportunities, and continually dependent on others for all their needs. "Thus the vicious circle continues, particularly as countries move toward a knowledge society, since an illiterate mother is far less likely to send her daughters to school."