In order to maximize our impact as an organization, we give early-stage scholarships to girls between the ages of four and five in and around Mutare, Zimbabwe. We believe that the earlier we can jumpstart a child’s education, the more successful they will be.

But when you’re working with such young children, how do you decide who will receive a scholarship? Here’s how we determine eligibility and assess who will benefit most from our SKIPGO program:

How We Find Scholars

Our local team assembles a short-list of candidates before the beginning of each school year. They speak with schools, community leaders and local institutions such as churches to learn about girls who might be a fit for the program.

What We Look For

As most our candidates are very young, we often look to their guardians to assess their level of commitment to education and opportunity for women to ensure that they will be supportive of their daughter’s academic work.

We also look at their financial need, as we try to choose scholars whose lives we can add the most opportunity to. We speak to community references, and study the child’s fit at their school of potential enrollment. “As time has passed, we have put more of a focus on candidates from more challenging backgrounds,” says SKIC’s founder, Shyam K. Iyer. For example, in our newest class of scholars, four of the girls are being raised by single mothers, and one by a single grandmother.

“At such an early age of matriculation it is difficult to determine academic potential,” Shyam admits. “However we have always believed in the Zimbabwean proverb that ‘the tree bends when it is youngest.’ “