Nurturing Minds is a US-based non-profit whose mission is to support quality education, life skills, and entrepreneurship to help vulnerable girls in Tanzania become leaders in their communities. Currently, Nurturing Minds achieves this through partnership and support of SEGA (Secondary Education for Girls’ Advancement), a non-profit organization based in Tanzania whose purpose is to improve the quality of life for vulnerable Tanzanian girls. SEGA currently operates three programs: 1) a private, secondary, boarding school; 2) a Continuing Education Scholarship and Career Development Program for students transitioning from secondary school to further education or employment; and 3) “Modern Girl,” a community outreach program for SEGA school graduates. SEGA equips girls with tools to navigate life’s challenges, avoid early pregnancy, and reach their full potential.

Nurturing Minds has engaged the Dispute Systems Design Clinic to create a new module on negotiation skills that can be added to the current Education for Life curriculum, and a training for the teachers who will deliver the curriculum. This semester’s work will focus primarily on an assessment to inform the design of the curriculum.

Students will:

• Conduct a literature review of successful negotiation programs in Africa focused on girls/young women;
• Conduct a stakeholder assessment to learn directly from SEGA students about their challenges at school and at home;
• Determine key features of a culturally relevant training and curriculum that SEGA can incorporate into their life skills program;
• Present research and curriculum to the SEGA and the Nurturing Minds boards.