Welcome to the Girls Development Initiative (G.D.I)
G.D.I is a Non-Governmental Organisation (N.G.O) whose mission is to develop young people to unlock their potential for the good of their communities and the country at large. Our vision is to produce young women who lead economic, social, political and environmental development in their communities. The initiative is targeted at young girls between the ages of 14 and 18 which is a critical developmental age for girls. The drive is to invest in young girls who will in turn transform the communities they live in. An independent study in Zimbabwe showed that while 91% of girls enrol into primary school, only 47% complete high school. The initiative's goal is to turn this drop out rate around, giving opportunity to young girls to stay in school and invest in them to become powerful change agents.
The motivation for this initiative came to the founder Precious Simba shortly after attending the Fortune/U.S State Department Global Women's mentoring program in May 2011. Her experiences with Fortune 500 women executives inspired her to get back to her home country of Zimbabwe and 'pay it forward' to underprivileged communities in her hometown of Bulawayo.