International Women’s Day: When One Girl’s Education Changes Everything

On March 8, International Women’s Day reminds us that progress for women and girls begins with access to quality education, opportunity and belief.

In the village of Back Seck, Senegal, Ndiougue Diouf stands out as a sterling example of that progress.

Her story is not only about academic excellence. It is about what happens when a community chooses to invest in every child even when circumstances try to hold her back.

And it shows what’s possible through the partnership between buildOn and Education Above All Foundation’s Educate A Child Program, with support from the Qatar Fund for Development.

When School Was Out of Reach

Ndiougue was born and raised in Back Seck. As a young child, the only educational option available was in a local Qur’anic school. She learned discipline and perseverance early, but when it came time to enroll in primary school, life got in the way.

Her mother, Bigué Faye, gave birth to twins. With no extended family support, Ndiougue, who was just seven years old, stayed home to help care for her siblings.

“I was 7 years old. I saw the other children leaving for school in the morning with their bags. I was rocking one of the twins on my back,” she remembers.

Her experience reflects a broader reality. Across many rural communities, girls are far more likely than boys to pause or abandon their education to care for younger siblings, manage household responsibilities, or seek domestic labor in cities. Poverty and gender norms combine to form a powerful barrier to opportunity.

Years passed and Ndiougue waited for her turn to go to school like the other children in Back Seck.

A School and a Door Opens

In 2016, buildOn and EAC partnered to construct a new elementary school in the village. When the new school opened, buildOn worked closely with the principal to identify school-aged children who had never been enrolled or who had dropped out due to poverty or gender-related barriers.

The principal, Mr. Diouf, spoke with Ndiougue’s father and secured his approval for her to begin attending school for the first time. She was nine years old.

To help her transition, buildOn and EAC offered catch-up classes for students beginning school later than expected. Ndiougue’s progress was extraordinary! At the end of the program, she was admitted directly into second grade, an exceptional leap that signaled her remarkable potential.

From that moment, she never looked back. 

“As soon as she started school, I saw someone different,” recalls Bigué. “She would get up before everyone else and prepare her things the night before. She never needed to be reminded to do her homework. She was the one who kept us in line.”

Excellence, Even in the Face of Loss

Ndiougue consistently ranked among the top students in her class. Each year, she earned awards for academic excellence.

She walked six kilometers every day to attend middle school. She excelled in mathematics and science. She dreamed of becoming a doctor.

Then tragedy struck.

In 2024, her father passed away suddenly. The family lost its only source of income. Overwhelmed, Ndiougue considered leaving school to work in Dakar as a domestic worker.

Her mother despaired. “We were lost,” Bigué recalls, her voice breaking. “I didn’t know how to feed my children anymore.”

But once again, Mr. Diouf stepped in, encouraging her to stay and reminding her that her father would have wanted her to continue.

“He told me that my father would have wanted me to succeed,” adds Ndiougue. “That leaving now would be a betrayal of everything I had built. He was right.”

She decided to stay.

“He told me that my father would have wanted me to succeed. That leaving now would be a betrayal of everything I had built.” —Ndiougue Diouf

In 2025, she earned her BFEM diploma, ranking first in her examination center. Today, she is enrolled in the science track at TOCOMACK High School, continuing to earn top marks. 

“I want to become a doctor to treat people in my village,” she says. “Here, when you’re sick, you have to walk for hours to see a doctor. I don’t want that to happen anymore.”

An Intergenerational Accomplishment

To understand the magnitude of Ndiougue’s journey, you have to understand her mother’s. Bigué never had the chance to attend school herself.

“When the twins were born, I was alone. Ndiougue was my only help. I knew what it cost her,” she says. “Every morning when she didn’t go to school, I could see it in her eyes. She didn’t say anything, but she would look at her friends from the village with their schoolbags. I will never forget that look.” 

In 2018, buildOn launched an Adult Literacy Program in the community. A total of 113 participants enrolled, all but one of them was a woman.

That number tells its own story.

For decades, women in the community had been denied the opportunity to learn to read and write. Many, like Ndiougue’s mother, had sacrificed their own education for household survival. Back Seck’s Adult Literacy Program reflected the depth of that gap and the determination to close it.

Proof of the Power of Education

Today, Ndiougue is not only pursuing her own education. She is reshaping expectations for her younger sisters. She organizes study sessions. She mentors classmates and embodies what happens when girls are given access and support. 

Mr. Diouf describes her as living proof that investing in girls’ education, even when difficult, produces lasting transformation. And her high school teachers agree: “Ndiougue doesn’t raise her hand to impress,” one says. “She raises her hand when she has understood something that the rest of the class has not yet understood, and she explains it in a way that helps them. That’s what a leader is.”  

Partnership That Makes Progress Possible

Ndiougue’s story is not the result of one person’s effort.

It is the product of a mother who believed in her daughter, a principal who advocated at critical moments, and a partnership between buildOn and EAC that built a safe school building, got students back in school, and created opportunities for women to gain literacy skills.

Through this collaboration, quality education in Back Seck did not stop at the school walls. It extended to families. It reached mothers. It restored confidence. It shifted futures.

On this International Women’s Day, Ndiougue’s journey reminds us that when we invest in girls, we do more than educate one child. We build a future where rocking a sibling on your back is not the end of your education story, but only the beginning.

#EducateEveryChild

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