Among the proud graduates of Addis Ababa’s high schools this week, 100 extraordinary girls have a special reason to celebrate. These girls—50 from Addis Ketama High School and 50 from Fitawrari Abayneh High School—have overcome significant obstacles to complete secondary school, with the help of special mentoring and financial and academic support from the Institute of International Education’s Higher Education Readiness Program (HER). They are the first group to take part in the HER program, which IIE launched in 2013 to provide girls in Ethiopia with pathways to university. IIE announced today that it has secured additional funding to help enable them to continue on to university.

The families, teachers and mentors of the students, along with IIE representatives from Addis Ababa, New York City and Washington, DC, gathered at the graduation ceremonies on June 27 to celebrate the girls’ accomplishments. The graduation event was sponsored by Enat Bank SC, GIZ, School of Tomorrow, and Coca Cola.

IIE welcomes expressions of interest from potential partners who wish to advance the goals of the HER program. For further information, please contact HER@iie.org.