GEC founder and executive director created and expanded Buffalo-based organization to support local efforts in Africa to build educational opportunities for girls
Girls Education Collaborative (GEC) founder and executive director Anne Robinson Wadsworth has announced plans to retire from the organization that works to bring global social change through the transformational power of girls education. GEC links arms in allyship with local change agents in rural, underserved regions in developing economies, where high rates of gender inequality and economic poverty persist.
Wadsworth, who was one of the original founding members of GEC in 2012, will step down in the late spring of 2025 following the appointment of her successor and a short transition period. Koya Partners has been retained to conduct the search and expects to have GEC’s new executive director chosen by early 2025.
Girls Education Collaborative was created from the simple premise that girls deserved an education. Led by Wadsworth and informed by the work of the Buffalo Tanzania Education Project (BTEP, a university-community initiative of the University at Buffalo), a group of individuals sought to explore the possibility of a partnership with the Immaculate Heart Sisters of Africa (IHSA) in Tanzania. While there was significant data demonstrating the positive impact education had on girls and their communities, there were few organizations dedicated to supporting the work of local changemakers focused on girls’ education. GEC saw the partnership with the IHSA as an opportunity to test the concept of working with community-driven initiatives in underserved geographies that other organizations and investors had largely ignored, and where girls were facing the greatest obstacles and barriers.
More than a decade later, 230 girls attend the Kitenga Girls Secondary School (KGSS) and the school just graduated its fifth class. GEC has been a funder, partner, project manager and friend to the school that has grown from a school with 50 students to a growing campus with planned capacity for 320 students. KGSS now includes a recently opened dining hall and gathering space, a technology lab, and a permaculture farm used to supply nutritious food and generate revenue for the school. While KGSS is just one example, educating girls can advance developing economies, break the cycle of generational poverty, childhood marriage, and destructive cultural practices such as female genital mutilation.
Georgia Dachille, current board chair of GEC commented, “Anne has been the driving force behind the conception and expansion of GEC to support girls education in a place that has culturally and historically denied girls the chance to go to school. With a background and a passion for girls education, she has thoughtfully partnered with the IHSA to help them realize their vision. Now, as GEC moves to its next phase of maturity and becomes a model for other organizations doing this work, it has a bright future and will continue to create significant impact on individual girls, their families, and their communities. We wish Anne the very best in retirement and are confident of the strength of GEC to carry on its work in a sustained and meaningful way.”
Based on the success of the GEC model, Wadsworth also created GEC’s Ally Funder Alliance (AFA), a philanthropic model to accelerate the pace and volume of philanthropic funding and allyship directed towards authentic community-born development in the area of girls education. The AFA brings together a deliberately small group of like-minded funders to provide unrestricted funding and other assistance to early-stage, promising, and locally-driven girl-centered organizations. During this pilot phase, the work is centered in Tanzania and provides Ally Organizations the funding and other support they need to grow as they see best – with no strings attached.
“Anne was an early believer in the philanthropy sector to recognize that the most successful projects are ones that are locally conceived and directed, and to build a model for funders to support these local change makers. Her work with GEC has made a significant difference to the girls in Kitenga, and has also become a model for GEC and other philanthropic organizations to continue to support those on the ground making a real difference in girls education,” said Robert Berger, a long-time board member and past board chair. “With a strong foundation and significant partnerships in place, leading the next phase of GEC’s work will be an exciting opportunity for the right candidate,” he added.
Interested candidates can learn more about the executive director opportunity here.
Wadsworth has an extensive background and expertise in global girls’ education. While earning an Executive Master of Public Administration from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, she was inspired to take a deliberate ‘pivot’ into the newly emerging field of global girls education. She served as Executive Director of the Kakenya Center for Excellence, a girls school in Kenya, before founding Girls Education Collaborative in 2012. Previously, she served as the President of the Board for the East Aurora School District and helped launch Enterprise Charter School in Buffalo, New York. She has lobbied on Capitol Hill for public education and has served as a Trustee for the Buffalo Seminary, an all-girls secondary school. She was also Campaign Director for Alice Kryzan for Congress in 2008.
GEC’s work is deeply rooted in social change and global gender equality, focusing on empowering girls through education in rural, underserved areas where gender inequality and economic poverty are prevalent. GEC has built strong relationships, sustainable school infrastructure, and a dedicated community of advocates, all contributing to their mission of transforming girls lives through education.