Rusalia Resource Foundation 
University of Notre Dame Development Advisory Team Final Report 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Prepared for Dr. Juliana Otieno 

Created by Eric Canales, Laura DeVito, Elle Dietz, Pablo Gallo, Eugenia Salinas, Monica Turner 

6 November 2020   

 
Executive Summary 
The Rusalia Resource Foundation and six Notre Dame students have been working in order to come up with 
a cohesive mentorship program. With Dr. Juliana fronting the program in Kenya, we have researched and 
prepared at Notre Dame to find the most successful mentorship programs around the world. Additionally, 
we have included aspects of community service to strengthen the program as well as aid the community. 
Furthermore, this mentorship program will help these girls beyond high school as it provides different 
pathways to good universities. With specific lesson plans that will be given by the mentors, these will give 
insights to the girls that they would otherwise not have. It is also imperative to note that the mentors hold 
occupations in jobs that these students aim to achieve. In this deliverable, we will explain the different 
lesson plans that provide the most insight. Next, we will explain the different community projects that would 
help form a stronger mentor/mentee relationship while providing an improvement to some portion of the 
community. Finally, we will address different possibilities that this program can take in the future.  
 

Table of Contents 
Empowerment & Leadership    2 
Professionalism   
8 
 
Lifestyle  16 
 
Community Project  18 
Future Direction 
20 
Appendix  22 
   
   
 
 
 
   

1 
 

1. Empowerment and Leadership 

Leadership 
An important part of becoming a leader is understanding how to work in groups. If a leader is unable to 
understand the dynamics of competing personalities within a group, they will have an equally difficult time 
in accomplishing goals. In such cases, group friction is o en a lack of understanding oneself and a 
misunderstanding between peers.  
To become an effective leader, individuals must understand how their personality interacts with the world 
around them, be aware of the positive and negative interactions they have with their environment, and how 
to navigate relationships with others.  
Students may feel isolated and frustrated when working in groups. They may feel that no one understands 
them or upset with their own community, when in reality, they do not understand themselves. Students may 
not know what type of communication works best for them, or how to express themselves with others. To 
this end, the lesson plan, “The Color of Leadership” helps students identify their own leadership personality 
and put into perspective how they work, communicate, what causes them stress, and personal values. 
Through learning about oneself and other leadership styles, students will successfully recognize and solve 
future intra-group struggles.  
 
Leadership Activity: Identifying your leadership style 
Objective: Students will learn about leadership in general, the different   
types and identify their own   
Materials:  
1. A large sketch of a tree at least 1 meter tall 
2. Paint (Blue, Orange, Green, Gold/Yellow) 
Preparation: 
printout copies of personality quizzes  
Activity: 
1. Begin by asking students what they think a leader is, ask who they think is a leader and why. Next, 
have each girl write down the word leader and think of characteristics of leaders that begin with this 
letter. Ex L – loyal, I – intelligent, D – Dedicated, E – Experience, R – Responsible 
Discuss and share thoughts 
2. Explain that there are different characteristics that make up a leader and different styles that fit 
different personalities. Explain the instructions of the hand out and have each student take the quiz. 
Explain well how to add the numbers, and ask during the quiz, if anyone needs help.  
3. 3.Explain each each type of leadership personality (Orange, Blue, Green, Gold/Yellow) 
4. Now that students know their color, have them dip their hands in paint and paint the tree. Describe 
how teams have different types of people and by working together they can make something 
2 
 beautiful.  
 

Negotiation 
Teaching young girls non-cognitive and socio-emotional skills such as negotiation is crucial to their success. 
It is important for them to learn to advocate for themselves with the authority figures in their lives. The Girls 
Arise! curriculum comes from a successful program in Lusaka, Zambia, where it was offered by female 
Zambian coaches during six a er-school sessions over two weeks. The outcomes showed that the training 
significantly improved girls’ educational outcomes. The curriculum consists of five sessions; more details 
are provided in the Appendix. This curriculum can serve as a guide for those who would like to help teenage 
girls build the communication skills needed. It consists of interactive lessons, role-playing games, and 
examples, and is structured around four main principles: 
 
Me - identifying one’s own interests and options in mixed motive situations 
You - identifying the other persons’ interests, needs, and perspective 
Together - identifying shared interests and mutually beneficial trades 
Build - developing win-win situations 

   

3 
Sample Negotiation Lesson Plan from Girls Arise! Curriculum: 

Positions and Interests - The Case of the Lemon (Session 1: Working Together) 
 
Teaching Objective 
To teach that negotiation is a way of talking and working together with others to solve problems. students 
should understand that working with others can be a source of strength. Through examples, stories, and 
activities, students should learn that good solutions are possible when negotiating partners - who are o en 
fighting over positions - instead consider interests.  
 
Lesson takeaways 
Teach the difference between positions and interests. demonstrate the possibility of reaching a win-win 
solution. If we talk about our interests - what we really want and why - we can sometimes find win-win 
solutions, solutions that meet the interests of both parties.  
 
Activity: Story “The Case of the Lemon”  
Sample Script: 
- Let’s talk about why negotiation can help both people get what they want by working together. 
- Have you ever tried to bargain with a seller at the market? (Allow the girls to respond, but do not get 
into the details of their bargaining experiences) 
- When we bargain at the market, it seems that if one of us is happy, the other one will be less happy. If 
I get the price I want and pay less, the seller will be less happy because he gets less money. If I pay his 
first price, though, I am less happy because I have to spend so much money. 
- But negotiation is not always like this. As we saw in the arm game, sometimes it is possible to find 
solutions that help both people. 
- I am going to tell you a story that shows this idea.
 
Read the following story to the girls: 
Two sisters are arguing over a lemon from their neighbor’s tree. One says, “I should get the lemon because 
I’m older and bigger.” The other says, “I should get the lemon because I saw it first.” 
They argue back and forth, each one trying to get the lemon. Finally, they decide to split the lemon in half. 
They get out a knife and cut the lemon in half. 
The younger sister takes her half of the lemon, peels it, throws away the peel, and eats the inside with salt. 
The older sister takes her half of the lemon, peels it, throws away the inside, and boils the peel to make 
cough syrup. 
 
A er reading the story, lead a conversation by asking the girls questions and allowing them to reflect and 
discuss the answers using the below sample script:  
- What did you think about this story?  
- Was anything wasted? What would have been a better solution? 
4 
 - Did they talk about what they wanted to do with the lemon? What did they say instead? 
- What this story shows us is that when we only state our demands—what we are asking for—it is hard 
to come up with a good solution. But when you talk about why you are asking for something—the 
things you care about beneath the demands—sometimes you can see solutions you did not see 
before. 
- In a negotiation, your position is what you are demanding and your interest is what you care about 
and why. 
- Behind someone’s position, you can always find many interests. If you talk about positions only, it is 
very hard to have a good negotiation, because you will just end up arguing over opposite demands. 
But, if you open up the positions to find the interests behind, you can start to negotiate. 
- If they had talked about their interests—what they really cared about and why—they would have 
realized there was a way for them both to be happy. One could have taken the inside of the lemon, 
and the other could have taken the outside. This is called a “win-win solution.” 
- When the girls split the lemon in half, they were compromising. Was that a win-win solution? 
- Win-win solutions are the reason that negotiation can work for you, even if you feel like you do not 
have power over people in your life. You might feel like, I am just a girl, why would anyone negotiate 
with me? But, actually, if you learn how to create win-win solutions, the people you negotiate with in 
your life will be made better off, because they will also “win.” 
- If you can show the other person that negotiation is about helping both people get what they want, 
you can get others to negotiate with you! 
 
Takeaway for students: If we talk about our interests - what we really want and why - we can sometimes find 
win-win solutions, solutions that meet the interests of both parties, and where both people can get what 
they want.  
 

   

5 
Public Speaking  
Public speaking is an activity many people find challenging. Great public speakers are effective 
communicators in that they share information in a way that their audience understands a lesson clearly. 
There are very few people who are naturally good public speakers; in fact, some of the best speakers feel 
uneasy when they speak. It is only through practice can students improve their public speaking. 
In the lesson “Talk About It”, students will share the uncomfortable feelings associated with speaking in 
front of a group. Through peer-evaluations, the girls will identify ways they can improve their speaking 
techniques and begin to feel at-ease when talking to others. The girls should choose a topic they are 
comfortable with, to facilitate this activity. 
Identifying what you should and shouldn’t do can help individuals new to public speaking. Speakers need to 
be aware of their body language and about how others perceive it. A good speaker speaks slowly, they know 
that nervousness causes them to speak quickly. To solve this problem, speakers make an effort to slow 
down their speech. An effective speaker has good posture and control of their body, their posture tells the 
audience they are confident in themselves and confident that the audience can learn something from them. 
They do not let their body distract listeners from their speech, movements are done intentionally and help 
the speaker enforce an idea. By controlling their body, speakers engage the audience, this is aided by 
making eye contact with listeners. Eye contact makes people feel as though they are having a one-on-one 
conversation with the speaker. “Talk About It” goes over the negative emotions speakers may have, gives 
students practice speaking in public as well as speaking under a time limit.  
   

6 
2. Professional Skills 
Financial Literacy 
This sub-topic related to the girls’ professional lives relates to the ability to use knowledge and skills to make 
effective and informed money management decisions. Learning about budgeting and saving money, the 
differences between wants and needs, and other money-related topics is a key component in preparing 
students for their adult lives. Thus, the following section will include summaries on these topics as well as 
one sample lesson plan about “Wants Vs. Needs”. 
When talking about budgeting, it is important to define the term and highlight its importance. Budgeting is 
the process of creating a plan to spend your money, and it is important because it helps you have enough 
money to do the things you need to or would like to do in the future. A helpful way to teach budgeting is to 
create scenarios with various income and expense categories from which the girls have to make budgeting 
decisions. In some scenarios, they can have a surplus and decide how to spend the extra money, where in 
others they have a deficit, forcing them to make decisions on what expenses to cut back on. 
Teaching about savings can look similar to budgeting, as it also relates to responsible financial planning. 
“Savings” is the money a person has le over when they subtract their expenses from their income. Because 
of its common inclusion in budgets, it makes sense to teach this a er the budgeting lesson. A way to teach 
about savings is to create a scenario where the girls have something they want to buy, then prompt them to 
save small amounts of money on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, then see how long it will take them to have 
enough to buy it.  
Before getting to budgeting and saving, it is a good idea to first understand the difference between “needs” 
and “wants”. Below is a sample lesson plan for the following topic: 
 

   

7 
Lesson Plan from EGLOW Manual - Needs Vs. Wants 

 
Teaching Objective 
To distinguish needs from wants and to develop a list of prioritized expenses. 
 
Preparation 
On small pieces of paper, write different amounts of money ranging from Ksh140-Ksh700, and place them in 
an envelope or bag. 
Prepare a flipchart paper with the following list of wants and needs: 
Cell phone Food Electricity 
Water Designer clothes Jersey 
Blankets Airtime New Movies 
Netball School fees Medicine 
 
Activity 
1. Inform the participants that today we are going to address the things we spend money on. Ask the 
following question and encourage each participant to write down her answer: 
“Imagine that you have just received Ksh700. What will you spend that money on? List each item and how much 
you will spend on each item.” 
2. A er the group has a few minutes to think, ask some volunteers to share their answers. 
3. Then, take the envelope or bag with papers that you prepared and carry it around the room, asking 
each participant to take a piece of paper without opening it. 
4. When everyone has a paper, ask them to unfold it. Give the following instructions: 
“Now, imagine that instead of the Ksh700 we talked about, you actually have the amount of money that is 
indicated on your paper. Go back to your list and take off the items you cannot afford anymore, based on the 
amount of money the paper says you have. Make a new list of things you will buy or do.” 
5. Give the participants some time to make changes to their lists. Then, go around the room and ask 
people what they chose to drop from their lists, and why. Ask participants what we can learn from 
this exercise. 
6. Summarize by saying, “Generally, most people have a limited amount of money to spend. They have to 
make choices about how to spend the money they have. How do we make these choices? There are 
many ways; however, it is important to know our needs and our wants.” 
7. Next, refer to the flipchart paper you prepared with the list of needs and wants. Divide the girls into 
groups of 3 and ask them to go through every item on the list and decide whether it is a want or a 
need. 
8. A er a few minutes, have everyone come back to the larger group and go over the list together. Are 
there any differences in how the groups categorized some of the items? 
9. As a group, have the girls define “want” and “need”, and record these definitions on flipchart paper. 

8 
 
Discuss 
- Were there some things that you thought were a need but ended up being a want? The other way 
around? 
- In the first activity, what did you get rid of first when you realized you had less money? Are those 
things wants or needs? 
- How did you prioritize/decide what you eliminated on the list? 
 

   

9 
Employability 
Career readiness and employability skills have become an increasingly critical part of education. We 
recommend lessons and activities that help the girls write their CV/Resume and improve interviewing skills. 
For their CV/Resume, it is vital to define, show why it is important, and be able to show a good example. 
What is it? A CV/Resume is a document that tells people about your education, work experience, and 
achievements. It is presented to potential tertiary institutions and employers, so they can quickly see if you 
are a good candidate for the open position. 
Why is it important? It is the first impression you will make on a potential school or employer. How you 
present yourself on your CV/Resume is very important. A well-written CV/Resume can make a school or 
employer interested in interviewing and accepting you, while a poorly written CV/Resume will likely get 
overlooked.  
Another important lesson under this section is Interviewing. Next is a sample lesson plan: 
 

   

10 
Lesson Plan from EGLOW Manual - What an Employer Wants 

 
Teaching Objective 
To get participants thinking about and practicing how to best present themselves during an interview. 
 
Preparation 
Prepare a flipchart with the following possible interview questions and suggested responses: 

I see you’ve never had a job. Don’t you think you’re underqualified? 

  I learn quickly, I’m motivated, and you can train me to do things your way. 

You didn’t finish school, did you? 

I’ve learned from my mistakes, and plan to continue my education. I am eager to work for this 
company, and I know I can do a good job. 

What is your greatest weakness? 

  I really care about people, and sometimes I take too long helping one customer. 

(The key with this question is to choose a weakness that can also be portrayed as a strength. In the above 
example, the weakness is that this employee sometimes works slowly, but it is a strength because they are also 
expressing that they’re great at customer service.) 

I am interviewing 5 people; why should I hire you? 

(Never compare yourself to others – you don’t know who they are or what skills they have – besides, you don’t 
want to be negative about anyone. Instead, focus on your skills and why you would be a good fit with this 
particular business.) 

What motivates you? 

Why do you want to work for this company? 

How do you handle stress and pressure? 

What do you know about our company? 

Do you have any questions for me? 

What opportunities exist for professional development? 

How do you see the business growing? 

(Avoid questions about pay, benefits, vacation time, etc. Reserve those for a er they have decided to hire you. 
Instead, ask about the company.) 
 

11 
Activity #1 
1. Introduce the lesson by saying the following to the group: 
“I want you to take a moment and imagine that you own your very own successful business. You’re so 
successful that you need to hire someone to help you.” (Pause) 

“Okay, what kind of person do you want to hire? What kind of characteristics and skills is it important for 
them to have?” 

2. Pause and allow the girls to think, and then ask for some responses about skills they want their 
employees to have. List these on a flipchart. 
3. Explain that this session is to help the girls convince employers that they are the best person for the 
job. At the same time, an interview is also a chance for them to decide if they want to work at the 
place. Is it a good match for their skills and desires? 
4. Tell the group that we will first discuss some tips to help them prepare for an interview: 
  
Be on time for the interview. You are demonstrating your values as an employee, so showing up a few 
minutes early for your interview starts you out on the right foot and shows you are reliable. 

Dress Appropriately. This means you are neat, clean, and your clothes are a step above what you would 
wear to work. This does not mean evening clothes, jeans, or immodest dress. Make sure you have bathed 
and brushed your teeth. 

Prepare for the interview. While interviewers expect you to be nervous, one word answers are not 
appropriate. The interviewer wants to get to know you, to learn your skills, experience, and to be able to 
decide if you will fit in with the other employees. Don’t make the interviewer drag this information out of 
you. 

Practice with friends or family answering the questions you can expect to be asked. For example, walk into 
the interview knowing what you will say if you are asked why you want the position (read the job description 
to find out what the position requires). Find out something about the company where you are applying. 

Every question is, “Why should I hire you?” so answer them with that in mind. If the interviewer says, “Tell 
me about yourself,” that’s your cue to talk about any skills and experience that relate to the job. Don’t talk 
about difficulties in your family. When you practice answering questions for the interview, include your 
strengths, achievements, things you’re proud of doing. If you can’t think of any, ask your friends and 
family-they can tell you. 

What is your greatest weakness? This is a hard question. Most of us have more than one weakness. Choose 
one that can be both a strength and a weakness, and be sure to talk about how you learn from overcoming 
that weakness. 

Speak up. Even if your normal speaking voice is very so , don’t make the interviewer strain to hear you. 
Speak loudly enough to be heard; it will help you appear confident. 

Watch your body language. If you have a tendency to wave your hands about, or tap your foot when you’re 
nervous, be aware you do that and try hard to curb it. It will distract the interviewer from what you are 

12 
saying, which is where you want his/her focus to be. Also, sit up straight and keep your legs together. You 
want your body language to show respect. 

Don’t ask about wages or benefits. An interview is all about what you can do for the employer. If you are 
asked why you want to work there, talk about what you have to offer, how you can use your skills, etc. 

Have questions to ask the interviewer about the job and the company. These shows you’ve done your 
homework, researched the company, and are interested in how you will fit in. See above for what not to talk 
about. 

Don’t burn your bridges. If you accept a position and then decide, for whatever reason, that you have to 
back out, let the employer know as soon as possible. If you accept a position and then just don’t show up for 
the first day of work, you can forget about ever working for that company. Also, employers talk to each other. 
You may get a reputation for being unreliable, and that could be hard to change. 

Be respectful. Respect the employer and recognize he or she is taking time to interview you and to read 
your CV, application, etc. Thank the interviewer for their time spent, and be respectful throughout. 

Any time you’re not sure what to do or how to answer a question, imagine that you are the person doing 
the hiring. What would you want to know? 

Activity #2 
1. Share with the girls the following points that employers say they want to know from potential 
candidates: 
a. Are they teachable? You may be considered for a position even if you don’t have all the 
required skills, if you present that you are open to learning. 
b. Are they willing to do all parts of the job? 
c. Are they self-motivated? Will you work if no one is looking? Will you stay the full time you are 
scheduled? 
d. Are they trustworthy and honest? 
e. Do they show initiative? Do you look around and see what needs to be done, or wait to be 
told? 
f. Do they have a positive attitude? 
 
Remember, your behavior speaks louder than anything you say. You are not invisible, and what you do in 
your own time may still have an effect on your job search, especially if you are looking in your own 
community. 

2. Tell the group that now we will review some questions that are commonly asked at interviews. Post 
the flipchart paper you prepared with the questions, and lead a brief discussion on how the girls 
might address them. 
3. Split the participants into pairs. Explain that they are going to conduct practice interviews. One 
person should spend about 10 minutes being the interviewer while the other is the applicant, then 
you can instruct them to switch roles. Walk around the room while this is happening and listen to the 
pairs. Offer constructive criticism, reminding them of the interview tips. 
4. Ask one of the pairs to present their interview role play for the club. 

13 
Discuss 
What did you notice about the body language in their role play? 

Was the applicant well prepared? 

How did it feel to be the interviewer? The applicant? 

   

14 
3. Lifestyle 
Nutrition 

Rusalia Scholars will be educated about nutrition so they can spread the word and improve overall health in 
their respective communities. It will be particularly beneficial to partner with local community members 
who specialize in growing fruit, and fishing and seafood cuisine preparation. This will improve the general 
opinion of what “staple foods” are available in large quantities and local to Kisumu and her neighboring 
communities. 

To further incentivize nutrition, mentorship and education for the girls can adopt a focus on malnutrition 
affecting rural areas, with specific emphasis on lack of food and obesity. 

Exercise 
The RRF girls are excellent athletes by nature, and enjoy volleyball, netball, soccer and tennis. Team sports 
participation positively impacts a young person’s mental health and ability to make and maintain 
relationships, and provides girls with an excellent opportunity to cra leadership skills on the court or field. 
See more on Sports Participation in 5. Future Directions, Application Process. 

Gender Roles & Relationships 

The  Eswatini  EGLOW  manual  presents  eight  different  lessons  related  to  gender  roles  and  relationships 
(pages  110-119).  The  themes  that  these  focus  on  are  related  to  gender  roles,  gender  stereotypes  and  their 
consequences, and the qualities of healthy and toxic relationships. Many of the activities that focus on better 
understanding  these  complex  topics  o en  encourage  the  participants  to  reflect  on  their  current  opinions, 
those of their society, and on what these should actually be.  
The main objectives of these lessons are  
1) Identify  qualities  of  healthy  relationships  and  the  skills  needed  to  overcome  challenges  in  romantic 
relationships. 
2) Understand  how  messages  about  gender  roles  are  absorbed  and  consider  these  messages  from 
personal and human rights perspectives. 
3) Strengthen critical thinking skills. 
4) To explore different kinds of love and the qualities participants look for in friends and partners. 
5) Understand how gender stereotypes negatively affect males and females. 
The  ways  that  this  is  achieved  varies  with  each  activity.  For  example,  part  of  Lesson  4  on  Healthy 
Relationships  is  a  role-playing  activity  in  which  the  teens  act  out  the  different  characteristics  that  they 
believe  are  important  to  a  fulfilling  relationship.  Another  activity  that  helps  the  participants  gain  a  deeper 
understanding  of  gender  roles  involves  writing  stereotypes  and  their  realities  in  flipchart  paper  with 

15 
markers. 
Ultimately,  these  lessons  could  be  tools  for  the  Rusalia  girls  to  understand  the  stereotypes  that  might 
negatively  affect  their own self-perception and empower them to grow away from these and pursue fulfilling 
relationships as well.  
 

Sexual Education  
EGLOW breaks up Sexual Education into 13 several teachable units centered around the two large themes of 
HIV/AIDS and Sexual Reproduction. 
Sexual Education should be taught in partnership, and a er, the themes of Communication, Negotiation, 
Healthy Relationships and Self-Esteem. Once students have learned how to advocate for themselves, 
recognize what a healthy relationships looks like, and are able to communicate their needs and wants, then 
sexual education training can begin. These topics act as a foundation which create the space for a 
productive conversation around sex to take place, they are tools to help students navigate gender, sex and 
sexual behavior. This strong foundation equips girls with the language, confidence and healthy curiosity to 
have meaningful conversations centered around sex.  
Sex is considered a taboo topic in many cultures and is o en discussed only a er men bring it up. Through 
the 13 EGLOW lessons, girls will be able to identify how sex and health are interconnected, and that these 
connections exist in many different ways in their every day lives.  
When introducing the male/female anatomy, language and ideas of sex should be repeated o en as they are 
topics that are difficult to understand in one sitting. Many of the EGLOW lessons overlap with one another to 
reinforce new and difficult ideas. Repeating language about sexual education is important in order to 
normalize an unfamiliar vocabulary, students should feel as comfortable talking about their bodies with 
family and peers as they do when discussing any other topic. A er completing lessons around 
communication, negotiation, healthy relationships, and sex ed, students should feel able to speak with their 
parents about how they feel, their bodies, and the relationships they have as they grow older and those 
issues change with time.  

   

16 
4. Community Project 
Lesson Plan: based on the Jóvenes Atiempo (Youth in Time) program established by the Mexican 
organization Vía Educación.  

 
Teaching objective  
First,  to  create  awareness  about  the  issues  that  affect  the  girls’  communities  and  the  country  and  to 
empower  them  to  take  some  of  these  issues  into  their  own hands. Promote hands-on learning of important 
life skills such as organization, leadership, teamwork, and empathy.  
 
Activity 
Examples of community projects suggested by the girls: 
1. Community garden 
2. Clean water initiative 
3. Tree-planting activity 
4. Waste disposal 
 
1. Introduction to community project (brainstorm) 
a. Have girls individually brainstorm issues that affect their neighborhood/close community, 
school, and state that they can do something about. Then have them brainstorm what they 
could do about each of these issues. 
b. A er individual reflections, give girls two big posters. In the first one, draw three big boxes 
with the labels “community,” “neighborhood,” and “school.” Have the girls write down the 
issues they see in each of these. in the second poster, draw the same boxes but have the girls 
write down the potential actions they could take for each of the issue types.  
2. Selection of community project 
a. Girls and mentors will now discuss which issue and issue actions they wish to select in order 
to turn into a community project. Characteristics to consider could be: feasibility, length of 
project (1-3 days), costs, effectiveness of project, location, etc.  
b. Brainstorm potential community members that could give insights to the most effective 
implementation of the project. 
c. Choose the project. 
3. Developing the project 
a. Take time to establish a realistic and impactful project that could mitigate the issue at hand.  
b. Have girls develop an organized plan in order to practice leadership and problem solving 
skills 
4. Execution 
a. Use one to two days to bring the project into action. Involve both mentors and girls, but give 
girls opportunity to take ownership of the project. 

17 
Discuss 
Motivate the girls to reflect on the most important lessons that they learned from this project and on future 
projects that they would like to pursue related to issues that are important to them.  

   

18 
5. Future Directions 
Application Process 
Positive effects of a holistic application approach to become a Rusalia Scholar are twofold: 1. Informing the 
Kenya NGO panel reviewers of each applicant’s accomplishments and circumstances, and 2. Preparing girls 
for future applications to University. Please see below recommendations for the Application process. 
Applicants to RRF will be responsible for providing: 
● List of Sports Participation and Leadership Roles held (e.g. Team Captain, Co-Captain, Equipment 
Manager) 
● Personal Statement narrating talents and interests beyond the classroom and/or personal or familial 
challenges overcome 
● Attending a >30 min interview with the admissions committee, focused on personality, confidence, 
and academic prowess 
● Standardized Test Score, where possible 
● There is potential to collaborate with the Government to administer examinations of national 
curricula (completed before in Busia and Teso under the 2001-2003 Girls Scholarship Program). 
 

University Opportunities 

A long-term goal for RRF Scholars is to study at advanced institutions for higher education. Connections are in
place at the University of Notre Dame. In its applicant pool, Notre Dame looks for “Academic performance in
high school, High school academic requirements, Standardized Tests, Extracurricular Activities (Emphasis on
‘Passions’), Letters of evaluation, Essay (Writing Skills), and Examples of Talent.” Rusalia Resource
Foundation is already designed to support and sharpen these qualities in Scholar girls. Mentors could be trained
to write Letters of evaluation. 

Mentor & Mentee Database 

To support accountability among NGO staff and provide current and potential donors with more exact
information on RRF’s impact and reach, prioritize maintaining the existing database of girls, complete with:

● School Name and Year/Form

● Sport Participation and Leadership Role, if applicable
● Extracurricular Activities and Talents (e.g. Fine Arts, Technology Skills), if applicable
● Professional Goal(s)

Also, a future DAT could create an additional database with Mentor information:

● Hometown
● Past and Current Occupation
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 ● Teachable Skills
● Professional Network Connections, if applicable 

   

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6. Appendix 
I. Negotiation 
Link to access the Girls Arise! curriculum: https://hbsp.harvard.edu/girls-arise/ 
The bottom of the page contains clickable links to the curriculum for each of the sessions as well as to the 
different exercises.  
 
Session 1: Working Together 
● Teaching objective: To teach that negotiation is a way of talking and working together with 
others to solve problems. students should understand that working with others can be a 
source of strength. Through examples, stories, and activities, students should learn that good 
solutions are possible when negotiating partners - who are o en fighting over positions - 
instead consider interests. 
● Skills: Students should be able to identify positions versus interests. 
 
Session 2: Me 
● Teaching objective: Learn to understand and express oneself in a negotiation. The students 
should learn to identify their own interests and communicate them. Students should be able 
to recognize that there are other options in case negotiation fails, and practice “walking 
away”.  
● Skills: Students should be able to identify their own deeper interests and express them to 
others. They should be able to recognize other options, say “no” to someone else, and walk 
away in order to say “yes” to their own interests.   
 
Session 3: You 
● Teaching objectives: Students should learn... 
○ Ways to help the other person in a negotiation to open up 
○ Why preparation is needed for a good negotiation 
○ How to get in a “working together mindset” 
○ How to diffuse anger and resistance by stepping to the other person’s side 
○ How to discover interests in a way that does not make the other person feel 
questioned or challenged 
● Skills: Learning to find out the other person’s interests by stepping to their side and asking 
open or indirect questions. 
 
Session 4: Together & Build 
● Teaching objectives: Students should learn how to close the distance between themselves 
and the person they are negotiating with by finding shared interests, recognizing roadblocks, 
and emphasizing similarities rather than divisions. Finally, they should see how important 

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 both talking and a relationship is in negotiation. 
● Skills: Identifying shared interests, seeing resistance as being caused by roadblocks and not 
true differences, managing one’s own emotions, coming up with ideas without judging or 
rejecting; thinking of solutions that address the interests of each party. 
 
Session 5: The Full Negotiation Process 
● Teaching objectives: Practice bringing together all of the negotiation tools to come up with an 
agreement that meets the interests of everyone involved. 
● Skills: Integrating everything that was learned over the course of the curriculum. 
 

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