Morocco's Project Soar takes UNESCO's $50,000 girls' education prize — 97.5% of its girls passed the school year

In the villages where Project Soar works, local women facilitators run clubs for adolescent girls built on five pillars — value, voice, body, rights and path. The initiative, 'Project Soar in a Bag', just earned one of two 2026 UNESCO Prizes for Girls' and Women's Education, awarded at a ceremony in Paris. The numbers behind the prize: 97.5% of participating girls passed their school year in 2025. UNESCO's director-general, Khaled El-Enany, presented each laureate with $50,000 to keep the work going.