January 2024 newsletter

Dear Friends of U-Go:

In the Bengali language, the word Jaago means wake up and go. Not coincidentally, that’s also the name of U-Go’s partner in Bangladesh. Founded in 2007, Jaago has worked across the nation in critical areas of children’s development, including literacy and nutrition. Together, we are now sponsoring 260 ambitious and promising young women on long-term scholarships and plan to grow that number significantly during 2024.

Inspired by the phrase, our Head of Programs Tom Monroe recently “woke up and went” to visit 7 of our partner organizations in four countries on a whirlwind 10 day trip. He helped to celebrate the launch of U-Go in Nepal, checked in with our partners in Bangladesh and India, and began developing a plan for scaling up our work in Cambodia.

Tom shared with our global team that the best part of the trip was the opportunity to meet many of our U-Go scholars. Some traveled as far as 14 hours by bus just to be able to meet Tom in person and extend their thanks to the U-Go family. His time with these women and the stories he shared with us on his return are a reminder that behind each U-Go scholarship is a unique story, one of adversity but also of determination and hope. It was undoubtedly an inspiring trip. Deepening our relationships with our partners, we are certain we are working with the right teams and on a path to further scale.

I hope you will enjoy the postcards from his trip below. As we move into the year with enthusiasm to continue to change lives and communities through the power of higher education, I hope we all find a little of that Bangladeshi spirit to jaago. There are tens of thousands of young women ready to wake up and go chase their dreams of university.

With gratitude,

John Wood

Founder & CEO

“Each one of these young women has a unique, inspiring story and my deep admiration for their determination to pursue their educations.”

– Tom Monroe, U-Go Director of Programs

Meeting with our first cohort of U-Go scholars in Nepal. Our Country Director (and Room to Read’s original co-founder) Dinesh Shrestha is third from the right.

Three of our scholarship recipients, through Milaan Foundation in India. Two of these young women traveled 14 hours because they wanted to meet someone from U-Go. I was floored. They are so smart, dedicated, enthusiastic, personable and grateful.