Who are those grassroots leaders? They are girls who are organizing peers in their area to stand up together for their rights, such as by hosting a demonstration in Nepal, producing a reproductive rights art show in New York, or leading a farm project that raised funds for girls’ tuition in Uganda. They are women running programs for girls in oppressed communities, from rural Kenya to the mountain valleys of Peru to remote towns in India.
How do we team up with these grassroots leaders? To fulfill our mission, we teach girls how to speak up for themselves in their homes, schools, and communities while teaching the mentors in their lives practical ways to support their agency. As a result, these girls become the first women in their families to achieve amazing milestones—and they are never the last.
Here’s what that looks like:
- We Train Girls Everywhere as Activists: Girls often aren’t invited into the room where decisions affect them. Their ideas matter, and they are more than ready to lead. As the co-organizers of The Global Girls’ Bill of Rights®, we believe in the power girls have to advocate for themselves. Through activism and leadership trainings, our programs provide girls with the platforms and resources they need to speak up for their rights in their homes, schools, and communities.
- We Strengthen Community-Based Organizations in the Global South: We call this systems-changing aspect of our work the Girls First Institute: the premier skills-building, outcomes-improving training program designed exclusively for women who uplift girls in their communities. We teach mentors and program leaders how to create more effective programming that equips them to shatter barriers for girls; our professional development leads to programmatic changes and improvements that positively impact girls' lives.
-
-
- Grassroots leaders ask us to address topics like:
- designing responsive sex ed programs with and for girls
- hosting ethical focus groups with girls
- including girls in program design cycles
- assessing drop-out risks
- values-based storytelling
- best practices for feminist mentorship
- Grassroots leaders ask us to address topics like:
- We Fund Girls’ Mentorship and Education Programs: Organizations in our training cohorts receive flexible grants, to support girls’ access to school and after-school mentorship programs. Our cohorts collaborate on shared goals to increase girls’ agency through mentorship, and we assist with measurement tools to report those outcomes. To further our partners’ goals, we also create captivating educational resources that engage girls in learning about their rights and bodies.
-
Our diverse team is based across the U.S., Kenya, and Guatemala. We’ve built a strong reputation as an anti-oppressive and girl-centered organization. Our leadership in the girls’ empowerment space is recognized by former First Lady Michelle Obama, the United Nations, the Clinton Global Initiative, Women Deliver, and the DVF Awards.
