At Global Girl Project we are led by the expertise of our partners and the needs of our girls. When we mobilise girls through our leadership training we don’t tell them what they need to change, we think they know best. We encourage them to look at their community and think about what they love, what they know could be improved, and what they want to do about it.
In a special blog for International Day of the Girl, we explore some of what we are hearing from our girls in Jordan, Cambodia, and India.
There is so much for the girls to love about their communities, even if they might not have thought about it before! All over the world, the girls talk about loving the supportiveness and unity of their communities, and the fact that people help each other. In Hyderabad, India, our girls highlighted the togetherness of their community, for example, when there was flooding and people lost their homes, other community members provided them with shelter and food. In Cambodia, the girls also love the unity of their community, and feel proud of the kindness people show each other, and in Jordan the co-operation across the community makes the girls feel safe and supported.
As in all communities, there are things our girls identified as challenges. For many of our girls educational opportunities are an area where they want to see improvement. In India, they identify there being not enough educational institutions close by, and so girls are forced to drop out as their parents may not want to send them far from home. In Cambodia, our girls also feel there is not always a commitment to ensuring girls finish their education, often due to financial issues or to valuing the education of boys more than girls. In Jordan, the girls highlighted the patriarchal nature of society which in this context can lead to girls’ education not being valued and girls missing out on educational opportunities.
After only three sessions on the Blended Learning Leadership Programme, our girls are starting to see a clear and vital role for themselves in being a part of the social change they think is required; they are leaders, even if they don’t yet recognise it. Asma Unnisa, who runs the Blended Learning Leadership Initiative in Hyderabad said: “when we were having discussions about the role of a leader or the qualities of a leader, I had to dig a lot to go through their lives and understand their thinking about what it means to be a leader… But I came to know that almost all the girls are doing something that may be very small but it is definitely making social change… I was so happy to see the faces of all the girls after realising that they are a social change maker.”
In Jordan, Dua’a Alshami, the BLLI facilitator in Irbid said “my girls’ role so far is to have a vision and carry the message in order to start with the path to the change… When I first started working with the girls, they were reluctant to criticize their society thinking that they were wrong not to accept it. So far, the girls started to open their eyes and see that it’s ok to contemplate the community we live in and what changes need to be made in order to have better living circumstances for the people, especially girls and they’re now taking advantage of this project and showing responsibility towards acquiring what is needed to become better leaders and pursue their vision.”
In Cambodia, Sina Long from our partner Skateistan Cambodia, said “I feel like our girls can make a huge impact in their community when they are given an opportunity. They can be young leaders who can make the change that they want to see. I am proud that our girls are able to stay up with their education despite their disadvantaged background. More importantly they strive for any opportunities that allow them to be well equipped and initiate the change. Global Girl Project, for example, has given them an opportunity to define and shape them to be young leaders who can make a difference in their community.”
All our girls are on a journey to being social changemakers, as they learn more about their communities and how they can be leaders for social good. We can’t wait to see where they go and the change they create along the way!