By Tina Chugani, Global Girl Project Board Member
In August 2021, I completed my Effective Board Member training (created by Dr. Karl George), and was actively seeking Board Member roles. One of the side paths of my corporate career had led me to develop experiences and skills in corporate governance and risk management and as a member of Women in Banking and Finance (WIBF) early in my career, a seed had been planted around women on boards. Ten years later, I then capitalised on my skills and experience to develop my Board Member skills.
Side bar: In those ten years, as I was working in corporate, I was also starting the motherhood journey with twin boys, so many seeds lay dormant in that time as sleepless nights and playdates became my new professional activities!
While I was seeking Board Member roles, I had registered for numerous Non-Executive recruitment portals. As I was scrolling through one day, a small logo with the words Global Girl Project caught my eye. I’m fascinated with globes, maps, and global approaches to work and my curiosity about this beautiful logo took me to the website, where I was blown away with the quality and content of the website, and more than that the mission. I thought I had nothing to lose, and at the very least, I could volunteer a few hours, so I emailed the founder Julia a message, and the next thing I knew we were scheduled for a chat.
I had such a lovely, engaging inspirational conversation with Julia and our previous chair Stella, and soon after that I was invited to join GGP as a Board Member.
I am a Global Girl. Having grown up in Zambia in a mixed ethnicity, multi religion household, I feel like I am from everywhere, and also from nowhere. When it came to our ‘culture’, we did not have a blueprint to follow and we grew up with mixed cultures and mixed traditions. It sometimes felt like we invented our own culture, nothing was a given. I think that was a big part of what made me resonate with Global Girl Project: its focus on cultural exchange and the value of connecting people from different cultures spoke to the part of me that has always felt like I am from so many places and traditions.
Zambia is a beautiful country, with perfect weather, all year round, abundantly blessed with natural resources. It is considered a least economically developed, heavily indebted poor country. The unemployment rate is 13%. I still struggle to understand why the majority of people live in poverty in such a resource rich country. Everytime I go home, I’m inspired by people excelling in their work and businesses, and their creativity, and equally frustrated with the macro lack of progress and the visible poverty.
In Zambia, many middle-class or richer families have domestic workers in their homes. Like many families, we support people that have worked with us. For me specifically, I strive to support the education of the teenage daughters of those domestic workers. Over the years, that has included tutoring, sharing books, interview coaching, and education sponsorship. My goal is to see the cycle of poverty broken for this family. Imagine my surprise and frustration, when those I directly help with education funds, resources, not only reject support, but rebel or are uninterested. I have spent a lot of time reflecting on what I am missing here, and how I can be of better, more constructive help. I have come to understand that I cannot change these girls' lives, because I am not with them all the time. I visit occasionally, which does not enable the consistency they need, nor give them consistent structure and accountability.
In reflecting, and in my engagement with Global Girl, I have realised that change happens when it comes from within oneself and within communities, and this was the basis of my conversation with Julia as we discussed, debated and explored the psyche of teenage girls and making change happen. Julia’s deep understanding and experience which she shared with me, led me to understand why a program like GGP is critical in enabling girls to find their own voice, and make their own journey. Connecting with other girls globally enables the flow and exchange of ideas. Like many things in life, consistency and time are key ingredients in growth, and GGP provides that consistent structure through the programs it delivers.
I am proud to support the work of Global Girl Project because it is a life changing skill for girls to find their voice and their power, and from that change their own communities. My sphere of change has grown to the girls impacted by Global Girl Project.
Disclaimer: The girls who I support in ZambiaI refer to are not part of the GGP program. I am proud to say one out of the three girls I am supporting is currently attending university, the first in her family.