Blog
This year has changed so much for each and every one of us in this world. No one in our global family has been left untouched. Global Girl Project believes that every challenge is simply an opportunity in disguise and so we have use this challenging year to help us grow in ways we could have never imagined.
Take a watch of the video below and come along on the journey with us.
Gratitude,
Julia.
As the year comes to a close, we want to celebrate all the big and small achievements of 2020. This has been a difficult time for everybody, including small charities, and we want to celebrate the successes we’ve had.
One of those is 50 girls graduating from our Blended Learning Leadership Initiative (BLLI) in Afghanistan, Jordan, South Africa, Haiti and Nigeria. They've worked tirelessly over the last three months, learning about leadership, using their voice and impacting their communities. They have run five events in five different countries impacting over 500 people globally, working on issues such as the plight of children who live and work on the streets in Afghanistan, human trafficking in South Africa, and the right to education for girls in Nigeria.
We couldn't be prouder of our girls, especially during this time of COVID-19 where they had to be creative. Our girls in Jordan couldn't get together for an event so they did it online. In Jordan, our girls talked about people who live with disabilities. Our partners in Afghanistan are dealing not only with the pandemic but also a number of bombings that have happened in the country. In Nigeria, they are dealing with a lot of political unrest on top of COVID-19.
Our girls have been able to reach their goals in spite of all of these challenges. Each of our girls graduating receive an educational grant that will go toward school fees or other educational needs. For instance, with our partners in Jordan, the girls will be receiving tablets as their learning is now online, and they don't have access to computers. We want to thank our partners Madrasati, Skateistan, The Best Spring Foundation and Foundation Toya for working with us and trusting us to mobilize their girls. We're also super excited to share that we will be expanding our program in January with Skateistan Cambodia – now we will be working with all three of their partner countries, we cannot wait to get started!
And that brings us to our Monthly Donor Campaign
With the year-end rolling in, along come tax breaks and gift giving. We would love for you to consider GGP. We need to raise money to ensure that the BLLI program continues. We do not receive any government or foundation grants at this point. We need your support, and one way to do that is through monthly donations. For us to know what money is coming in every month makes the difference in us being able to survive and thrive. We’re running our monthly donor campaign throughout the whole month of December so you can give the gift of leadership, of education, of a passport, all for as little as $2 or €2 a week.
We are also on Amazon Smile in the US and UK so if you are shopping at Amazon this Christmas, then please consider GGP as your charity of choice so some of your money will be channeled toward GGP programs. Thank you ever so much!
Much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director
Over the last six months, Global Girl Project has managed to bring to fruition our “More than One Voice” book and the Connected Voices digital leadership event all through the power of volunteers who believe in what we do. Our organization is driven by the enthusiasm our global team of volunteers brings to every effort. We are immensely grateful for their time and skills toward our recent campaigns and thought you should learn more about the great folks we have the pleasure of working with. Here goes!
Nicolette Teo is part of the GGP team that organized the recent online Connected Voices global summit. She has spent her entire career organizing events in the wine and spirits industry. When she saw a call for volunteers on social media, she offered her event management skills at our event, and her assistance couldn’t have come at a better time. She helped bring our team of volunteers together and keep us on track with our project deliverables. Here’s a little more on Nicole:
What is your greatest achievement outside of GGP?
Successfully establishing my own small business (L.A. Spirits Awards) in the midst of a global pandemic and building a diverse and inclusive team around it that showcases the talent of the spirits industry. It's between that and my past life as a three-time Olympian for my native country Singapore.
What attracted you to volunteer with GGP?
I've always admired the work that Julia and GGP are doing with young women around the world. Young women are our future and GGP does a superb job of mobilizing them to be changemakers within their own communities. When I saw Julia's call for volunteers on Instagram, the words "If not now, then when" popped into my head! Selfishly, I also felt I had so much to learn from the big and warm heart that Julia has.
What has been the most exciting thing you have been involved in volunteering for GGP?
Meeting and collaborating with the other wonderful volunteers. It's great to be able to connect with other women across the globe during these unprecedented times and know that we're in this together. I've also been thoroughly enjoying the lovely British accents during our zoom calls!
What are your hopes for the future of GGP?
That we get more eyeballs on the great work that GGP is doing!
Uduak Duke is another of our amazing volunteers that has been helping us with creating our impact report and also a few modules of the leadership training programme that will directly benefit our girls everywhere. She has been simply incredible to work with bringing all her know-how to GGP and getting us going on some very integral aspects of our non-profit work.
What is your greatest achievement outside of GGP?
Being a mom to a beautiful 15-month-old girl.
What attracted you to volunteer with GGP?
I am passionate about empowering young women and girls and believe that women are catalysts for change in communities. GGP's values and activities align with my passion. I also found the Exchange Programme to be really interesting as it teaches girls about cultures, religions and ways of life which are different to theirs and helps them develop tolerance and empathy toward others.
What has been the most exciting thing you have been involved in volunteering for GGP?
So far, I have supported production of the first GGP impact report. It was really good to see on paper how much impact GGP has had on the girls directly and on their communities to date. I am also working on some modules for GGP's exchange programme and I am excited to be directly involved in equipping the girls with leadership skills.
What are your hopes for the future of GGP?
Growth, expansion, sustainability. I want to see a long lasting impact, and more girls and communities reached by GGP.
Stay tuned for more updates on our really cool group of talented volunteers as we share more about them over the next few weeks. Meanwhile…you knew this was coming…we have another announcement to make!
This December, Women@Disney and Disney Diversity will be holding THE BIG FAT CHARITY CHRISTMAS QUIZ to raise money for the Global Girl Project, and you are all invited to participate. The brilliant Gary Jordan, who plays Zazu in the Lion King Stage Show, is joining us to host the quiz, bringing some unmissable Disney magic to the night. Get your team together or go it alone and get ready to compete against the rest of the company, to win some spectacular prizes and be crowned the ultimate quizmaster ‘King’ or ‘Queen’. Head here for the deets.
And a quick note to also let you know we are going to be starting a monthly donor campaign very soon so you can give the gift of leadership, education or even a passport to a young girl, as a monthly donation, or dedicated to any of your friends and family. Campaign starts December 1!
With much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director.
Tickets are still available for our digital leadership summit, which is taking place this Saturday. There are several ticketing options, buy a ticket for the whole day, or for the session you want to attend. There is also the option to donate, buy a ticket for a girl and grab a copy of our book at checkout. Head to our event page for more information, and make sure you invite your friends.
We will send out recordings of the entire day to those that purchase a whole day event ticket.
GGP's digital leadership summit is grassroots and volunteer-led, meaning all proceeds from the event go back into GGP programmes to support girls in economically developing countries. Our panellists, speakers and organisers have kindly leant their time and skills for free, to help raise funds for our girls. The funds raised from the event will contribute to our Blended Learning Leadership Initiative, a multi-year programme which has successfully empowered girls in 5 different countries. The money you pay for a ticket will facilitate our next round of programmes, taking place in Haiti, South Africa, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Jordan in January 2021, with 50 girls aged 13 to 18 years.
Our digital summit covers three important topics; leadership styles, mobilisation and the future of community development and all sessions include exclusive readings from our recently published book, More Than One Voice. The event includes panel discussions, keynote speakers, seminars and networking opportunities. Deepti Gupta, narrator and actress is our MC for the day, and we have 14 inspiring guests joining us throughout the day. Head to our event page for more details:
GGP's first digital summit - Connected Voices is taking place on Saturday 14th November. Our summit includes three inspiring sessions on mobilisation, leadership and the future of community development. GGP has been busy recruiting girls and women across the globe to participate in panels and deliver speeches, addressing some of the most pressing global issues. We are so excited for you to join us, and engage with people who have been successfully mobilising their local communities working towards positive social change.
What makes our summit extra special, is that all proceeds go back into GGP programmes. The funds raised will ensure our innovative, Blended Leadership Learning Initiative continues to run, with another 50 girls set to start in January 2021. The more tickets we sell, the more we can support, empower and mobilise girls from across the globe to become change-makers within their local communities. The funds raised from this summit will directly support girls in Haiti, Nigeria, South Africa, Afghanistan and Jordan.
To ensure our event is as accessible as possible, and to encourage a great crowd GGP has added several ticketing options dependent on your availability. Buy a day ticket and have access to all three engaging sessions, or buy a ticket for the session you want to attend. Gift ticket options are available if you know someone who would love to attend or want to give the opportunity for one of our partners to invite a girl. You can donate any amount you wish, and purchase a copy of our newly released book. Whatever you do, don't forget to invite your friends.
This week we are delighted to announce our summit will include (left to right), Asha Kirkpatrick, Wahiba Lachebb, Mason Maxam and Saru Khadka. They will be joining us throughout the day, bringing their contributions on specialist topics. See our event page for more information on their sessions.
More announcements to follow.
There is now less than three weeks to go until GGP first digital leadership summit and we need your help. All tickets sales go towards our projects and will be essential to the launch of our next Blended Learning Leadership Initiative, which is currently set for Jan 2021. GGP is a grassroots initiative and our programmes facilitate the empowerment of girls in economically developing countries. The delivery of our programmes means girls can continue developing leadership skills, engaging with community development projects and experience valuable cultural exchange. You can directly support our programmes by buying a ticket for you and your friends to our digital leadership summit. Tickets are as low as £20 for adults and £10 youth.
Help GGP reach our ticket sale target.
The day will include contributions from keynote speakers, discussion panels, youth-led panels, Q&A's and seminars discussing global challenges on all things leadership, mobilisation and community development.
Our panellists are global and will be joining from Nepal, Detroit, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, LA and the UK.
We have famous actress and narrator Deepti Gupta joining as our MC.
The summit will include both youth and adult seminars - and you get to pick which one you attend!
Sarah Culberson, author and founder of Sierra Leona Rising will be joining as a keynote speaker.
The event will include an exclusive book reading of our recently published book, More Than One Girl.
Format for the day - attend one, two or all three sessions!
Welcome at 10am.
SESSION ONE: Leadership, 10.15am - 11.30am.
We talk to a Global Girl Project girl about the experiences as a leader and the challenges faced by global communities. Includes breakout sessions with one youth seminar and one adult seminar. The session will close with an exclusive reading from our book More Than One Voice.
SESSION TWO: Mobilisation, 1pm - 2.15pm.
Join the panel to discuss the role of young women and youth ambassadors in promoting the mobilisation of young people. Includes breakout talks by leading youth and adult speakers in the field, with Q&A.
SESSION THREE: The Future of Community Development, 4pm - 5:30pm.
Hear our panel discuss the future of community development, answering the question, how should we do things differently? This session includes breakout seminars with a Q&A.
Closing celebration, 5:30pm - 6:00pm.
If you can't attend our event, you can still support us by buying a copy of our book, More Than One Voice. The book includes 8 stories of GGP graduates, who share their journeys of becoming community development leaders. All proceeds from the book go to the 8 excellent authors (pictured with her copy) and our programmes. The proceeds will enable us to continue delivering our initiatives, working to mobilise young women from across the globe.
Tickets are now on sale for our first digital leadership summit. 100% of the profits go back into our Blended Learning Leadership Initiative and support girls learning. Help support our projects by attending, and get involved with important discussions around leadership, mobilisation and the future of community development.
As an infant, Culberson was placed in foster care and was then adopted by a loving white family in West Virginia. She grew up contemplating and dealing with questions about her identity and her biracial roots. She learned that her biological mother died when she was just 11, and her birth father lived in a village in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She learned about her royal family, and discovered is a Mahaloi, the granddaughter of a Paramount Chief, with the status of a princess. She also learned of the difficulties and privations of Sierra Leone’s people following a brutal 11-year civil war that ended in 2002. Princess Sarah’s story has been featured on CNN, Good Morning America, LA Times, BBC in London and more. Her book, “A Princess Found” co-authored with Tracy Trivas can be found at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
Culberson has danced and acted on stage as well as in films and TV, she earned her MFA at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and joined the Los Angeles acting community. She danced professionally for five years with the Urban Latin Theater Dance Company, CONTRA-TIEMPO. Culberson and her brother Hindo Kposowa co-founded Sierra Leone Rising a non-profit supporting Public Health, Education and Female Empowerment in Sierra Leone.
We are excited to have her involved in our summit!
GGP first book, More Than One Voice: Changing our world starts with a girl - was officially released last week and is now available to buy. Our book includes inspirational stories from GGP graduates (proudly pictured above with her copy), who have mobilised for social change through community development projects. Our global summit will include an exclusive book reading by our MC. Just like our virtual summit, all proceeds go back to our eight authors and into our projects. The funds raised will help support the next Blended Learning Leadership Initiative - set to launch in Jan 2021.
One of our proud authors - with her copy! Buy your copy now and tag us on social media.
GGP's first digital leadership event is set to take place on Saturday 14th November. Tickets are already on sale, grab yours now.
Our event includes three sessions, focusing on the theme of Connectedness. The session topics are driven by Global Girl Projects mission - "mobilising young women around the globe for social change through community development and action". More info on each session below:
In session one we will be talking about all things leadership. It includes a contribution from a graduate of GGP who will share her experiences of being a young community leader.
Session two: Mobilisation
Our second session is all about taking action, and the amazing work of girls who are creating change through mobilisation. In this session, girls globally will have the opportunity to share their success stories and discuss tactics on how to mobilise your peers.
Session Three: The Future of Community Development
Our final session focuses on the upcoming challenges within community development, and how we make impactful change for a better future. This session is all about how we can do things differently, and motivate each other towards global change.
Our event, Connected Voices - Global Virtual Summit Powered by Global Girl Project, is supporting the launch of GGP's first book, which is now available to buy on Amazon. The book is a collection of stories of GGP graduates, and their journeys in becoming a community leader.
To celebrate International Day of the Girl Child, GGP interviewed girls who have participated in our programmes to understand what motivates them. Another wonderful contribution from one of our Girls, who provides her perspectives on community leadership, and the power of mothers in motivating and supporting young girls in education.
1. Where are you from?
I am from Pakistan
2. What was your community development project about?
In our community people are in the view that girls are not for education and that studies is just a waste of time and money so they do not allow girls to study. Girls are in the difficulties of poor situations that’s why I started a project for uneducated girls. In this project I inspired their parents for their education.
3. What do you think makes a good leader?
In my view, a good leader should report a girls performance every day, notice a carelessness in their performance and next time give them guidance to improve their performance.
4. What is the hardest thing about being a girl today?
In my view of knowledge I think the most difficult thing in the modern world of 21st century is getting education for girls because of their poverty and in most houses parents care about boys education and not girls education.
5. What motivates you to do community work?
My mother encourages my project!
6. Who do you think is a good leader? What do you like about them?
Mothers are the best leaders in our lives especially for girls when a one educated women will birth an educated nation.
7. What are your biggest hopes for your future?
My mother is a brighter sign of my future, she has a great desire for me and I hope one day she will be able to bright my future.
8. If you could give 3 tips to a young girl growing up, what would they be?
If I give 3 advice to her. First of all she should make a proper time table of any thing like time for work and time for study. 2nd, she should get advice from her elders and 3rd, she should follow time table, discipline and guidance from learners.
To celebrate International Day of the Girl Child, GGP interviewed girls who have participated in our programmes to understand what motivates them. Here, we chat with a GGP girl from Nepal about her perspectives on all things leadership!
1. Where are you from?
I am from Nepal
2. What was your community development project about?
My community development project was ‘Gender Inequality.’
3. What do you think makes a good leader?
Integrity Honesty and clarity makes a good leader!
4. What is the hardest thing about being a girl today?
The hardest thing about being a girl leader today is overcoming the expectations, the world has and doesn’t have for you. They expect a smart, beautiful young lady who can clean and cook.
5. What motivates you to do community work?
The work we do in our community leads to a positive change. This helps me do community work!
6. Who do you think is a good leader? What do you like about them?
The thing I like about leaders is that they made hard decisions and self sacrifice in order to enhance the lives of other people around them.
7. What are your biggest hopes for your future?
My biggest hopes for my future is the positive change that leads to a supportive community.
8. If you could give 3 tips to a young girl growing up, what would they be?
The three tips I would like to give a young girl is to stay strong, think twice before you take a step and never hesitate to make a right decision. Never let anyone take you down.
We are super excited to announce our first ever digital event: CONNECTED VOICES Global Summit powered by Global Girl Project. This is open to people of all ages from all parts of the world. This is a time for us to come together to connect to learn from each other and leave with some next steps and solutions as to how we can start to create the change we want to see. Tickets are currently on sale and you can access them here on Eventbrite so save the date for November 14, join us and tell everyone you know!
Meanwhile don’t forget – our book “More Than One Voice: Changing our world starts with a girl” is still available for pre-order on Amazon so please head on over to order it now and help us raise our discoverability online. Everybody who donated to the fundraising campaign and chose the book as a perk will be receiving their copies in the mail in the next few weeks. When you do get your book, please read it and leave us your review on Amazon to help us get the word out there about our book project.
And that’s it for this edition. As always, we are immensely grateful for your support and welcome volunteers to assist with any of our events and activities. Just connect with us online via the contact form and let’s chat!
Much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director.
Thanks to you, our book is ready for its grand introduction to the world. We are now taking pre-orders on Amazon for our book which will be released on October 11 – International Day of the Girl Child! Just click that link and head on over to buy your copy of the book and share the link far and wide to share the stories of our girls with the world.
If you chose the book as a perk during our recent fundraising campaign, then it will be on its way to you in October as well. Our book is a significant contribution to the diversity of voices in the young adult (YA) book market and 100% of the proceeds from sales of the book go straight back to our nonprofit programming and the girls we support. The eight inspiring stories narrated by our scholars are accompanied by gorgeous full colour illustrations that bring their words to life.
With your purchase of the book, you get a glimpse into the lives of our young changemakers and learn how leadership training can empower anyone, anywhere, to affect community impact to make a difference. And this is also a great gift for other young adults in your life to start a conversation on important global issues and initiate the change they want to see around them. Click here and per-order the book now.
But if that wasn’t sufficiently exciting, here’s more - We are hosting our first ever digital leadership event! Connected Voices Global Summit: Powered by Global Girl Project will be held virtually on November 14. Stay tuned for more details as we finalize the day’s agenda, but we are inviting speakers and panelists to participate – both young adults and adults.
Send us a note on our contact form, nominating yourself or someone you know, and we will send you more information about speaker requirements for the summit or to be a panelist/workshop host. Watch this space for updates on when you can purchase tickets. And if you’d like to spread the word on our digital leadership event, just let us know on the contact form and we’ll send you some handy graphics to share over social media.
Much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director.
It’s an exciting month ahead as we welcome partners new and old and a new cohort of scholars to the BLLI! Launching these programs around the world would not be possible without our local partners on the ground, who take these training programs to our scholars there. Immense gratitude to all the organizations that are now part of the GGP family and here’s a little bit more about each to get to know them better:
Our partners since 2016, first with our Exchange Program and now with our Blended Learning.
Foundation Toya in Port au Prince, Haiti
A non-profit, non-denominational organization created for the coaching and strengthening of the capacities and leadership of girls and women.
Our partners since the beginning of 2020.
Best Spring Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria
A grassroots-based Non-Governmental Organization that advocates for the rights of vulnerable children and youths by providing steady, qualitative and holistic education and empowerment.
Our new partners for September 2020
Madrasati in Amman, Jordan
Connects individuals, private companies and organizations, providing support for improving the physical and educational learning environments of Jordan’s most neglected public schools.
Our new partners for September 2020
Skateistan in Johannesburg, South Africa and Mazar E Sharif in Afghanistan
Empowering children through skateboarding and education, this award-winning international non-profit organization gives children the opportunity to become leaders for a better world.
On September 5, our program will launch for the first time in Karak, Jordan with Madrasati, on September 12 with Foundation Toya in Haiti, Best Spring Foundation in Nigeria, and with Skateistan in South Africa, and on September 13th in and Afghanistan with Skateistan.
We are so happy to have you with us and look forward to a great BLLI session ahead.
And if you were wondering…our book “More Than One Voice” is getting readied for publication as we speak (we are counting down the days!) with the release date of October 11th for International Day of the Girl, and we are in planning mode for our virtual summit scheduled for November 14th . Want to lend a helping hand with marketing, outreach or any other way? Contact us here and we can collaborate.
Much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director.
We are less than a month away from fully launching our Blended Learning Leadership Initiative and we are super excited for everyone we will be welcoming to the program this time around. We met this week with our new program facilitators from Jordan, Afghanistan and South Africa to prepare them to run the program in their regions. We're going to be working with 10 girls in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan, 10 girls in Johannesburg, South Africa and 10 girls in Karak, Jordan, as well as 10 girls in Port-au-Prince, Haiti and 10 girls in Lagos, Nigeria. That’s a whopping 50 girls who will be starting with GGP this September. We are simply thrilled to have them all join us and we are grateful to both Skateistan and Madrasati for our new partnerships.
Our new Program Facilitators from Skateistan and Madrasati.
We are working around the clock to try and make adjustments to our program. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, our girls in places like Johannesburg may not be able to meet in person so we're looking at ways to work with our partners to provide the resources necessary to do this 100% online. We're working with our partners in Jordan around a new school schedule that's being set by their government in preparation for a possible second wave of the COVID-19 virus. We're really being put to the test to be as flexible and adaptable as possible, and we’re prepared to rise to that challenge. It’s something that we want to teach our girls here, too.
Meanwhile, here are a couple more amazing illustrations from our upcoming book “More Than One Voice”, which is currently with the typesetter as we speak being readied for publication at the beginning of October. Major gratitude and a huge shout out to our volunteers who we are going to highlight a bit more later - Max, Camila, Kate, Paloma and Ruksana, who have been working day and night to bring this project to fruition. We can't wait for you to meet our inspiring girls and read their stories. Watch out for the announcement so you can get your copy online – we will have physical copies and e-book versions. For our fundraising donors that supported our recent book campaign, if you chose the book as a perk, you are going to love receiving it.
Andddd drum roll for our next major announcement please! We’ve got a global digital leadership summit in the works and we want you to be a part of it. Scheduled for mid-November this year, we are looking for people from all over the world who would be interested in possibly speaking, leading a workshop, or collaborating in any other way. Send us your ideas, thoughts, suggestions, we are all ears for what you’d like to see from this summit. Simply head to our Contact Page right here and let us know.
Much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director.
As part of our Blended Learning Leadership initiative, we're so excited and proud of our girls for what they have managed to accomplish in the last couple of weeks in partnership with Foundation TOYA in Haiti and the BestSpring Foundation in Nigeria - 20 of our girls have been able to run their community action projects tackling issues of waste management, teenage pregnancy, domesticity and gender inequality, especially during this time of COVID-19 when there have been so many restrictions around getting together and working together.
We are blown away by the determination of our girls and the ability to mobilize their community members. We have received so much feedback from them around the privilege they feel in being able to lead in this way and have other young girls and older community members see them as role models.
Even though our exchange program this year has been postponed, we are working with our volunteer Uduak to create an extended version of our online programming and will start working with our girls from Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Rwanda and Nepal in September through monthly online leadership sessions.
![WOMEN AT DISNEY LOGO_UK&US_FINAL[1].png](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5844c7d6e4fcb5ef4d21ece5/1596449243140-NETSRCXUSOCKURFT6RF5/WOMEN+AT+DISNEY+LOGO_UK%26US_FINAL%5B1%5D.png)
A big shout out to Emma Lucas in the UK whose is 15 years old and volunteered her time this past week to help transcribe all of our videos from our Blended Learning Leadership initiative so that we can get them translated into Arabic and Farsi for our upcoming partnerships in Jordan and Afghanistan. As you can tell, there is no age limit to volunteering with us! Big love also to Disney who, via women at Disney, have managed to find translators for our Arabic videos.
New event alert! Global Girl Project in the early planning stages of organizing a digital leadership event in the new year as a fundraising opportunity. We're looking for highly skilled volunteers who want to help us bring this into fruition. If you want to give your time to plan, create, and run this event please reach out. and if you would like to be a speaker, or sponsor, or workshop host? Get in touch!
Much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director.
Huge news and so much to be grateful for on this update so read on!
Big, big thanks to the 206 amazing folks around the globe who donated £7,000+ to our book campaign for More Than One Voice. This is way beyond what our original goal was and we're just absolutely blown away about the impact we will be able to create – thanks to your generosity not only will we be able to publish our book, but we will also be able to run our Blended Learning Program in Jordan, Afghanistan, South Africa, Nigeria and Haiti this autumn. The book publishing process begins at the end of this month and we will be thinking of all you wonderful people that chose to support this effort.
Buckets of gratitude also to the team at Cisco Portugal who hosted a walk/run fundraiser on June 26 to contribute around $11,000 for Global Girl Project. We have to thank our board member Wendy Rasin for organizing this and everyone that participated.
We are super proud to share that our Nigerian partner Bestspring Foundation have run their first ever community event through the Blended Learning Leadership Initiative this past weekend. Check out their photos above. The topic was waste management and the girls were excited to be able to be leaders in their community. They shared that they each felt very privileged to be global girls and to be the first ambassadors for the Global Girl Program in Lagos, Nigeria and they are excited for us to be able to work with even more girls in the coming year. We are also excited that our Haitian partners Foundation TOYA are hosting three separate smaller events on teenage pregnancy, domesticity and gender inequality next weekend so stay tuned!!
Most importantly, we have to turn the spotlight on our amazing volunteers. GGP is a grassroots organization doing big things around the world. With a staff of one, we rely almost exclusively on the passion, the energy, and the ideas of our highly skilled volunteers.
· Here’s a huge shout out to the team that is our extraordinary book volunteers who brought this project into fruition: Mariana Alejandra Besana (Max), Paloma Aravaca Sinnige, Camila Gabrielle Frasson, Kate Novo and Ruksana Hussain.
· We also have Sherry from Disney in the US who is working with us on creating staff manuals, and Deepti who's going to start working with us creating an audiobook, and Uduak from Nigeria who is working with us to create an impact report, mentoring program protocols and also some workshops to deliver to our exchange scholars.
· We want to thank our impact group as well: Joe from Ripple Ventures, his intern Tom, Gill from UBS and Stella our board chair who are working with us to create an impact report. We cannot run without our volunteers and we want to really send a lot of gratitude out to them.
We’ll leave you with a podcast called SheSlays that our director featured in so please take a listen here and share.
Much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director.
One of the illustrations from our upcoming book - More Than One Voice
Happy July folks! If you’ve been following us online on social media, you know great things are happening on the book front. We’ve been sharing glimpses of some of the illustrations created for the stories by our eight young authors - the visuals are stunning. We are so lucky to have the talented Paloma Marinheira volunteer to design these images for us. She also recently shared why she got involved in this project and how you can too. Check out her short quick video about her involvement and why we need your support.
We have less than two weeks to meet our fundraising goals to not only get this book published and out in the world but also create some economic independence for our authors. This is our ONLY special project fundraising this year because of the pandemic so every little bit helps. As we head into July, we hope you will consider donating to our nonprofit and especially to our book project “More Than One Voice”. You can hear more on the book through this online chat here with board member Evette Franklin as well as tune in to a more detailed background from our director as to why we are working on this book.
In other news, we are super excited to announce our new partnership for our Blended Learning Programme with Madrasati, an amazing organization that works with the Ministry of Education and the Queen of Jordan to run programming for disadvantaged young people throughout Jordan. We will start working with them in a school close to the Syrian border running our Blended Learning Programme with both Jordanian and Syrian girls. That will be launching in September along with our partners Skateistan in South Africa and Afghanistan and our partners BestSpring in Nigeria and Foundation TOYA in Haiti.
Our Nigerian partners are pushing ahead in this difficult time of losing their director Aramide. The girls have decided to channel this loss as inspiration to push them forward to do even better and to live Aramide’s dream of being able to grow Global Girl Project within Lagos. They will be launching their large-scale community event on July 18, focused on issues related to waste management and street pollution.
We are always extremely proud to highlight the amazing things that our graduates are doing around the world in continuing their journey as leaders and community shifters and changers. One of our 2018 graduates who is from Kathmandu, Nepal has acquired a job creating care packages for those that are less fortunate and affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Way to go!
So, you know the plan of action now. Head straight to this link here and donate. If you cannot donate, then share. Either way, we are immensely appreciative of your support.
Much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director.
It’s here! We're excited to share our fundraising campaign for our book which has launched and is now live. You know we’ve been working behind the scenes on this over the last few months, right from our scholars penning their life stories to our illustrator transforming their experiences into beautiful visuals. Now we are getting ready to share this with the world!
This is a book intended for a young adult audience (although everyone that’s previewed it says it’s much-needed reading material for all of us right now), featuring a collection of eight stories written by our global girl graduates from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Brazil and Cameroon. These are their personal journeys sharing with the world what it is like growing up as a girl in their countries and how their path toward leadership has transformed their lives.
Proceeds from the fundraiser and sales of the book go directly to our girls and into our programming so you know what you have to do – donate if you can, get your friends and acquaintances to donate as well, and share this information far and wide so more folks can get their hands on this book!
In other exciting news, our new partnership with Didcot Girls’ School in Oxford is expanding into doing some work with girls from the UK to teach them about leadership and fundraising for GGP programming. If you are interested in inquiring about this for your daughter’s school, then please reach out. We are always eager to collaborate on local partnerships.
We've also heard recently from one of our 2017 GGP graduates from Mumbai whose amazing work in the community has been written about in local media. We are so proud of how our girls have taken their leadership skills and translated them to apply to community development programs in their neighborhoods and impact change through experiences all their own. Take a read of her article HERE.
These are the moments we know our work truly makes a difference. On that note, we are going to start a series on our website that shares how our girls in all different parts of the world have been impacted by and are experiencing the COVID-19 crisis. And what they're doing to be able to push forward in this difficult time. Our first partner and country featured is Bestspring Foundation in Lagos, Nigeria. You can read what our girls shared about their experiences by going to our HOMEPAGE..
However, the aforementioned piece was shared right before we all received the tragic and shocking news that our partner and friend in Lagos, Aramide Praise Oikelome, passed away on Thursday. The details of her death are unclear but there is a link to the COVID19 virus, however, we are unsure at this time. Aramide was a formidable force who inspired and motivated each and every person with whom she came into contact. Her absence will be felt very deeply by our girls in Nigeria and the hundreds of people that Aramide supported through her work at Bestspring. We have been speaking to our girls in Lagos and doing our best to push them forward and use Aramide’s death as a way to work even harder for the dream that they started working on together, the quest for both gender and racial equality within their communities. Rest in Power Aramide. We will miss you so very much.
Now more than ever, our book and the work that we do is vital to the communities where we work. Our book fundraiser will only be live until July 15. In less than 30 days we need to raise the funds required to ensure this book gets published. In light of what's happening around the world, the fight for racial equality and the struggles that those that are most vulnerable globally are experiencing because of the COVID-19 crisis, this is GGP’s reaction to our current circumstance. We hope you will find it a worthy initiative to support.
Much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director.
Take a look at our cover and first chapter here!
Now, more than ever, the power of telling the true stories of girls of varying ethnicities is vital to the quest towards racial and gender equality around the world. Global Girl is proud to share with you a collection of inspiring and mobilising stories of leadership directly from our girls themselves! Our first-time authors have shared some of their most personal stories in the aim to inspire you towards creating your own community change, and we need your donations to bring this important piece of work into fruition.
With your support we will not only be able to publish our book, but we will also be able to create some economic independence for our authors as they will receive a percentage of the profits from each book sale. Due to this global pandemic, our girls are amongst some of the most adversely affected and so we want to find a way to financially support their growth, as well as allow us to provide even more innovative programming for the many other girls around the world who need our work.
Give whatever you can and share our work far and wide!! Thank you!
At GGP, we believe in the importance of voice and action. We work with our girls globally to create practices that enrich our collective humanity. During these difficult times, GGP stands by the BLM movement and its aim in achieving a world free of racism. Freedom is a constant struggle and through our work we can remove barriers and create social change. For us at GGP, such freedoms begin with our girls who envisage a world with a shared justice for all.
Through our Blended Learning Program we hope we can continue to connect girls from different backgrounds together with the goal of learning from each other. In celebrating their similarities and their differences our network of girls will mobilize each other towards creating systemic change.
At GGP we know that we all must speak out and step up in order for us to see true change.
Our first GGP book - Check out our cover!!
Want to show your support for celebrating the stories of girls from all different ethnicities? We are launching our fundraiser on Tuesday June 16 for our book. The book. The one we’ve been talking about all this time. Check out our amazing front cover – just a little teaser to give you an idea of all the stories inside. Some of our girls are sharing their stories and writing about their life experiences in this way for the first time. We hope you will choose to show them your encouragement and help with the fundraiser once it's live! Book sales will enable us to create some economic independence for them and help them with future endeavors.
The work continues….
In Pakistan one of our 2019 scholars is trying to find other ways to give her time to help others.
Of course, we are pleased as punch that one of our exchange students from 2019 has really absorbed what she learned during our five-week training and is looking for ways to volunteer locally in Pakistan and possibly with international organizations that work with people who live in poverty. Think you can help? Reach out to us here.
Meanwhile, watch out for the announcement on our fundraising campaign going live June 16!
Much gratitude,
Julia Lynch, Founding Director.
