Girls Without Borders
100+ girls. Global connection. Locally led change.
Help us raise £7,500 towards bringing the Global Girl Leadership Academy to 100+ girls in 2027.
11–25 October 2026
Launching on International Day of the Girl
Every year on 11 October, International Day of the Girl is a global moment to celebrate girls’ voices, actions and leadership, while drawing attention to the barriers that continue to limit their rights and opportunities.
The 2026 theme, “End child marriage and invest in girls’ rights,” calls for greater investment in girls’ rights, opportunities and futures.
At Global Girl Project, we believe investing in girls means recognising them as leaders now. Girls are already identifying the challenges affecting their lives, developing solutions and taking action in their communities. They need access to the resources, relationships and opportunities that enable their leadership to grow.
That is why, this International Day of the Girl, we are launching Girls Without Borders.
Who gets access to global opportunities?
Global exchange can open doors to new ideas, relationships, networks and possibilities. Yet access to these opportunities is not equally distributed.
For many marginalised girls across the Global Majority, the barriers begin long before reaching an airport or applying for a visa.
Poverty can interrupt a girl’s education. Early marriage can restrict her choices and independence. Unequal expectations around domestic work can reduce the time she has to learn and pursue opportunities. Violence and harassment can restrict her safety and freedom.
These are not abstract challenges. Girls taking part in Global Girl Project programmes are confronting these issues in their own communities and leading action to address them.
The barriers do not stop at national borders
The inequalities shaping girls’ lives also shape who gets access to international opportunities.
The cost of travel, passport power, visa restrictions, geography, gender, race and nationality can all influence who gets to cross borders, build international networks and participate in global spaces.
A girl should not need the money, passport or visa to cross a physical border before she can build relationships and solidarity across one.
A different model of global exchange
The Global Girl Leadership Academy (GGLA) creates another way for girls to connect globally.
GGLA is a six-month advanced leadership programme for graduates of our Global Girl Leadership Initiative. It connects girls from across the Global Majority to build relationships, exchange knowledge, explore shared social justice challenges and learn from one another, while remaining rooted in the communities where they are leading change.
The issues girls are addressing may look different from one community to another. Girls may be challenging barriers to education, improving sanitation, addressing violence or responding to other issues affecting their communities.
Through GGLA, they have the opportunity to learn from different experiences and perspectives across countries, while developing solutions that respond to their own local contexts.
Different contexts. Different challenges. One cross-border community of girls learning from one another and leading change where they live.
From learning to action
GGLA takes girls through a six-month journey of learning, project design and community action.
During the first three months, girls participate in 12 facilitated sessions where they explore community challenges, power and influence, goal setting, project planning, budgeting, partnerships and measuring impact.
They then move into three months of action and implementation, working in teams to deliver their own Community Action Projects, supported by project funding and ongoing mentorship.
Cross-border exchange is woven throughout the Academy, giving girls opportunities to share experiences, ideas and learning with peers in other countries.
From 20 girls to 100+
The first GGLA pilot launched in 2026 with 20 Global Girl Project graduates from Uganda and Nigeria, in partnership with Soccer Without Borders Uganda and Strong Enough Girls’ Empowerment Initiative (SEGEI) Nigeria.
The pilot is helping us learn, refine and strengthen the Academy before expanding it to more Global Girl Project partners and countries.
In 2027, we want to create this opportunity for more than 100 girls.
And we need your help to make it happen.
Help us bring GGLA to 100+ girls in 2027
Our goal: £7,500
Every contribution to Girls Without Borders will help us work towards expanding the Global Girl Leadership Academy in 2027.
£25 provides learning materials for a girl taking part in the programme.
£50 provides data for 3 girls to join online cross-border learning and exchange sessions.
£80 provides data for 10 girls to connect and support each other through weekly sessions and projects.
£150 provides learning and project materials for one location.
£200 funds one group of girls to lead a three-month Community Action Project.
£800 funds four groups of girls to lead three-month Community Action Projects.
£1,000 enables a local professional to facilitate our six-month leadership programme.
The £7,500 raised through Girls Without Borders will contribute towards the wider cost of delivering GGLA, including facilitated learning, cross-border exchange, mentorship and support for girls’ Community Action Projects.
Why Global Girl Project?
Since 2014, Global Girl Project has worked alongside grassroots organisations across the Global Majority to create opportunities for marginalised girls to strengthen their leadership and lead change on the issues that matter in their communities. Global Girl Project works through local grassroots partners, with programmes designed around community-led change.
Our work starts from a simple principle: girls are already leaders. We help create the space, resources and opportunities for them to put that leadership into action.
Our impact so far:
1,870 girls supported
18 countries
60,000+ hours of learning
186 girl-led Community Action Projects
10,600+ community members reached
15 local partners
GGLA builds on 12 years of this work, creating opportunities for girls to build relationships, exchange knowledge and learn across borders while leading change where they live.
Locally rooted. Globally connected. Girl-led.
Girls should not have to leave their communities to be part of a global community.
Through Girls Without Borders, we want to create that opportunity for more than 100 girls in 2027. To connect across countries, learn from one another and turn those connections into action in their own communities.
Your support will help take the Global Girl Leadership Academy to its next stage, creating more opportunities for girls to learn, connect and lead through facilitated learning, cross-border exchange, mentorship and girl-led Community Action Projects.