Plan’s We Are the Girls campaign is a worldwide effort to support girls as they come together in the fight for gender equality. Here are some examples of programming supported by the campaign, from various countries where Plan works.
A world of opportunity
This project supported girls’ leadership and advocacy for community safety in the city of Cairo, running from 2019 through the end of 2021. Through the project activities, more than 3,000 young people were trained to become gender equality advocates in their neighborhoods, resulting in the implementation of 25 safety initiatives.
Egypt: Safer Cities for Girls
This project supports the young leaders who are ending the culture of violence against girls by rewriting gender rules and engaging boys and men. The project includes a National Girls’ Movement, a group of girls that meet regularly to plan and execute advocacy campaigns for gender equality.
El Salvador: Champions of Change
In Brazil, China, Colombia, Guatemala, India, Nigeria, Peru and Vietnam, Kotex and its parent company Kimberly-Clark have partnered with Plan to support menstrual health, in school and at home. So far, the project has reached 35,231 young people in Vietnam through training and education programs focused on menstrual health and gender equality.
Global: Kotex® She Can Initiative
Young women are building better futures for themselves through this project, which prepares them for jobs or entrepreneurship. Already, 2,465 young people have completed Plan’s life skills and gender equality training through the project, giving them the confidence they need to succeed.
Guatemala: Connection to Success
This project provides training and financial support to young people who want to start their own businesses, as well as scholarships so that they can finish school. So far, 211 young people have completed training to gain professional and financial skills.
Indonesia: GIRL 2.0
This project fights child trafficking and promotes awareness by supporting young leaders. So far, 1,205 young people across both countries have been trained to lead advocacy campaigns, and the young leaders play a significant role in crafting messages for their communities.
India and Nepal: PROTECT
In El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, this project helps to protect migrating adolescent girls and provide support for those returning to their home countries. Participating young people lead awareness events in their communities to combat stigma against people who migrate, among other activities.
Mexico and Central America: Protected Passage
This project spreads the truth about child marriage and keeps girls in school. Girls Learn & Thrive utilizes the GirlEngage approach through a girls’ steering committee, which makes critical decisions about the design and planning of activities, as well as the recruitment of new participants.
Senegal: Girls Learn & Thrive
As part of Plan’s We Are the Girls campaign, we created Girls Out Loud, a group of girls between the ages of 13 and 18 living in the U.S. Through our private Instagram account, these girls safely share their thoughts and feelings about gender and girls’ rights
U.S.: Girls Out Loud
This project helps more girls stay in school by building dormitories that will keep them safe, and uses the GirlEngage approach to design those spaces to meet girls’ needs. In addition, the project provides information on girls’ sexual and reproductive rights. Already, the percentage of participating girls who said they know how to access adolescent-friendly health services has jumped from just 13% at the beginning of the project to 93%.
Zimbabwe: The Graduation Project
This annual project invites high school-aged young people to spend a year designing and implementing a project that tackles the social justice issues they care about. Building from the U.N.’s sustainable development goals, the program guides young leaders as they make a difference in their communities with support from their peers and experts from Plan’s global network.
U.S.: Youth Leadership Academy
Plan USA is guided by a Youth Advisory Board made up of young people from across the country who serve as ambassadors for their generation. The YAB’s role touches every aspect of Plan’s operations, from advocacy and marketing to program design and implementation.
U.S.: Youth Advisory Board
We Are the Girls is Plan International USA’s ambitious campaign for investment in adolescent girls to achieve gender equality. Through a diverse portfolio of innovative projects, the campaign seeks to unite girls from around the world to lead the fight against gender inequality. And, by implementing Plan’s unique girl-driven GirlEngage approach, We Are the Girls will trigger a chain reaction across Plan’s projects around the world, ultimately impacting 10 million lives.
GirlEngage is Plan International USA’s new approach to development, the first and only approach that’s supporting girls as they become the drivers of the change they want and need in their lives. It is a strategy focused on adolescent girls and young women that makes it possible for the girls themselves to lead our programs — from designing projects, to leading activities, to measuring success.
For too long, adolescent girls in poverty have been viewed as problems to be fixed, rather than partners from whom to learn. But girls know the changes they need in their lives, and it’s up to us to listen and work with them, and for them, to make that change happen.
Introduction
Annual Review
— Yordana, 12
Bolivia
I want girls to be free — not to be afraid to go out on the streets alone — and for girls and women not to depend on anyone, to be who they want to be.
— Fatoumata, 19
Dakar, Senegal
People should listen to the girls and let them express their ideas. I would especially like to ask everyone to help girls and to provide them with training so they can strengthen their leadership and empower themselves.
