We are the girls
Welcome to We Are the Girls, Plan International USA’s campaign for investment in adolescent girls to achieve gender equality. We believe that adolescence represents a vast reserve of untapped potential. When we let young women take the lead, they’ll fight for change. When we invest in girls, we can eliminate gender inequality. Together, we can give young women a megaphone and amplify their message: “We are the girls who will change the world.”
Protected Passage
As part of Plan’s We Are the Girls campaign, Protected Passage works across Mexico and Central America to protect adolescent girls and their families as they migrate or return home. Across El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, the project focuses on addressing both the immediate humanitarian needs of girls and their families as well as improving access to services and supporting community reintegration. Your gift supports activities including delivery of critical provisions, connecting girls and their families with services they need, such as health care and legal counsel, to training service providers so they can effectively support young people and their unique situations.
Protect
With PROTECT, you can help girls teach their communities how to protect children from trafficking and rescue potential victims before they cross international borders between India and Nepal. When you support this project through Plan’s We Are the Girls campaign, you’re supporting a holistic approach to preventing trafficking that includes everyone, from girls and their families to border patrol agents and local businesses. And, you’ll be helping trafficking survivors reintegrate into their communities, start businesses to support themselves, and heal. Just like everything Plan does, girls are at the center of the PROTECT program. We know that they’re more than just potential victims; they also play an important role in protecting themselves. Your gift can help to equip them with information, and the skills to share it in their schools and in their larger communities.
Graduation Project
Your support for The Graduation Project, part of Plan USA’s We Are the Girls campaign, can give girls in Zimbabwe a safe place to live and learn, as well as the tools they need to succeed. You can help build and outfit two girls-only dormitories near local high schools. These buildings have been designed with significant input from the girls themselves, collected using Plan’s GirlEngage approach. They are also staffed by matrons, or adult women who serve as the girls’ mentors and supervisors. As part of the project, the girls practice leadership and decision-making skills while their male peers learn about gender equality.
Refugee girls are only half as likely to enroll in secondary school as refugee boys.
Only 1 in every 3 businesses worldwide are owned by women.
Globally, 1 in 5 young women were married before they turned 18 — and COVID-19 is increasing child marriage rates every day.
For girls, by girls
“Don’t give up on your dreams … Do the best you can, no matter what others say.”
— CRISTIN, Protected Passage participant
— The Graduation Project participant
"I appreciate the GirlEngage approach. It’s unleashing the potential that was hidden within me."
—KABITA, PROTECT participant
“I received support from Plan, which has been crucial to grow and expand my business. I realized I still have a big dream. Now, I am living a happy life. I am determined to expand my business and take it to an even greater height. Thank you to Plan for the support that I received during a difficult time.”
Champions of Change
With Champions of Change, you can help young leaders work to end the culture of violence against girls in El Salvador and rewrite traditional gender rules. As part of Plan USA’s We Are the Girls campaign, this project trains young advocates for gender equality and lets them lead the way. Separately and together, boys and girls reflect on what equality means to them and what change would look like in their communities. Then, participants come together to practice what they’ve learned about gender equality through soccer and other structured activities.
— FLOR, Champions of Change participant
“I want other girls to also see who they can become, because I know that one girl’s voice is the voice of all of us.”
Connection to Success
With Connection to Success, you can build better futures for young women in Guatemala, preparing them with the skills they need to kickstart their careers. As part of Plan USA’s We Are the Girls campaign, this project zeroes in on young women living in rural areas, where approximately 80% of people live below the poverty line. Each participant in Connection to Success chooses between two training tracks: entrepreneurship or employment. Members of the employment clubs learn skills that will help them get a good job, like interviewing and negotiating. Meanwhile, members of the entrepreneurship clubs learn about market demands and sustainability so that they can start their own business.
— CLAUDIA, Connection to Success participant
“I am full of knowledge, and feel amazed at myself and at how I can explore the technology and do things I never imagined.”
Girls Learn & Thrive
With your gift to Girls Learn & Thrive, a part of Plan International USA’s We Are the Girls campaign, you’ll help girls end child marriage in Kédougou, Senegal and give them the tools they need to graduate. Participating girls influence every step of the project through Plan’s GirlEngage approach, providing input on program activities and helping to raise awareness about the dangers of child marriage. In response to girls’ desire to strengthen their relationships with their mothers, the project incorporated mother-daughter groups with trained facilitators to guide conversations on sensitive topics like sex and marriage. Similarly, fathers of girls in the project can join a fathers’ club, where participants learn about positive parenting, find peer-to-peer support and discuss ways to challenge traditional gender norms.
— BINTA, Girls Learn & Thrive participant
“The GirlEngage approach makes me feel more empowered. I feel involved in the project, because my ideas are taken into account.”
Girls who do not marry before their 18th birthdays are less likely to die in childbirth, contract HIV or experience depression — and more likely to finish secondary school.
On average, women with secondary school education earn almost twice as much as those with no education at all.
Female-founded businesses employ 2.5 times more women than male-founded businesses.