Our staffer Florence Sidi reflects on a transformative week at The Adolescent Girls Summit in Liberia, which equipped over 150 girls from seven West African countries with tools and knowledge to navigate adolescence with grace and resilience. The event featured inspiring speeches, hands-on training with our What Would You Do? (WWYD?) card game, and workshops on critical topics like social media advocacy and reproductive health. Highlights included the introduction of our Period Diary toolkit and an empowering call to action shared with high-level dignitaries. The summit's legacy of empowerment and growth will inspire and uplift young women across West Africa, igniting a brighter future for generations to come.
Why do you need feminism? Challenging stereotypes about what it means to be feminist and connecting it to their personal lives, students at Clark High School’s She’s the First Chapter in Plano, Texas, crafted empowering posters answering this compelling question.
What if all daughters had someone in their corner? Someone who told them to believe in themselves, trust their gut, and keep going even when times got hard?
Learning how to raise your voice and trust yourself is a major step towards choosing your own future, and demanding to be respected and heard. Rachel shares her story of overcoming medical gaslighting and chronic illness, with the help of her biggest ally, her mom.
"What kind of mother do I want to be? What kind of world do I want to help build for the next generation?" When our board chair, Tara Abrahams, learned she was pregnant with her first daughter, she reflected on the world she would raise her in.
"The idea that my child wouldn't have access to the same opportunities—depending on gender identity—just stuck in my gut and wouldn't let go. I've spent the past 15 years creating and supporting movements that advance girls' education, women's empowerment, and gender equality around the world."
Tara is an advocate for girls and women globally, a mom, a storyteller, and a life-long learner. Becoming a mother was the catalyst for her dedication to gender equality; read on for her thoughts on how we all can pave the road a bit smoother for the girls journeying after us.
The Small World is a not-for-profit charitable organization supporting locally-driven, sustainable community development projects. These projects provide not only education for children —especially young girls at risk from exploitation—but also remove traditional barriers to girls' education, create empowerment scenarios for local communities, and ultimately help to end deep-rooted cycles of poverty.
In Safiya Speaks Up, Safiya learns the difference between safe and unsafe touch and identifies three trustworthy adults in her life. The accompanying Mentor’s Guide provides additional information, context, and resources so that trusted adults can help girls understand Safiya’s story and how they can use the tools that Safiya used. This project was created, written, and illustrated by fellows between the ages of 15 and 21 across Malaysia, Kenya, the Philippines, and the United States.
“My key takeaway is legacy and the power of vision!” wrote Training Manager Emma Mogaka of her recent visit to our Ugandan partner Arlington Academy of Hope. Members of our programs team witnessed our partner’s work in action and led customized trainings in girl-centered design for the organization’s staff, as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights workshops for the girls.
Our partner Savana Kitui works with schools to create safe spaces for girls to mentor and address issues of gender-based violence, access to quality education, economic justice and rights, and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). They have done so by creating safe havens through the use of art, music, dance, and sports in order to build relationships with girls and address other more complex issues.
At She’s the First, we create opportunities for girls to tell their own stories. The Girl Gazette is a newsletter created entirely by girls representing organizations from our Partner Coalition.
“Mentors shared that they see transformation in the girls when they commence the program within a year. They reported that girls become more self-aware, more confident, and feel safe sharing their opinions and views.” Our Director of Programs & Impact Kate Kiama reflected on her recent visit to our long-time partner GLAMI in an update for our news site. GLAMI has benefited 11,400 Tanzanian girls to date through phenomenal four- and two-year life-skills and leadership training programs.
The Swahili word “Msichana” translates to “girl.” Our new partner Msichana Empowerment Kuria (MEK) is a women-led and girl-centric nonprofit organization that stands firmly behind the concept its name represents.
Recently, members of our programs team traveled to Migori County, Kenya, to learn more about this grassroots organization through talks with their program staff and the girls they serve.
A girl with an education is unstoppable—but barriers like gender discrimination, poverty, and exploitation prevent many girls from reaching graduation.
Our Youth Ambassadors created the Power of Poetry campaign to amplify girls' voices about this issue for National Poetry Month and the Global Week of Action for Education. Girls aged 11 to 22 from Afghanistan, India, Guatemala, Kenya, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, South Sudan, the U.K., and the U.S. submitted their work.
We’re proud to announce the 15 women-led organizations taking part in our Partner Coalition for the next three years! Through the She's the First Partner Coalition, we provide transformational funding and support to community-based organizations (we call them CBOs) serving girls in the Global South.
Our active cohort consists of 15 CBOs in 10 countries, engaging 9,475 girls across East and West Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. Together, we increase girls' agency and leadership through feminist mentorship programs.
“This week, I had the honor of representing She's the First at the White House for Women's History Month! The President, First Lady, Vice President, and the Second Gentleman gave speeches that underscored the importance of investing in the economic freedom of women and defended girls' and women's rights, especially over their bodies.”
At She’s the First, we believe in taking a girl-centered and anti-oppressive approach to all we do. Girls know their needs better than anyone, which is why we ethically include girls in our decision-making processes and in our program evaluation. To ensure that girls have a vote and a voice at the highest level within our organization, we reserve two seats on our Board of Directors for girls. Two girls are elected by their peers in the Girls Advisory Council to fill these roles.
Today is International Day of the Girl, a day recognized by the United Nations for the world to center girls' voices and needs. Right now, there's no need greater than ensuring that girls can make safe, informed choices about their relationships and bodies. Girls have a right to education about their health and bodies. Take action with She's the First today.
Our team has been hard at work creating a bold vision for the future of She's the First. We are thrilled to share the culmination of that effort: The Power Plan! This three-year strategic plan lays out our programmatic goals and the steps we'll take to get there.
The Ashesi chapter understands the power of being the first and what it means to advocate for girls globally: We aren’t just young leaders who continue to challenge the status quo on issues like gender, education, business, leadership and many more… Trailblazers seems more apt in describing ourselves.”
