The GirlEngage Approach
Our unique development approach
GirlEngage is Plan International USA’s new approach to development, the first and only approach that’s letting girls become the drivers of the change they want and need in their lives. It is a strategy focused on adolescent girls ages 10-18 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.
Our work with the girls is collaborative. They are the experts in knowing how their lives are affected by inequality. We are the experts in facilitating the change they need. Together, fueled by our supporters like you, we make a powerful solution. We’ve seen what they face in their countries and come to them prepared with our toolbox of ideas, honed over years of experience and success.
GirlEngage supports girls as they safely transition into adulthood and create the futures they want for themselves. We ask questions, listen and co-create sustainable change based on their ideas. GirlEngage reflects the understanding that girls don’t experience life according to our program areas; their education might depend on their health, their family or the culture they live in. We might anticipate that they need toilets at school, but they might tell us that first, they need a way to get to school without being assaulted. They’re the experts just as much as we are.
At Plan, we believe that girls hold so much power within themselves. With GirlEngage, we act as the encouraging facilitator to help them see what they are capable of achieving.
So, how can GirlEngage unlock the potential of more girls around the world?
Without you, GirlEngage won’t be possible. And girls need this opportunity to be unlocked. Otherwise, more girls will be forced to quietly, maybe unknowingly, sacrifice their potential. And the communities in which they live will never progress toward supporting every child, regardless of gender, to have equal rights and equal opportunity to exercise those rights.
When you support GirlEngage, you’re creating a ripple effect. You help girls show their families how getting an education has changed their lives. You help boys see that girls are their equals, and that they can transform the way that girls and women are treated by boys and men. You make it possible for girls to reveal to their communities that they can thrive in unexpected ways and break gender norms. You create opportunities for girls to change the perspectives of their lawmakers, so that they can work together to design gender-inclusive policies.
Real change happens when girls realize the inner power that they were born with, regardless of the situations they were born into. When you use GirlEngage as a tool to help them trust their inner power, you change everything.
Right now, you have the chance to invest in girls. And your investment will create transformational change in all of our lives.
No matter how you give, giving to Plan is giving to girls. It’s all you have to do to show girls that they can change the world, and then watch them lead the charge.
