She Leads, running from 2021 to 2025, was a consortium that brought together child rights organisations, feminist/women’s rights organisations, and girl and young women (GYW) led groups in a joint effort to increase the sustained influence of GYW on decision-making and the transformation of gender norms in formal and informal institutions. She Leads supported and equipped girls and young women to drive change in their countries and worked at the international level to drive policy change on girls’ and young women’s participation and to empower GYW to use international systems to advance their advocacy.
She Leads was organized and funded by Plan International Netherlands, Defence for Children/ECPAT – the Netherlands (DCI/ECPAT – Netherlands), African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), and Terre des Hommes (TdH) Netherlands, in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
This programme’s specific geographic focus was East Africa (Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya), West Africa (Ghana, Mali, Sierra Leone, and Liberia), and the Middle East (Lebanon and Jordan). The programme also targeted regional institutions, international human rights mechanisms, and other stakeholders, as well as facilitated girls’ and young women’s access to regional and international platforms.
Our Work
Objectives
The goal of the She Leads programme was to increase the sustained influence of girls and young women on decision-making and the transformation of gender norms in formal and informal institutions.
To attain this goal, the following three outcomes were achieved:
- Collective GYW action and activism in a gender-responsive civil society;
- Increased acceptance of positive social gender norms;
- Political institutions at all levels enabled the meaningful participation of GYW in decision-making.
Context-Specific
This programme was designed to be context-specific, as each country has different factors (such as the openness of the political system, available civic space, conflict and instability, the strength of civil society, and prevalence of harmful norms) that shape the different pathways for change. She Leads supported girl-led groups and local partners in creating their own agenda and making their own decisions on advocacy and strategy.
Guiding Principles of She Leads
She Leads operated under these guiding principles:
- Human Rights, Gender Equality and Social Justice are at the core of our work and our joint programme
- Inclusiveness, intersectionality and embracing diversity: non-discrimination and particular inclusion of those GYW who are usually marginalised in society
- Addressing power inequalities in the contexts we work in and within our consortium
- Voices of girls and young women are central to the She Leads programme, in design and implementation
- Respect for the autonomy of girl-led and youth-led organisations
- Self-care and collective well-being are key, as our social change work is demanding and takes its toll, especially on the young people involved
- Equal partnership at the different levels of our consortium
- Collective accountability and transparency to each other and to our donors
- Decentralized decision-making: sharing power and decision-making space, valuing each opinion, each person’s expertise, and each idea
- Each partner adds its unique value to our collaboration, no matter where we are based, how big or small our organisations are, whether we are adult- or GYW-led entities
Our Strategies
The increase in young women’s and girls’ involvement in civic spaces has helped to achieve global breakthroughs regarding gender equality.
She Leads championed GYW’s rights to freely express themselves, participate in public decision-making, and have their voices heard. To achieve this, the following six key strategies were put in place:
- Fund and resource girl-led/young feminist organising, collective action and activism
- Data-driven and evidence-based advocacy & research
- Catalyse the growth and strength of social movements and collective action for girls’ rights
- Media influencing & advocacy
- Advocate for girls’ access to international institutions and human rights mechanisms
- Capacity strengthening support and joint learning between civil society organisations (CSOs), girl-led groups and young feminist organisations
Nevertheless, there is still a long road ahead, since gender-based discrimination and age-related social norms deprive and limit civic spaces for girls and young women. Consequently, girls and young women experience restricted rights to move freely, express themselves, and participate in the public sphere. This exclusion is further exacerbated when girls and young women experience intersecting forms of discrimination. DCI is committed to our gender equality cross-cutting focus and continues to push for girls’ and young women’s rights and freedom in our projects and advocacy.