Shifting Power and Challenging Norms through GirlEngage, Niger

• In Event: Girls and Women Leading the Way: How Clubs Empower Changemakers

Proposal

The GirlEngage approach positions girls as active drivers of change in project design through meaningful and active participation, causing us to rethink activism through education. This approach was used to design a donor-funded project in Niger, through which girls are selecting program and training content, advising, generating and interpreting data, and representing the project with local authorities. The project trainings, tools, and activities enable adolescent girls to become active change agents in their communities, establishing a foundation for long term shifts in norms and behaviors and impacting existing power structures. This approach is based on three core pillars that enhance girls’ leadership and agency. Firstly, it challenges the status quo by requiring existing power-holders to change, share and shift power. The project places power in girls’ hands in several ways. Through project steering committees, composed of girls representing each target commune and region, girls manage the actions of the committee, coordinate and share experiences across communes, participate in cross-regional video chats, and interact with regional-level government and civil society stakeholders. In addition, members are trained and supported to carry out assessments that determine to what extent interventions are changing attitudes and norms and are positioned as leaders to make recommendations for more effective interventions. Secondly, the project builds long-term resilience by working to improve social connection, community and cultural belonging, self-confidence and efficacy, hope in the future and other factors. It assumes that girls who take an active role in programs are building critical skills and aptitudes, and that these cross-cutting competencies support overall development. The project is creating safe spaces in each target community, where adolescent girls can share ideas, learn new skills, and connect with peers. These safe spaces build girls’ agency and enable them to practice self-determination and confidence. Girls design and direct activities in these spaces, and are supported through consultation and training to influence how the safe spaces operate. SBCC activities are also conducted at these safe spaces which serve as a platform to engage girls for change to achieve the project’s objectives. Finally, the project is based on dynamic systems, or the complex interplay between individual, community, and societal factors. We recognize the importance of actively engaging fathers, mothers, brothers, and others. Gate keepers such as religious leaders, government bodies, and NGOs all have a role to play in shifting norms and prioritizing the girl child. Through collective action, the project is making progress on the high-level end goals of changing key stakeholders’ attitudes towards child marriage and increasing girls’ access to quality, safe basic education opportunities. Meanwhile, the program is linking girls to services across sectors that provide comprehensive support. Girls are participating in activities - from opportunities for activism and vocational skill building, to social connection and gender equity dialogues which challenge them to grow, transform, and develop. Through this presentation, participants will see how this project utilizes an approach that pushes boundaries, shifts power through girl-led activities, catalyzes change through education, and disrupts entrenched norms that undercut girls’ progress.

Author

• Meghan Mattern, Plan International USA