Give to gain: empowering girls to lead and transform

What it takes to change systems for girls

World Vision Canada celebrates International Women’s Day 2026.

This year's theme— Give to Gain —is more than a slogan. It is a call to act with intention.

When we give girls access to education, protection, opportunity and voice, we gain stronger economies, healthier families, and more stable communities. Investing in girls is a strategic decision to reshape the systems that determine who is heard, who is safe and who gets to shape the future.

The returns are measurable and generational. When girls rise, communities rise with them.

The face of change

In Mozambique, the Every Girl Can project shows what that kind of change looks like in real life.

Implemented by World Vision Canada, World Vision Mozambique, HOPEM and Action Aid with support from Global Affairs Canada, the project worked across multiple systems and layers of community life:

• Partnered with health services and justice systems over five years
• Continued implementation through COVID 19, severe cyclones and other natural disasters, displacement and political instability
• Reached nearly 180,000 adolescent girls and young women
• Contributed to lasting shifts in confidence, opportunity, and community attitudes

Even in complex and fragile contexts, the project sustained momentum and demonstrated that systemic investment in girls creates durable change.

From skills to power

At the heart of Every Girl Can was a simple idea.

Skills alone are not enough if girls do not have the power to apply them. Girls who took part in savings groups, income generation and vocational training gained more than income. Many gained a voice in household decisions for the first time.

Parents and caregivers began to listen differently, seeing girls not only as dependents, but as contributors.

When change starts at home, it has a way of spreading.

• Did you know? In 2025, World Vision trained 49,893 women in business skills, financial literacy and income-generating activities. Download the World Vision Canada 2025 Annual Results Report to learn more.

Strengthening the systems around girls

The Every Girl Can project also focused on the systems girls rely on every day:

• Schools strengthened safeguarding measures and reporting pathways
• Health services became more accessible and trusted
• Justice reached closer to communities through mobile courts, helping survivors seek accountability where distance and stigma once stood in the way.

When more girls came forward to report violence, it was understood as progress. It showed growing awareness, trust and courage to speak out.

Hortência, a 19-year-old, faced the harsh realities of early marriage and pregnancy.

“Before the Every Girl Can project, I didn’t know anything about my rights,” Hortência shares. “If I had known what I learned in the Safe Spaces sessions—about my rights, early marriage and early pregnancies—I wouldn’t have gotten pregnant early.”

Through Every Girl Can, Hortência joined a sewing training program, which taught her valuable skills and encouraged her to return to school and pursue her dreams.

“Today, I am happy to know that I have the right to study,” Hortência says. “I dream of one day opening my tailor shop to produce clothes to sell, especially school uniforms.”

Hortência’s journey reflects the broader impact of Every Girl Can on young women across Nampula Province.

The project empowers girls to challenge harmful norms and build sustainable futures by equipping them with practical skills and knowledge.

Girls as leaders of community change

Girls themselves played a central role in shaping change.

Through clubs, safe spaces, and community action groups, girls led advocacy that helped bring new classrooms, clean water points, safer schools, and improved health services to their communities.

Thousands of girls developed leadership and communication skills, gaining the confidence to speak up and be heard.

When girls are supported to lead, communities listen. And when communities listen, they are transformed for the better.

• Championing girls in Mozambique: Meet Fusia and Julte. Two adolescent girls who became community leaders for gender equality through the Every Girl Can project.

Give to gain: a long-term commitment

As Canadians reflect on International Women’s Day, Every Girl Can offers two clear reminders that gender equality does not happen overnight and it does not happen by accident.

It takes long-term commitment, trust in local leadership, and the courage to invest in girls even in the hardest places.

This is what sustaining change looks like. When girls are seen not just as recipients of support, but as partners in shaping a more equal future, entire communities move forward with them.

Help make a difference

Girls all over the world are denied education. As a result:

• 119 million girls are out of school worldwide
• 12 million girls every year are married as children

Sponsoring a girl helps remove barriers to education. It builds long-term solutions that transform her community and give her opportunities to learn, grow and achieve her dreams.

Help girls rewrite their story. Help empower girls to raise their voice and live free from fear.

• Discover how sponsoring a girl through education helps them thrive
• Sponsor a girl today and provide a brighter future for her and her community