Power within: Girls can lead community transformation

By Francesca Olusola, Grant Manager, World Vision Canada and Adeyinka Onabolu, Technical Specialist, Protection, Gender and Inclusion, World Vision Canada

Ludmila takes a stand against gender-based violence

At 15 years old, Ludmila refused to look away from the painful reality of high rates of sexual and gender-based violence in her community. She knew she wanted to speak out, but first, she needed the right knowledge and tools to make her voice count.

That determination led Ludmilla to join the Every Girl Can (EGC) project’s Adolescent Steering Committee (ASC), where she received training, gained confidence and understood how she could move her newfound knowledge to action.

Since then, Ludmila has become a force for change. She says that one of her most fulfilling experiences was supporting a girl who had dropped out of school due to an early pregnancy. She helped her return to her studies. That moment reaffirmed Ludmilla’s resolve to keep advocating against gender-based violence. Now, Ludmilla is helping reduce violence, early marriages and teenage pregnancies in her community.

Overcoming barriers to gender equality

In many low- and middle-income countries, girls like those in Ludmila’s community face serious challenges such as early marriage, unsafe sexual practices, gender-based violence, exploitation and limited opportunities. Deeply rooted cultural and social norms often silence adolescent girls and young women, preventing them from participating in decisions that affect their own lives, even though their rights are protected by international, regional and national laws.

Harmful gender norms undervalue girls' and women's capabilities and rights, restricting their choices, opportunities, autonomy, mobility and access to information and services. Yet we know that when adolescent girls build their agency, voice and power, they develop confidence to challenge those norms and advocate for their rights and for gender equality.

When girls lead, communities change

In EGC, girls leading change is not aspirational; it’s by design. The project recognizes girls and young women as a formidable force for change and therefore ensures that they are supported and heard. One of the ways the project achieves this is through its Adolescent Steering Committee (ASC), comprising 16 girls and nine boys between the ages of 12 and 19, including a girl with a disability.

Far from being symbolic, the ASC ensures that the voices and interests of adolescent girls and young women inform and shape EGC’s interventions. Girls in the ASC have also become advocates for gender equality in their communities.

Girls’ leadership in action: Demanding accountability

Working alongside program staff, women’s rights organizations (WROs), government departments and local leaders, girls on the ASC have led 498 community dialogue sessions, within their communities.

These sessions address difficult topics like early marriage, initiation rites, adolescent reproductive health and offer referrals to a variety of supportive services.

Besides confronting harmful aspects of initiation rites linked to sexual violence, early marriage and female genital cutting, the girls are demanding accountability on cases of school-based sexual violence and harassment. By spotlighting these issues, they are advocating for stronger, more responsive systems that protect them and their peers.

Building climate-resilient communities

The leadership demonstrated by members of the ASC extends beyond promoting gender equality to engagement with local leaders for inclusion in community decision-making and climate resilience.

Together with local leaders and government officials, ASC members have co-created 74 emergency preparedness plans that help mitigate the impact of natural disasters.

These plans include actions such as mapping alternative evacuation routes, training members in risk control and mitigation measures and coordinating with district authorities to ensure a rapid and organized response to extreme weather events.

The ASC is ensuring that communities are safer, stronger and better prepared for emergencies. During Mozambique’s last cyclone, these plans served as reference points for emergency response, evidence that when girls lead, everyone benefits.

Gender equality is here, now

Promoting girls' leadership is not without challenges. The ASC faced resistance and hesitation among community leaders. However, with persistence and continued dialogue, a shift has occurred, accompanied by an increasing number of supportive community platforms that promote girls' leadership and empowerment.

Groups like the EGC ASC are a testament to this year’s International Day of the Girl Child theme: when girls are given the platform, tools and trust to lead, they transform not only their own lives but their communities.

Their accomplishments remind us that gender equality is not a distant dream; it is already here.

Every Girl Can is a five-year project (2021–2026) in Mozambique. It aims to help girls and young women, aged 8 to 24, live free from gender-based violence and discrimination. The project promotes gender equality and women’s rights by working closely with local communities, government and civil society. It is funded by Global Affairs Canada and carried out with partners like ActionAid and HOPEM.