GIRLS
Our Approach
Girls around the world face barriers that boys often do not, that threaten their right to learn, lead and thrive. Through education, life skills, health and livelihoods opportunities, Street Child partners with girls and their communities to break cycles of poverty and injustice so that every girl can choose her own future.
Gender inequality begins in childhood and worsens in adolescence, and across regions and throughout crises girls face systemic disadvantages: early dropout, forced early marriage, health risks, violence and exploitation and exclusion from economic opportunity.
This leads to lifelong disadvantages: illiteracy, lower earnings, fewer leadership opportunities, shorter life expectancy and a limited voice in society.
We design holistic, girl-centered programs to create pathways not just for individual girls but for entire communities, working hand-in-hand with families, local NGOs and governments to reduce stigma, open doors and build sustainable impact. By investing in girls, we catalyze change in norms and systems.
Below are four pillars that guide our girls’ work worldwide:
When girls learn, everything changes. Each year of education can raise a woman's earnings by up to 25% and increases the likelihood that her children will also complete school. Educated girls marry later, earn more, have fewer children and lead healthier, more resilient families that disrupt cycles of intergenerational poverty.
We support girls to (re)enter public school, catch up to the right level for their grade through accelerated or remedial learning, and build foundational skills.
Economic independence gives women and adolescent girls the chance to stay in learning, delay marriage and childbirth, become entrepreneurs and shape their own futures.
We link education to economic opportunity, providing grants, business and financial literacy training and mentorship to women heads-of-household with out-of-school children so that they can afford education for their children. This program, called Family Business for Education, won a WISE Award in 2019.
We also run Technical & Vocational Education & Training programs and agribusiness, supporting participants to learn new, market-appropriate skills and building their capacity to access capital and the open market.
Good health and safety are prerequisites for learning and opportunity. When girls understand their bodies and the science behind staying healthy, have access to water, menstrual health and hygiene facilities and have support overcoming trauma they attend school more consistently, participate in civic life, access their rights and have bodily autonomy.
In Somaliland, training health workers in how to communicate the dangers of FGM combined with literacy classes for women reduced acceptance of FGM and increased maternal health service uptake by almost 50%. In Nepal, our training helped girls recognize the risks of forced marriage, and one girl was able to to avert a forced marriage during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Empowered girls become advocates, mentors and role models. Building voice and agency helps them challenge harmful norms, influence community decisions and pave the way for younger girls to thrive.
On our programs girls learn more than academics: they build negotiation skills, self-confidence, rights awareness, resilience and leadership.
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