How to Give Back on International Day of the Girl.

“When you education a girl, you educate a family, a community, a country.”

— Michelle Obama

Happy International Day of the Girl! This day was created by the United Nations to highlight the successes and challenges that girls face as well as to plan how to scale the hurdles ahead. This annual initiative was launched to support and empower young women across the globe with the 2018 theme focused on helping girls overcome adversity.

The 2018 campaign marks the beginning of a year-long effort to advocate female entrepreneurship and provide young women around the world with the tools they need to carve their own professional paths.

Here are several ways to get involved and help girls rise today and every day:

Join the Global Girls Alliance.
The Global Girls Alliance program was announced this morning on the TODAY show at Rockefeller Plaza and I am so grateful to have witnessed it in person thanks to Always! The Obama Foundation initiative aims to support more than 1,500 grassroots organizations to give adolescent girls around the world the opportunities and access to the education they deserve. The website reads, “Today, more than 98 million adolescent girls around the world are not in school. That’s a lot of empty desks—and a lot of dreams that are being cut short. When girls get the opportunities they deserve, amazing things start to happen; poverty goes down, economies grow, families get stronger, and babies are born healthier. And the world, by all accounts, gets better. Join the Global Girls Alliance to take action to help adolescent girls and the grassroots leaders working to educate them.”
Support measures that drive change.
Register to vote and stand up to make sure that your state is passing laws that support women. This isn’t about men versus women - when we achieve gender equality, everyone wins. Not sure how to register or get started in the process? Head to this article for your state’s deadlines. Your voice and vote matter!
Put your dollars to work by supporting brands and companies that put girls first.
One of my favorite consumer goods brands is Always. For more than three decades, they’ve taken action to empower girls worldwide by educating millions about puberty and their cycle, so they can feel their most confident. I mean, have you seen their #LikeaGirl campaign? Always has partnered with over 30 organizations that serve girls in need around the world, with their programs reaching over 45 countries and delivering over 70 million pads to girls who need them most. When I shop, I keep an eye out for brands like Always because I can feel confident knowing that my purchase is going towards a brand whose values I align with.
VOLUNTEER WITH AND DONATE TO ORGS THAT HELP GIRLS AND WOMEN.
Every day, girls around the world face unbelievable hurdles. But our support helps her build a bright tomorrow. One great organization that will help you to sponsor a girl is Children International, a global nonprofit humanitarian organization that helps children break the cycle of poverty. The organization understands that one girl’s education can transform a life and spark lasting change within a community. Through Children International sponsorship and gender equality efforts, girls are given resources and opportunities to defeat poverty and gender inequality through Children International’s programs and activities. With one-to-one support, a girl can develop the confidence, courage and life skills she neds to become greater than poverty. Other amazing organizations that support women and girls include:
- Dress for Success - This international not-for-profit organization’s mission is, “to empower women to achieve economic independence by providing a network of support, professional attire and the development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.” Whether you’re looking to donate clothes, support the organization financially, or get involved as a volunteer, there is likely a local affiliate near you.
- Girls Not Brides - The organization is a global partnership of more than 1,000 civil society organizations from over 95 countries committed to ending child marriage. Their website reads, “We share the conviction that every girl has the right to lead the life that she chooses and that, by ending child marriage, we can achieve a safer, healthier and more prosperous future for all.”
- National Womens Law Center - The center has worked for more than a whopping 40 years to protect and promote equality and opportunity for women and families. the NWLC champions policies and laws that help women and girls achieve their potential at every stage of their lives!
- NightLight International - NightLight operates as a 501c3 non-profit organization in the United States that provides assistance and intervention to both national and international victims to women who have come out of prostitution or trafficking in Thailand, or who have been at risk of prostitution or trafficking. The organization is “compelled by love to reach out to, rescue, and restore all those who are negatively impacted by sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation.”