Since the launch of the first pilot in Uganda in July 2017, G4G has grown by leaps and bounds in Africa — and there are active chapters in 6 countries including Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Niger, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The programme has reached over 400 mentors and 1,400 girls and young women.
In Uganda, Zambia, Niger and South Africa, not for profit organizations have been formally established and registered.
Discussions are ongoing to launch chapters in several other countries including Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Algeria and others.
Learn more about each country.
In Uganda, G4G has grown by leaps and bounds- over 20 cohorts covering girls in secondary schools like Namagunga College (117 girls) to Universities (Makerere University Business School), in professional associations such as Young Female Lawyers; Girls in STEM; young women working in Pharmacies and in Banks (Housing Finance Bank, DFCU), large corporates like HIMA (Lafarge), UMEME, Insurance Companies such as ICEA and UAP (Old Mutual); communities such as Concern for the Girl Child and young women living with HIV; and mixed groups of young women professionals.
The transformation has been immense. Young women gaining confidence to take action to change their lives and their communities including setting up not for profits to deal with challenging situations in their communities. Many young women have gained visibility at the workplace, promotions, negotiated increased salaries and job changes, and are taking board positions. Participating companies have evidenced increased productivity and the voice of young women.
In communities such as Concern for the Girl Child, for the first time in 8 years, no cases reported of drop out of school or early pregnancy among the girls.
In Kenya, G4G was piloted in a high-density area with 45 girls (13–18 years) participating in the programme. The girls started with very low confidence levels but by the end, they could express themselves confidently, and a number took up leadership positions at the school, whilst performance also improved. Over 20 mentors have been trained to expand the programme to many new sites in 2020 including university students and young female corporates.
Girls for Girls South Africa was launched in April 2019 and ran until September 2019 at the University of Johannesburg (UJ). Within the UJ cohort, we formed six circles which provided a safe space for the mentees to express themselves. We trained 32 mentors and graduated 30 young incredible girls ranging in age from eighteen to mid-twenties, all either studying towards their degrees or honors in various departments including social work, community development, law, psychology, education, commerce and accounting, to name a few. As 2020 looms closer, G4G South Africa hopes to launch seven brand new circles in partnership with foundations across the country.
In Zimbabwe, over 35 mentors were trained and a pilot started at Advent Hope School with 50 girls (15–17 years). The country has gone through hardships and turmoil and the girls lack many basics such as sanitary towels in addition to having low confidence. The programme continues to inspire young women in different high-density communities to thrive in spite of difficult conditions.
In Zambia, the programme was launched at the University of Zambia with 35 mentors trained and drawing in 20 young women from 3 different universities in Lusaka. This was followed by online training of mentors in various locations in satellite cities such as Kitwe and Copper Belt and a number of cohorts have been launched targeting girls living in communities outside the capital cities.
If you know others who might be interested in being a mentor or supporting G4G Africa in another way, please invite them to join the G4G community on Facebook, Instagram, and our email list to be among the first to hear about opportunities to get involved.
