Girl2Girl (G2G) Empowerment Movement is a Sierra Leonean based young-women’s organization that seeks to equip girls and young women with information, leadership skills and a platform to become advocates and change makers in their communities.
G2G works with vulnerable and at-risk girls and young women in slum areas in the Western Rural and Urban Districts of Sierra Leone. G2G emerged from a participatory study conducted by UK based NGO Foundation for Women’s Health Research and Development (FORWARD) and led by girls on the lived experiences of girls affected by teenage pregnancy in Freetown through Planned Parenthood Association of Sierra Leone. This process and the research findings empowered the peer researchers and participants to seek support from FORWARD to set up a programme to support other girls at risk in their affected communities.
G2G was registered as a non-governmental organization in 2013 with the Ministry of Social Welfare Gender and Children’s Affairs in Sierra Leone and has a membership of over 250 network girls and young women. This registration is done every two years to ensure the organisation complies with government legal requirements.
G2G’s aim is to improve the sexual reproductive health and rights of girls and young women and safeguard them from early pregnancy and gender-based violence including sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation (FGM) and child marriage.
Vision
Sierra Leone girls and young women are empowered and make informed choices free from gender- based violence.
Mission
G2G strives to equip, enable and empower girls and young women living in deprived communities facing multiple challenges in Sierra Leone to access leadership development, training and mentoring opportunities to help transform their lives;
- Equip girls with leadership skills and knowledge on sexual and reproductive health rights and related information, bodily autonomy, support services, and access to education and economic opportunities
- Empower girls and young to amplify their voices and lived experience in policy spaces to influence policy change on ending gender-based violence
- Enable a supportive ecosystem within communities and the family for girls and young women that safeguards their right to education, freedom from violence and teenage pregnancy.
Core Values of G2G Empowerment Movement
- Protection of the right of vulnerable girls and young women
- Commitment to gender equality
- Meaningful participation of girls and young women in all areas of G2G’s operation
- Accountability to girls and young women
- Transparency in all G2G does
In addition to the above G2G is guided by the following guiding principles:
We Believe:
- We can create a significant positive impact in the lives of individual girls, young women and their families by making them aware of the social norms and actions that negatively affect their lives and communities.
- All girls and young women have the right to a safe environment that nurtures their positive growth and development.
- Girls and young women are entitled to nurturing, supportive and loving relationships that promote their self-esteem.
- Support services for girls, young women and their families are best provided within the sexual and reproductive health framework.
- Girls, young women and their families deserve to be treated with dignity and respect in a caring and non-judgemental manner.
- The involvement of girls, young women and their families is essential in determining appropriate programs and services.
- In diversity and non-discrimination.