The Get #GirlConnected screening and panel discussion on gender biases was truly a global conversation. Audience members hailed from every corner of the globe: Haiti, India, Kenya, Israel, Guatemala, Canada, Cote d’Ivoire, and major cities around the US. Classrooms in Colorado and Virginia, domestic non-profit organizations working with at-risk youth and victims of sexual exploitation, […]

Name: Jimmy Age: 15 Hometown: Pucallpa, Peru Occupation: Student How did the Now is the Time Campaign change you? “The Campaign changed the way I saw youth rights. Watching films like Daughters of the Forest and Girl Connected I learned there were adolescents like me all around the world, facing teen pregnancy situations, because they […]

Name: Miguel Age: 15 Hometown: Pucallpa, Peru Occupation: Student, youth leader, radio host, singer How did the Now is the Time Campaign change you? “I had the chance to participate as host in the Radio Program Familiando. I did not only learn new technical skills…Familiando taught me tons of skills and changed me in a […]

Women and Girls Lead Global is excited to announce our new blog series, Faces of Change. The Faces of Change campaign is a window into the lives of the community members we have worked with on the ground, who work to promote gender equality. During our five years reducing gender-based violence in India and Jordan; improving […]

A young teenager appears on LTL’s music video and smiles. He’s surrounded by friends while holding a rubik’s cube. He looks happy, which is fitting because the title of the video is Pasala Bien, meaning, ‘Have Fun’. The song starts, but after the first verse we quickly realize this music video isn’t your average pop song […]

Thank you for an empowering #GirlConnected screening and panel! We are inspired by our thoughtful conversation on how gender stereotypes constrain girls’ and women’s potential, and how we as a global community can support girls to transcend them. If you didn’t get the chance to watch the Girl Connected film it is available for free online, along with the Girl Connected […]

For many years, Peru BIRF in Juliaca, an industrial city in the Andes region of Peru, had a reputation as a ‘bad’ school. Every morning, as classes were getting underway at BIRF (which stands for Banco Internacional de Reconstrucción y Fomento), a van rolled slowly around the neighborhood, looking for kids skipping school. Some of […]

As in many places around the world, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) is a complicated issue in Peru. In a 2013 report, 61.3% of Peruvian women aged 20-24 reported giving birth between the ages of 15 and 18. Lack of awareness about sexual and reproductive health is a key factor shaping this scenario, as well as communication barriers between teenagers and their parents and teachers. WGLG Peru has been working to break this cycle by ensuring that communities with low access to information about SRH don’t slip through the cracks.

In this blog series, Koen shares some of his experiences from the making of Girl Connected. In his visit to Peru, Koen meets Josi, a youth activist and reproductive rights advocate from the Amazon. Koen recalls, “Josi proved to me that it isn’t necessary to be outgoing in order to be passionate. You just have to believe strongly in what you are talking about, and then the words will come by themselves.”

Josi, Michelle, Ghazal, Latifa, and Ayesha live thousands of miles apart, but the five young women are connected by a single  mission: improving the lives of other girls in their communities. In Women and Girls Lead Global’s new film made by Koen Suidgeest, Girl Connected, we meet young women from Peru, Kenya, Jordan, Bangladesh and […]