Look for youth exchange programmes and most likely what you’ll find are programmes for those in the Global North, or Global North-Global South exchanges. While of course there is value in these experiences, what is much less common is Global South-Global South exchanges.
In this blog, we use Global South to refer to countries which may previously have been referred to as ‘developing’ countries or those in the ‘Third World’. Global South to Global South exchange involves young women from Global South countries connecting with those from other Global South countries, with whom they share a huge amount in common with. This is as opposed to connecting with young people from the Global North (for example Europe or the United States) as would be the case in more common Global South-Global North exchanges.
One of the unique elements of our programming and one of the ways we are doing development differently is the Global South to Global South exchange it facilitates.
In recent weeks we have been bringing together groups from Haiti, Jordan, South Africa, India, and Cambodia to meet each other as part of our Blended Learning Leadership Initiative, and they have been sessions full of joy, learning, and excitement as the girls learn more about each other, their cultures, and themselves.
So what have we learnt about the power of Global South to Global South cultural exchange:
Our girls have much more in common than they realise, and meeting other girls from all over the world with experiences they can relate to makes them feel more powerful, more important, and more connected. Often girls in Global South countries may not be exposed to realities outside of their own, and what they do see may be of Western communities, e.g. on TV. Our girls may think they are the only ones dealing with some of the challenges they face (for example early marriage or access to education). Connecting with other girls who have similar experiences makes them feel less isolated and that they are not alone.
Our girls are learning about cultures and countries they might not even have known existed. We can all agree that exposure to different cultures is a positive and powerful thing. Our girls are having the opportunity to learn about places they might not even have known existed, from people who live and are from those places, and who they can strongly relate to.
Our girls are so inspired and excited by meeting each other and want to continue the connection. After meeting other girls as part of the programme, our girls always want to continue their connection, building a powerful sisterhood of girls all over the world.
Technology makes cross-cultural communication accessible to our girls in ways it never was before. Before, if we wanted to speak to someone in a language that wasn’t our own, we’d need to learn that language or spend a lot of time with a dictionary. Most of our girls do not speak English and there is no common language between multiple groups. Google Translate and other technology means our girls can communicate between Haitian Creole and Arabic, or Urdu and Khmer, opening up a whole new world of possibilities. What’s more, many of our girls have not experienced or used Google Translate before, so by introducing them to it we are giving them a powerful new tool to use to leverage their international networks.
Through all these experiences, our girls learn that they are not isolated, they are not alone, and there are women and girls like them all over the world working to make change. Isolation is a powerful tool for those in power seeking to exercise control and maintain the status quo. Our girls have the opportunity to see new realities from what they might have experienced so far, and see the potential and power of themselves and their sisters all over the world.
Seeing the impact of these interactions for our girls, we’d love to see more Global South to Global South exchange opportunities for girls and others, and are looking forward to seeing the change that the power of this connection can go on to make in our world.
Want to help us do this for more girls? Become a Global Changemaker and donate monthly. Or get in touch with info@globalgirlproject.org to talk about other ways you can support us.