Lately, I have found myself asking this question more and more - not just as a provocation, but as a reflection of the very real barriers we face at Global Girl Project.
We have been doing the rounds: speaking with funders, applying for grants, sharing the stories of the girls we work with. But something has become increasingly clear to me over the past few months - something that feels both deeply uncomfortable and undeniably true.
At its core, our biggest challenge is this: we are up against centuries of colonialism and white supremacy. Systems that have dictated, generation after generation, which lives hold value and which do not. And those systems have taught the world that the life of a Black or Brown girl in the Global Majority is worth less than that of a white girl in the Global Minority.
We do not like to admit this. We like to believe we have moved beyond it. But if you want to know what we value, look at what we are willing to fund.
Globally, we’re willing to fund survival. Period poverty initiatives. School access. Clean water. Nutritious food. These things are absolutely vital. But that’s often where the support ends. Once basic needs are met, the conversation tends to stop.
But our work doesn’t stop there.
At Global Girl Project, we are not only saying that girls deserve to survive - we are saying they deserve to lead. That they have the right to self-determination. To autonomy. To step into their power. To use their voices and be heard. To shape their own futures and their communities.
And that’s where things get hard. Because when girls from the Global Majority start to recognise their voice, their power, and their right to lead, that disrupts the systems that were never built for them to thrive in. It challenges the very foundation of colonial, white supremacist structures that still govern our global imagination.
Yet, that is exactly what we do. With our grassroots partners, we are creating space for girls to grow, speak, and lead. We are telling girls who have been told they don’t matter that they do. That their lives are not just about endurance - they are about expansion. That they were never meant to just survive — they were meant to live fully, loudly, and freely.
This is not just about programmes. It is about recognising the full and equal value of every girl’s life - not just in word, but in where we choose to invest our money, trust, and belief.
