Before International Day of the Girl Child, Jules Lynch, founder and CEO of Global Girl Project challenges the charity sector to move beyond survival and start investing in the leadership of girls from the Global Majority.
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As we look ahead to mark the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October, I return to one question: what if we started funding power? Not as a slogan, but as a genuine reimagining of how our sector values the lives of girls in the Global Majority.

At Global Girl Project, we have spent over a decade working with grassroots partners to mobilise marginalised girls from the Global Majority for social change. We have shared their stories, applied for grants, and spoken with funders. And yet, one uncomfortable truth continues to surface: we are working against entrenched systems of colonialism and white supremacy that dictate whose lives are seen as valuable. Too often, the life of a Black or Brown girl in the Global Majority is still considered worth less than her peers in the Global Minority.

If you want to know what we value, look at what we fund. Globally, resources flow towards survival: clean water, period products, school access, nutrition. These are essential, and their importance cannot be overstated. But for many girls, support ends there. We ensure they can survive, but rarely invest in their ability to thrive, to stand in their power.

At Global Girl Project, our work begins where others often stop. We believe girls deserve more than survival. They deserve leadership, autonomy, and voice. They have the right to self-determination, to step into their power, and to shape their communities. But when girls in the Global Majority begin to exercise leadership, they disrupt systems never designed for them to thrive. And therein lies the discomfort: resourcing their power means challenging inequitable and profitable global structures.

For charities and funders, this is not simply about designing new programmes. It is about revaluing lives. It requires a sector-wide commitment to trust in the leadership of girls and back them with sustained investment. It means moving beyond short-term, needs-based interventions to long-term, transformative approaches that position girls as leaders, not beneficiaries.

So, what would it look like if we started funding power? It might look like resourcing local, girl-led organisations too often overlooked by traditional philanthropy simply because they are small or based in the Global Majority. It might look like unrestricted, flexible funding that enables girls and their communities to set their own priorities rather than having them imposed by donors. It might look like donors shifting from measuring outputs such as workshops delivered to valuing deeper, systemic outcomes like shifts in gender norms, increased confidence, or the emergence of young women leaders who influence policy. Most importantly, it would look like a sector willing to trust that girls themselves know what they need and how to achieve it.

This is a call to action for the wider charity sector. The challenge is not whether girls in the Global Majority have potential because they always have. The real question is whether we, as a sector, are ready to dismantle outdated funding hierarchies that continue to create power imbalances that keep those that are white and in the Global Minority in power and benefiting from the imposed powerlessness of girls in the Global Majority.

Charities must advocate for funding models that prioritise equity, donors must be willing to take risks on new ways of working, and sector leaders must champion a future where investing in girls’ leadership is central to social change.

Let us commit not only to celebrating girls, but to funding their power. Because survival is not enough. Every girl has the right to live fully, to lead boldly, and to be valued equally.

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