The piece was originally published on Philanthropy News Digest.
By Rena Greifinger, Head of Experiential Philanthropy, PSI
“Girls are ready for a decade of acceleration forward. It is time for us all to stand accountable – with and for girls – and to invest in a future that believes in their agency, leadership and potential.”
– United Nations, on International Day of the Girl Child
When I gave birth to a baby girl nearly six years ago, I held her tiny four-pound body to my chest and whispered a mantra that my mother whispered to me as a child: “May you be happy. May you have peace. May you feel loved. And may you live a life of ease.” And then I added, “And may you be a badass feminist that breaks down barriers for girls everywhere.” We have shelves full of children’s books about women breaking down barriers. But they lack the language to describe why those barriers were there in the first place. It is not because no other girls could do those things before, but because the structures and systems in place did not allow them to try.
October 11, 2022 marks the 10-year anniversary of International Day of the Girl Child. A decade later, have we truly made any progress against structures and systems that have held girls back for centuries? In September the United Nations released a report highlighting the state of global gender equality which found that “without investment, gender equality will take nearly 300 years to achieve.” If current trends continue, there will be more girls living in poverty in sub-Saharan Africa in 2030 than there are today. Unsafe abortion is a preventable yet leading cause of maternal death. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade in the United States, and its reverberations across the globe, we may see more countries tightening restrictions on abortion, putting the lives of over a billion women and girls at further risk. The dismal projections span nearly every area of development, from education and employment to caregiving and climate. We are failing girls because the systems in place remain outdated, patriarchal, and deeply harmful.
What can be done?
With investment, we have the chance to accelerate progress for girls. As the leader of Maverick Collective by PSI, a community of women philanthropists making bold investments in health and reproductive rights around the world, I’ve seen the power that philanthropy has to catalyze change. While we need governments, corporations, and multilateral agencies to provide significant resources and influence, we also need the flexibility, agility, and ingenuity that often only individual philanthropy can provide.
On this International Day of the Girl Child, I urge you to consider investing in ways that ensure we break down barriers that stand in the way of girls living happy, safe lives filled with ease. Here’s how:
Let girls lead the way
Despite philanthropists’ good intentions, much funding for global girls’ health is wasted on ill-fitting strategies developed without a deep understanding of what girls want and need.
Invest in programs that not only serve girls but give them the power to co-design what programs look like and what impact means. My organization, Population Services International (PSI), a locally rooted, globally connected network, has embraced this approach, working with girls to improve their reproductive health by first understanding their dreams. We listen to them talk about their hopes for education, financial power, and, indeed, motherhood—and then we work together to co-design programs that introduce contraception as tools to achieve those dreams. In Ethiopia alone, this model, powered by individual philanthropy and scaled by the Ethiopian government, is on track to reach 500,000 girls by 2024.
Be flexible
Traditional grants often come with tight timelines, burdensome reporting requirements, and a mandate to “stick to the proposal.” This means that nonprofits often spend more time ensuring that a grant is executed to plan than they do uncovering real problems and designing effective solutions.
Providing flexible funding—with which grantees can surface root causes and solve for unexpected challenges, determine realistic timelines, and manage complex operating environments—leads to better programs and greater trust between donors and grantees.
When working with girls, the need for flexible funding is even more profound as we aim to let girls lead. Rather than donors calling the shots, we give program leaders and girls the power to choose what to do with philanthropic investments. Often this leads to initiatives that build capacity, spark movements, and work at the intersection of issues, demonstrating the inextricable linkages between issues most donors silo like health, education, economic empowerment, and gender equity.
Funding flexibly benefits the donor as well, as it provides them the opportunity to swap tight restrictions for unabashed learning and curiosity. It inherently shifts the center of power and leads to more authentic relationships with program leaders based on trust and mutual accountability.
Invest in men and boys
The investments in women and girls over the last 10 years have led to immense learning and substantial impact, but we are not making progress fast enough. All genders are hurt by colonialist, patriarchal systems. Investment is deeply needed in transforming the role of men and boys in society everywhere by dismantling widely held constructs of masculinity and redefining what it means to be a man. Until we do that, we will never achieve gender equity.
At Maverick Collective, we are making big bets on men and boys. Through several of our programs, including our new feminist fund, Maverick Portfolio, we are putting flexible capital into the hands of public health and feminist leaders to engage men and boys in the deep and important work of reimagining their own identities and championing the rights and the bodily autonomy of women and girls. We call on others to join us in this critical and highly under-resourced effort.
It’s time to give girls the power to design and determine the futures that they dream of, to fund with more flexibility and a learning mindset, and to invest in raising a generation of feminist boys that lift up girls—and one another—everywhere. That’s the mantra I’ve started using with my three-year old son, along with the books and the awkward attempts to describe systemic racism and misogyny. We need to see and hear from more men who are standing up, speaking out, and modeling a new form of masculinity, and a vision for gender equity. And then for goodness sake, write me a children’s book about it.
Rena Greifinger is an award-winning social entrepreneur, philanthropy leader, and advocate for women and girls. She leads individual philanthropy at Population Services International (PSI) and is managing director of Maverick Collective by PSI.
