Systemic barriers continue to prevent girls from completing their education, including child marriage, poverty, conflict, discrimination, and shrinking education budgets. After more than a decade leading the global movement for girls’ education, it has become clear that no single program can overcome these interconnected challenges. Real change requires systemic solutions—laws, budgets, financing systems, and global and national frameworks that protect girls’ right to education for generations.
Young women are uniquely positioned to drive this change. Experience has shown that investing in them yields bold, sustainable, and scalable solutions, especially in the most challenging contexts. Young women understand the systems blocking girls from finishing school and have the networks, expertise, and determination to transform them.
Through its 2025–2030 strategy, the organization is directing grantmaking toward where it can be most catalytic: backing young women-led organizations with sustained, flexible support that helps move their solutions into policy, budgets, and implementation. Sixty-six percent of the new Education Champion Network funding—over $3 million—was directed to young women-led organizations, signaling that this approach is central to the strategy, not a side initiative.
In Nigeria, where 30% of young women marry before 18 and rates exceed 50% in some regions, youth-led organizations are addressing child marriage through education-linked strategies. Partners like Education as a Vaccine, Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All, YouthHub Africa, and Onelife Initiative support state implementation of the National Strategy to End Child Marriage, generate evidence to design realistic school re-entry pathways, keep education central in policy discussions, and advocate for funding and accountability to ensure measurable results. Scaling community education programs for unmarried adolescent girls in northern Nigeria could reduce child marriage by two-thirds within four years.
In Pakistan, fear of sexual harassment keeps many girls from attending school. Young women working with the partner Bedari have successfully lobbied policymakers in Punjab to establish anti-harassment committees in public schools. While policy adoption is an important step, ongoing implementation—resourcing, training, oversight, and reporting—is critical to ensure these measures effectively protect students.
In Brazil, menstrual poverty affects nearly half of Black girls from low-income families, contributing to school dropout. Young women-led Associação de Jovens Engajamundo implements menstrual dignity policies directly in schools, training students on their rights and supporting peer-led solutions. These student-designed proposals are elevated to policymakers, creating pathways to scale practical, locally relevant solutions. With a strong volunteer network across high-dropout regions, Engajamundo mobilizes communities to take action for girls’ education.
Evidence shows that policies co-designed with young people are more likely to gain community support and be implemented effectively. While co-design is the starting point, the full impact depends on decision-makers advancing these youth-designed solutions through law, predictable financing, and public accountability. Young women leaders are essential to achieving systemic change and ensuring all girls complete 12 years of education, and they are already building the solutions that work. Implementation is the critical next step.
