Girls on Fire Leaders is an organization dedicated to teaching girls to lead innovative social change in their own communities.   We have the mindset that solving our biggest problems requires girls at the center and more emphasis on building communities of action, in which we are bonded to one another based on shared values and not by race or ethnicity or tribe.   We know education can be even more empowering with the explicit focus on teaching gender equality, leadership skills, social emotional learning and to build self-efficacy early through not only their personal development, but connection with their own communities.

In East Africa, where corruption, conflict, rape, disease and abuse are rife, Girls on Fire Leaders is taking the initiative and changing lives, one girl at a time.

We Train, Mentor And elevate the most vulnerable girls to solve such challenges and activate their community for support, In ORder to build resilience, empathy, leadership skills so they can navigate their own transition into adulthood safely, with confidence, dignity and purpose.

Why GIRLS EDUCATION is the key to solving the world’s greatest challenges? 

Yes, but it must be whole-child education. 

It has been well researched that girls' education brings high returns not just for income and economic growth, but in other crucial areas as well—including improving children’s and women's survival rates and health, reducing population growth, protecting children's rights and delaying child marriage, empowering women in the home and in the workplace, and  even improving climate change adaptation.

Too often our well intentioned charity creates dependence to foreign aid and we make the mistake of putting ourselves at the center of solving local problems, instead of the girls we serve. We deny them the opportunities or dignity to solve their own problems; redesign healthcare, create pathways to education, combat corruption, uplift families out of poverty and gain access to the personal freedom that it takes to lead a life of flourishing.   

So, Girls’ Education Is Simply Not Just About Books Or A Classroom, It’s About The Early And Focused Nurturing Of These Precious Resources, Girls, Within Communities Of Action That Will Drive The Social Change Needed For Human Dignity And Flourishing For All. 

MEET MAKESH

Due to Makesh’s training with Girls on Fire Leaders, she now teaches hundreds of girls weekly using Practice You, Girls On Fire principles, and meditation. True leaders are emerging through self-study and girl-led education.  She is showing us we don’t have to wait to see what the next generation will do. It’s all being done now!

We are disrupting the status quo, and as you can see with Makesh, the ripple effect is significant, averaging a 10X Multiplier.

 WHO IS A GIRL ON FIRE?

We believe every girl can learn to be a leader and is a Girl On Fire because our human, innate truth is love and service.  In selecting the limited spots for the program, we look for three things only: 

1. Is there a spark of self-belief and desire to see her community thrive?

2. Do we believe that her vision is able to fuel her for the long-run?  Can she build a team around her; that she can have the dedication, perseverance and grit, to do what it takes to fight corruption, bureaucracy, complacency, the status quo, now and in 10-30  years? 

3. Is she the most vulnerable, at-risk girl with very limited opportunities?

Girls on Fire Leaders are underserved 6-16 years old in primarily Kenya, living in Kibera and Mathare slums in Nairobi, 70% of whom are orphaned and/or victims of sexual violence and live with the realities of voilence, HIV, early-pregnancy, substance abuse and extreme poverty daily.   We also work with girls the same age from the major ethnic tribes in rural Kenya and Tanzania, whose major challenges for girls are FGM (female genetial mutalation), early child marriage, poverty and no access to quality education

How are Girls on Fire Creating The Next Generation of Leaders?  

Together with community partners since 2014, Girls on Fire has delivered seven camps in four ethnic regions of Kenya and Tanzania, serving over 1,000 girls and 2,000 community members trained to catalyze social change. 

The model is one of collaboration and interconnectedness… Communities of Action.

The solution is to build a movement of girls, co created, co-designed and co-led by girls, uniting their voices across tribal lines, and amplifying the push for a larger and lasting shift in social dynamics and policy.  

Girls on Fire runs year-round programming that  works with local partners delivery quality education, such as schools and requires participation from teachers, parents and the entire community, which they do through:

• Comprehensive Camps (2-3x per year)

• Monthly leadership workshops 

• Peer mentorship

• Leaders In Action - community projects

• School scholarships

• Innovation workshops (Design, systems and future thinking, STEM, as well as AI training)

• Boys’ workshops 

• Parent/ family workshops + home visits

• Reverse mentoring with the elders and matriarch storytelling workshops

 “All Great Things Start Small,” the Swahili proverb

We started with 23 small girls and have built a network of girl leaders (over 1,000) that have already had the following outcomes: 

Building agency and self-mastery through:

• Increased confidence, resiliency, regulations of emotions, decision making abilities, courage and being more visible within at school and within the community.

• More skills and sense of empowerment to own her own health, educational, life and family choices, even though societal norms are in place that keep her disempowered.

Higher performance in school and community service

• Improved grades overall

• Improved leadership skills and actively peer-mentor

• Indicators such as confidence, self-expression, teamwork have been significantly improved

• Advance skills for community organizing from idea to implementation.

Unlock global opportunities

• Keynote speakers at United Nations in Kenya 

• Ambassadors & speakers for major HIV/AIDS Health Conference

• Guests of honor at The Obama Foundation fellowship awards

• Summer camps in United States

• Six girls are attending high school in the U.S.

Girls On Fire Leaders graduates will:

• Actively contribute to local female leadership through community teaching, mentoring and organizing

• Be talent pipelines for global corporations

• Drive social change locally and/or globally levels

• Finish higher education to become a positive participant in global society.    

• Be job creators for youth

• Increase diversity and inclusion throughout different sectors. 

Educating a girl in urban slums means she will earn more and invest 90% of earnings in her family, becoming 3x less likely to contract HIV, and have fewer, healthier children who are more likely to reach adulthood (Erulkar, A., & Matheka, J. K. (2007), Adolescence in the Kibera Slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Population Council - The World Bank).

By 2030, we will nurture and empower 100,000 Girls On Fire Leaders and build a movement of global girl leaders with a thriving network of change-makers.

As we scale, we have the opportunity to significantly reduce poor health and well-being outcomes and gender-based violence, while simultaneously massively increasing social and economic mobility and community development from within the 1 million people living in Kibera Slum and the 1.5 million people living in the 3 other communities.  We plan grow our model in other countries outside of East Africa, including the United States, starting 2020 with a pilot projects.

We will do this by investing in early- adolescent girls to be the social change leaders in their communities and collaborating with women leaders to ensure we don’t have to wait for a generational turnover to witness a more just and equitable world.