Girls’ Empowerment Program
“Empowering girls* requires their active inclusion in decision-making processes.” This sentence comes from the UN resolution of December 19, 2011, on the entry into force of International Girls* Day, which has been held on October 11 since 2012. Girls* have power. But due to external and internal resistance, they often cannot or are not allowed to develop and live out their full potential. The result: too many girls*, especially girls* with multiple discrimination, remain “invisible” – also in Germany.
Girls* should not remain invisible
The filia Girls’ Empowerment Program (MEP) aims to change this. Since 2012, we have been supporting targeted projects in Germany that enable girls* and young women* to manage responsibility and money, defend themselves against violence, learn and try out new skills, and take the lead with confidence.
Projects by and for girls* and young women*
All projects have something in common: we want to address especially to girls* and/or young women* who are disadvantaged for several reasons and offer them the opportunity to realize their projects. These are e.g. girls* and young women* who are disadvantaged in our society not only because they are female*, but also because they are e.g. Black, Jewish*, Muslim* or People of colour (PoC), because they have a migration background or belong to a faith community that is not or hardly recognized in Germany, also because their families do not come from Germany, they have a disability, or they are discriminated against because of their body or their sexual orientation, etc. A person to whom several of these characteristics apply is affected by multiple discrimination.
Through the project work, girls* and young women* learn, for example, what they can be capable of, what is their position in society, they learn about their rights, what they can achieve or what makes them more independent and free. They explore their own view of the world and express it with their own means and make themselves visible and audible.
Girls* and young women* decide
One demand of social movements is “Nothing about us without us.” – “Nothing about us should be decided without us.”
At filia, the Girls*’ Advisory Board helps decide on the funding of girls* projects. The girls* and young women* are experts* of their living environment and use their knowledge to select relevant, sustainable and empowering projects. Their selection is then discussed with the Foundation Board, which makes its decision on the recommendation of the Girls’ Advisory Council.
Awarded with the PHINEO-wirkt seal
The Girls’ Advisory Council was awarded the “PHINEO-wirkt seal“ in 2019. PHINEO’s “Bonding-Bridging-Linking Model” was used to test the Girls’ Advisory Council for its social impact. “Bonding” means building resilient ties within groups with similar characteristics, e.g., family background, social status, etc. Bonding works: Individuals learn to locate themselves, strengthen their own identity (which is often insecure for multi-discriminated people), and can learn to assert themselves in emotional and other emergencies.
At the same time, the Girls’ Advisory Council can locate itself on the “bridging” level. At this level, in particular, horizontal bonds are created between people and groups that differ in many characteristics. The advisory board members share the characteristic “read female”, but differ from other socio-economic characteristics such as origin, religion, gender, etc. “Bridging” can reduce prejudice and discrimination, promote resource exchange (material and immaterial) and network within society.
We offer girls*and young women* a platform
The Girls’ Empowerment Program aims to give visibility and voice to girls* and young women*: At events, interviews and public appearances (e.g. panels, talks, etc.), girls* of the advisory Council speak for themselves. This is the most effective way for them to represent their own perspective: For example, at the German Foundation Day, at the initiative “Trust-Power-Effect” or the German Association of Female* Engineers in 2019.
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Your Contact
You want to learn more about the Girls’ Empowerment Program? Contact us.
Nagihan Ulusoy
Program Coordinator to the GirlsEmpowermentProgramm
n.ulusoy@filia-frauenstiftung.de
+49 (0)40 380 381 9981
Current Projekts for Girls* and Young Women*
24/7 – a socio-pedagogical project for girls* and young women*
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Feminist Connect Junior – Self-Assertion for Girls* and Young Women*
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Deaf-Girl-Empowerment
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“Insight – What moves me
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urban girls
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The Anger Laboratory
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„Every woman* and every girl* can defend herself!“
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Aktuelle Projekte für Mädchen* und junge Frauen*
24/7 – a socio-pedagogical project for girls* and young women*
Cooperation projekt between Landesverband für Kriminalprävention, Rückenwind e.V., JFZ Gardelegen e.V. and VSB Magdeburg e.V.
Place: Magdeburg
The aim of the project is to enable girls* and young women* to master their everyday lives independently and without punishment after they have left juvenile detention. On six workshop days in the youth detention center, the topics chosen by the participants are artistically developed with the help of different methods. The artistic results are presented to the public in an exhibition with the involvement of the participants. The participants should be strengthened in their self-efficacy and be able to work on topics that are relevant to them. The primary goal is the prevention of further crimes and the strengthening of personalities.
Deaf-Girl-Empowerment
Organisation: Interkulturelles Institut für Inklusion e.V. (I.I.I.e.V.)
Place: Köln
Deaf Girl Empowerment is a thoroughly accessible weekend seminar for Deaf girls* and young women*. In this they will become independent and will do yoga classes, relaxation and empowerment together with Deaf leaders*. What is special about this is that the whole weekend will take place in German sign language, providing the ultimate safe space for Deaf girls* and young women* of all backgrounds, sexual orientations and religions! A unique project in Germany.
urban girls
Organisation: djo-Deutsche Jugend in Europa LV Sachsen -Anhalt e.V.
Place: Halle
The project “Urban Girls” includes a graffiti workshop, a hip-hop dance workshop and a screen printing workshop. We offer a protected, multilingual framework in which girls* and young women* with and without a migration background can develop artistically.
Through the workshops, they not only learn various crafts through which they can give form to their ideas, but also gain self-confidence in themselves and their abilities.
„Every woman* and every girl* can defend herself!“
Place: Frankfurt am Main
In the project, a kind of generational transfer to younger newly trained, multi-discriminated female trainers* is to take place. The impulse project of 2018 “Every girl can defend herself”, which was also already funded by filia, was expanded and included by filia in the multi-year funding. What do “Women on the Move want to implement in the next three years?
1. empowerment martial arts and self-defense courses are to be expanded especially for multi-discriminated girls* and young women* who cannot afford the monthly fee. Offerings for young girls* (ages 4-6) are to be created and new locations opened.
2. empowerment courses focusing on racial violence and anti-Muslim racism to be developed.
3. girls’ trainers* are to be further trained (mentoring, coaching, dealing with physically disabled girls*).
Feminist Connect Junior – Self-Assertion for Girls* and Young Women*
Organisation: Bündnis Feminist Resist – das kooperativ e.V.
Place: Hamburg
A week of summer school for refugee and migrant girls* and children of refugee and migrant women* who, not far from their mothers*, can be together, learn, try things out and discover, share and develop their own skills under guidance and in mutual exchange. In addition, there is a lot of fun, delicious food and time to be a child. Together with refugee and migrant girls*, with black girls* and girls* of color, a space is to be built where they can feel strong, learn and try things out and strengthen their self-confidence.
“Insight – What moves me”
Organisation: Arca-Afrikanisches Bildungszentrum e.V.
Place: Hamburg
“Insight” will be a photography course for girls* aged 14 and older. In the adolescent phase, the topics of identity and body, self-image and image of others play a drastic and special role. Portrait and selfie photography (for example) can help to see one’s own body, one’s own face in a different light and in a different form and that helps to deal with one’s own appearance and identity. It is our motivation to give girls* the opportunity and the safe space to deal productively with their bodies and the images of it and to have the experience of seeing themselves from a different, positive perspective and to realize that they do not have to passively surrender to the discrepancy between self-perception and the perception of others. In comparison to these media “ideals,” girls* and young women* focus on their own self-identified “unattractiveness.” Selected images will then be exhibited for two weeks.
The Anger Laboratory
Organisation: ABC Bildungszentrum Hüll e.V.
Place: Drochtersen
The Anger Laboratory is a dance and film workshop for girls* and young women* between the ages of 16 and 27 on the topic of anger. We ask ourselves questions like: “Do I dare to let my anger out? What does anger have to do with setting boundaries? What is political about anger? Why is anger a frowned upon emotion, especially for girls* and women*?”
We will engage in dance with the physical expressions of hitting and yelling and find a cinematic format to document our physical actions. We want to get to know our own anger better, accept it and let it out and set an empowering process in motion that allows us to be angry – without shame and guilt.
