Girl Rising

Girl Rising is a global nonprofit dedicated to advancing girls' education, leadership, and gender equality by equipping girls with the knowledge, confidence, and opportunities to shape their own futures. Founded through the award-winning Girl Rising film movement, the organisation uses storytelling as a catalyst for social change, combining education, leadership development, and community engagement to challenge harmful gender norms and expand opportunities for adolescent girls.

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Today, Girl Rising works across multiple countries through partnerships with governments, schools, educators, grassroots organisations, and communities. Its programmes are designed to strengthen life skills, social-emotional learning, leadership, financial and digital literacy, while creating environments where girls are respected, heard, and empowered to thrive. Following its merger with She's the First, the organisation has expanded its work to place girls at the centre of programme design and decision-making while supporting community-led solutions that create lasting systemic change.

Major Areas of Work

• Girls' Education: Improving access to quality education and supporting girls to complete secondary education.
• Gender Equality: Challenging gender stereotypes and promoting equitable opportunities for girls and young women.
• Leadership Development: Building leadership, confidence, self-advocacy, and decision-making skills among adolescent girls.
• Social-Emotional Learning: Strengthening resilience, critical thinking, communication, and wellbeing through learner-centred programmes.
• Community & School Engagement: Working with educators, families, governments, and community organisations to create supportive environments for girls.
• Storytelling for Social Change: Using films, multimedia resources, and creative storytelling to inspire conversations around education, equality, and girls' rights.

Major Initiatives & Programmes

• RISE Education Programme: A school-based curriculum that develops life skills, digital literacy, financial literacy, storytelling, and gender-equitable attitudes among adolescents.
• Girls Leadership Programmes: Leadership councils, fellowships, and chapters that help girls develop leadership skills while influencing programmes and organisational decisions.
• Girls First Institute: Resources and capacity-building initiatives supporting organisations that work alongside adolescent girls.
• Girl Rising Films & Educational Resources: Award-winning films, comics, discussion guides, and learning materials that promote empathy, education, and gender equality.
• Government & Community Partnerships: Collaborations with schools, local governments, and grassroots organisations to deliver locally relevant education programmes.

Impact

• Reached more than 3 million young people through education and leadership programmes.
• Supported over 55,000 educators and mentors worldwide.
• Collaborated with more than 1,300 community-based organisations.
• Operates sustained programmes across India, Kenya, Guatemala, and the United States while partnering with organisations in additional countries.
• In India, the RISE programme reaches approximately 2 million students through school-based and online learning initiatives.
• Programme evaluations have shown improvements in girls' aspirations for higher education, digital literacy, educator attitudes toward gender equality, and student confidence.

Girl Rising offers professionals the opportunity to work at the intersection of education, gender equality, youth leadership, storytelling, and systems change. Team members collaborate with educators, governments, community organisations, researchers, and young leaders to design evidence-based programmes that empower girls and transform learning environments.

Girl Rising is well suited for professionals passionate about girls' education, youth development, gender justice, social-emotional learning, education policy, and creating long-term social change through community partnerships and innovative educational programmes.