I Am A Girl Barbados

We are in a developmental phase of the organisation and require more support in building out our operational capacity.

We recognised that is it important to fill the gaps to sustain this work in a meaningful way, especially since many of our team, including myself, have experienced:

1.     battling burn out and mental fatigue from the amount of time and energy required to create impact within a small dedicated human resource unit that is stretched; and,

2.     living way below our means, as a sacrifice, due to the inability to adequately compensate for time, energy, and skillsets.

Our strategic use of the funds is to help the organisation solve some of the internal challenges being faced, and as such the funds will go towards the following:

1.     Pay myself and the team, moving some volunteers to staff.

2.     Improve operations and systems to better support core staff and volunteers.

3.     Invest in strategic development and capacity building for self and team members.

This strategy aligns with one of our guiding principles that when we are strongest, our impact and results will be more resilient.

I believe that the journey of my life and career has prepared me to fulfil my purpose.

As a young girl, I never felt good or worthy enough when living in poverty, neglect, and abuse, but, with the right development, exposure, and through volunteering with the differently abled, I thrived past that adversity.

I established I Am A Girl knowing that I had similar challenges that girls continue to go through. I know what it takes to succeed despite it.

That led me to transition from a lucrative career in the United Nations to take up this cause at the grass roots level. I want to use my professional skills and childhood challenges for a higher purpose.

I envision a world where all girls feel powerful enough to make good decisions, proud enough to own their self-confidence and protected enough to fulfil their potential, regardless of any adversity they may face, and do it for and with them.

Today, as a wife, mother, non-profit leader, and business professional, I am striving to reach my potential across the various roles of my life while fulfilling my life’s purpose of shaping a better, more equitable world for those who are most vulnerable.

We are solving poverty and gender inequalities, which perpetuate violence, abuse and neglect and results in, e.g., self harm, teen pregnancy and crime.

Globally, 1 in 3 girls and women experience some form of violence within their lifetime. Locally and regionally, there’s an increase due to the pandemic.

According to an April 2021 Central Bank of Barbados report, more than 1 in every 10 persons in our active labour force is unemployed, with our current unemployment rate at 13.6%, primarily being single mother households.

According to UNICEF, 70% of children are living in poverty in Barbados vs. 1 in 3 in the region.

Generally, we offer 4 core services:

1.     Capacity Building–educational intervention, in the form of seminars, workshops, webinars, and conferences, in traditional and non-traditional areas, as well as tangible capacity in the form of monthly food vouchers, job opportunities, financial wellness, and educational grants.

2.     Mentorship–role models among peer (peer leadership) and positive adults that advise, support emotionally and motivate.

3.     Community Development–support to stakeholders and key social partners (parents, community leaders and educators) who have a direct impact on girls.

4.     Advocacy–campaign, data collection and awareness building to society, stakeholders, and policy makers.

We are the sole and primary entity in Barbados and across many Caribbean islands that caters to girls, as young as 5-years old, and with a girl-led and girl-centred approach to programming and safe-space development.

Our 5 key approaches that make us unique and disruptive include:

1.     Having a peer-to-peer model built into programming, that actively engages the leadership abilities of girls from a very young age.

2.     We work with and for girls, because this collaboration emphasises the fact that this work should not be done without girls at the centre of all steps towards their development.

3.     Our combination of creative expression and drama-therapy in programming is not executed, to our knowledge, within the Caribbean, and our proven results tells us that many other girls, with our support, could benefit tremendously.

4.     As the sole grass-roots entity working in real time to engage, empower and enhance our beneficiaries, our team also represents the girls we serve, from one of our first hires being a girl from our programmes, for example.

5.     Our methodology for capturing data during programming, to inform our advocacy, has also uncovered the mental well-being and tangible needs of girls through a feminist story-telling technique.

Steps taken towards impact:

1.     Implement outreach efforts within schools, communities, and through visibility.

2.     Ensuring that needs assessments are done periodically, so our solutions are informed.

3.     Connect with girls on an individual and more personal level.

4.     With all teachings, coaching and mentorship, challenge old mindsets and beliefs (generational patterns, self-belief, leadership and digital capacity, career and entrepreneurial thinking, financial awareness, and investment frameworks)

5.     Implement progress assessments.

How are we having an impact:

1.     By building girl leadership with our philosophy ‘Reach One, Teach One’ to more than 1500 girls.

2.     Through an inclusive component, where girls are partners from idea design to executive.

3.     By starting with girls from the age of 5, we are shaping independent leaders regardless of their circumstances.

Why is our planned impact effective:

1.     We never stray from all solutions being girl-led and girl-centred.

2.     Girls have a community in which they can thrive, know they are not alone, and are more aware of the potential of their voice, opinions, beliefs, and abilities.

3.     Girls feel hope and are encouraged by the empowering feeling of financial and leadership opportunities.

4.     Girls are beginning to resist and disrupt how society view them.