The Generation Equality Forum is underway in Paris!
Generation Equality is an important global moment and movement through which civil society, activists, governments and corporations are making commitments to #ActForEqual and continue to advance gender equality, over 25 years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. Young feminists, including Girl Up youth leaders, are leading efforts through Generation Equality to make it a more inclusive, intersectional and progressive process.
Girl Up is an official Commitment Maker to the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership, which envisions that by 2026, feminist leaders, movements, and organizations, including those led by trans, intersex and nonbinary people, indigenous women, young feminists, and other historically excluded people, are supported to become sustainable, can carry out their work without fear of reprisal, and advance gender equality, peace, and human rights for all.
Girl Up’s commitment focuses on Strengthening Young Feminist Leadership. It includes both external and internal commitments and builds on the work that we are doing to support young leaders to build their skills and our global movement and shape and advance global advocacy on gender equality.
Our Commitment
Girl Up will dedicate financial, technical and other resources to support young feminist leaders in all their diversity and create safe, inclusive spaces for meaningful participation in a global movement to advance gender equality and social justice. This includes investments in our inclusive online community and learning platforms; rigorous online and in-person training to build individual capacity and leadership skills and advance intersectional, feminist advocacy; a global network of school- and community-based clubs; direct support of youth advocacy and education; and an annual global Leadership Summit. Through these investments and programs, we commit to reaching:
- 67,000 youth through our leadership, training and youth engagement programs
- 97,500 youth through 6,500 Clubs
- 120,000 youth through our online Community
- 1.2 million social media supporters to tell the story of young feminist leaders, amplify Generation Equality and SDG 5, and raise awareness of intersectional advocacy
Girl Up also commits to developing and implementing internal policies, strategies and initiatives within the framework of our Core Values to:
- Center youth leadership to elevate the ideas and perspectives of our youth members, include youth leaders in meaningful decision-making, and prioritize the safety and security of all youth who engage with our programs.
- Facilitate passionate action within our global movement to advance gender equality and social justice.
- Foster a supportive and inclusive organization, network of global affiliates and a global community that values and celebrates each member across diverse identities and engages in intersectional advocacy.
- Hold ourselves accountable and engage our youth members to hold us accountable to these Core Values.
We also commit to creating inclusive partnerships and linking to best practice to ensure that our programs and operations are globally relevant, inclusive, rigorous and relevant. Girl Up benefits from partnerships at UN Foundation, UN agencies at both the HQ and country-level, and a global network of youth- and feminist organizations working across issues and sectors to advance social justice and the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 5 on Gender Equality. This positions us well to foster youth leadership, amplify youth voices across diverse platforms, and ensure that our youth leaders across the globe have opportunities for meaningful participation and decision-making in local, regional and global and intersectional advocacy for gender equality and social justice.
