Jacinta, Ghana
Five years ago, during the COVID-19 pandemic, my university abruptly shut down the night before examinations. Soon after, the entire world went into lockdown. The news was grim—deaths rose daily, public spaces closed, and only essential services remained. It felt like life had stopped.
The 20-year old me felt small, overwhelmed, and helpless. Stories of gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, and the risk of rising school dropouts for girls flashed in the news. These issues mattered to me. Actually, before the pandemic, I was already passionate about getting more girls into male-dominated fields like construction and engineering, inspired by my own path as a Quantity Surveying and Construction Engineering student. As a female student in the space and constantly in the minority, I had identified some gaps and the need for support to build a more inclusive and gender-sensitive industry. The question I could never answer was the ‘how’? However, the answer became even more estranged now that these very girls were getting pregnant and were at a higher risk of school drop-out.
I surfed the Internet, consistently checking the numbers. What was everyone doing about this situation? As fate would have it, on the 13th of July 2020, Girl Up was a few minutes away from starting its first Virtual Leadership Summit due to the Pandemic. This was how I discovered Girl Up for the first time. I tuned in. Listening to global female leaders, including Michelle Obama, and hearing how young girls were transforming their communities, I realized the question wasn’t what others should do, but what I could do. By the end of the summit, I was determined to take action—no matter how insignificant it might seem.
I realized the question wasn’t what others should do, but what I could do.
With Girl Up’s online training and resources, I spread the vision amongst my network of friends, rallying about 20 to create an online safe space. Together, we educated girls during the lockdown, campaigned against gender-based violence, and used social media to amplify our voices. We partnered with organizations like UNICEF to do community outreach, promoted toll-free helplines for abuse cases, and pushed back-to-school campaigns.
This was the beginning of Mission Queens Girl Up Ghana.
When restrictions eased, our dream only grew stronger. We applied for the Girl Up Project Fund. Girl Up believed in us! We launched our first STEM outreach in a rural town in the Ashanti Region. We not only inspired girls to pursue STEM but also funded their projects.
Today, Mission Queens Girl Up Ghana has educated and empowered over 600 girls and built an online community of more than 2,000 followers. Our flagship program, the Ghana Mobile STEM Bootcamp, is now a national innovation, inspiring more than 300 girls to explore STEM careers.
What began as a moment of uncertainty during a global crisis became a movement of hope and action.
