The Girls Belong Here Program
Interested in the role of leadership? Want to learn more about what the role of a CEO, President, or Director entails? Need the opportunity to share your advocacy work with an organization/group of inspiring leaders?
What is the Girls Belong Here program?
The Girls Belong Here program is an initiative launched in 2016 by Plan International Canada, an organization that works with children, families, and communities around the world to break down barriers preventing equality. As part of their global movement to help girls have their voices heard, advocate for their rights and help them find their place in society, this program aims to give girls the opportunity and platform to do just that. Since 2016, this program has created countless opportunities for young women to experience jobs of high-profile, professional roles to show that women are capable and deserve a spot at all levels of leadership and the right to equal opportunity.
To this date, the program has been able to match about 180 female-identifying youth with business, government, and non-profit organizations, expanding their program to the U.S., U.K, Sweden and Switzerland.
How does it work?
The program is open to self-identifying girls and young women ages 14 to 24, and through this program, they will get to connect with leaders from a multitude of professional fields like civil, corporate, academic, and government sectors. The program is offered virtually and in person to ensure as many people can participate as possible.
There are 3 ways you can participate:
- Seat Share: Step into a leader’s role for the day. With this experience, youth will get to exchange ideas, stories, and questions, and have meaningful discussions with their partnered leader. Youth will receive mentorship on what leadership entails, advice on how to be an effective leader etc.
- Innovation Hub: Connect and collaborate with other youth participants in a half-day workshop. This workshop will be led by a partnered leader and give youth a chance to address a challenge or issue the organization faces, share their ideas/solutions, insights, and professional opinion, and become problem solvers!
- Speaker Series: Youth can share their ideas and advocacy work all year round by leading an organization’s lunch-and-learn event, a fundraising initiative or any other event relating to their advocacy goal! Youth will get to show their creative thinking all while applying their leadership skills.
Who will I get to work with?
There are countless organizations and academic institutions that have partnered up with Plan International Canada to help make this Girls Belong Here program possible! Here are some of the organizations that you might get to work with and learn from:
- AstraZeneca
- BMO
- The University of Alberta
- Pfizer
- Habitat for Humanity
- IKEA
- The Home Depot
- Women’s College Hospital Foundation
- Ontario Council for International Cooperation
- and so much more!
Why should I do this program?
- Leadership skills
- Networking
- Advocacy for inclusivity, diversity, and women’s empowerment
- Mentorship — learn from others
- Share your own ideas
- Learn about how a company, organization, or institution runs
- Learn about yourself as a leader and advocate
- Meet other inspiring advocates and leaders
- SO MUCH MORE!
Interested in Applying?
Applications typically open in the summertime and close at the end of July. To stay updated about the program and its application, follow @plancanada on Instagram, or look out for an OYMS Instagram story when applications open! We’ll have the link here when they do!
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About the Author:
Jenny Pham is a grade 12 student based in the small but large city of Mississauga, Ontario, and like others around her, she’s a second-generation immigrant working towards a career in medicine and education. In March 2023, she was fortunate enough to have been selected to do a Seat Share experience for the Girls Belong Here program in Edmonton, at the University of Alberta. It was an incredible experience where she got to learn from a group of incredible female leaders and have meaningful discussions about the importance of equity, inclusivity, and diversity. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to her on Instagram @jenny.phaaam
