Women around the globe are uniting to create change on fundamental social justice issues
such as gender and racial equality, environmental integrity and government accountability.
Girls too have an increasingly visible and important role in these efforts. Here in the United
States, more and more girls are joining their mothers in voting lines, rallies and marches.
They are engaging through social media, school clubs, writing poetry, performing protest
theatre and through other creative outlets. These girl activists bring new perspective and
give voice to issues facing their generation. Their involvement is critical to the sustainability
of social justice organizing.
We strive to harness the growing momentum of girls in the United States who are engaging in social change efforts and to deepen their knowledge about their
peers around the world. This is particularly important at this unprecedented point in time, as democracy and fundamental human rights principles are under attack
across the globe. As educators and human rights activists we have a unique opportunity to engage, empower and unite girls so their efforts can have even greater
impact.
Through this project we will expand girls’ roles in social change movements by guiding them through a process of deeper learning on complex human rights
issues and launching their newly acquired skills through service learning projects.
Generation Girl strives to help girls in US-based classrooms deepen their understanding of complex human rights issues and build and launch social activism skills
by introducing them to the voices and perspectives of other girls who themselves have suffered challenges and violations of their human rights. This is intended to
help the participants relate and engage on a more personal level. The pilot project will focus on human rights violations that girls around the globe are facing
under three distinct circumstances: girls who are refugees, former girl-child soldiers, and girls from marginalized ethnic groups.
We will develop and deliver resiliency workshops for girls who are refugees, former girl-child soldiers and girls in marginalized ethnic
groups. During the first year, we are partnering with local agencies in Ecuador, Colombia, and Nepal, and together we will conduct
these workshops. The workshops will support the girls to build self esteem, resilience and a sense of power within their communites
by using art a creative outlet for telling their stories and coming to terms with human rights violations they have survived. The
workshops will engage the girls through artistic outlets such as creative writing, visual arts and photography. At the end of the
workshops, participants who choose to will have their opportunity to share their work within their own communities. Additionally, we
will incorporate their stories and artwork into the curriculum that we develop for their peers in the US girls’ classrooms.
We will develop unique multimedia-based lesson plans on the selected human rights topics for all-girl classrooms in the US. These will
include the personal stories and art developed by girls in the resiliency workshops. The initial three mini-units will focus on the survival
experiences of girls who are refugees, girls who have been child-soldiers, and girls who live in vulnerable and marginalized ethnic
groups. The lessons will be developed in a project-based learning model.
The experiential lessons will engage US-based girls by bringing stories to them from girls around the world who have survived human
rights abuses. This learning is intended to inspire the US-based girls to engage with important issues that affect girls in their own
communities and/or across the globe.
Based on decades of experience, we know that these pedagogical techniques have the power to impact learning and inspire activism.
Therefore, within the curriculum, Us-based girls will learn the skills they need to design a service-learning project that serves the
community and addresses a human rights issue they have learned about in the program.
We will pilot the curriculum in select all-girls schools in the US. This will include professional development workshops for classroom
teachers.
A unique and exciting aspect of this project is that it aims to bring all the girls participating in resiliency workshops around the world
together with US-based participants in a supportive, online community oriented toward social change. During the pilot we will create a
beta version of an online platform that will allow all girl participants from the initial resiliency workshops and the US classrooms who
wish to communicate with one another the opportunity to do so in a safe, moderated online exchange forum where they can share
ideas, hopes and plans for the future.
We will have three modes of evaluation throughout the pilot project:
We will self-evaluate through the pilot using internal review and analysis;
We will solicit final evaluations / surveys from the initial resiliency workshop participants and trainers, US classroom participants, US classroom teachers / administration; and
We will engage an external evaluator to monitor program implementation and assess outcomes at the end of the pilot to inform future improvements.
Our vision is to build on the tools, networks and expertise that we develop
during the pilot to roll out the project in more girls schools across the US and
eventually in European schools as well. As the project evolves, we will make
relevant adjustments and adaptations to all phases of the project based on
learning from the pilot, including moving from beta to a long-term version of
the web-based platform. We envision expanding to a full-year curriculum that
will address other essential human rights issues affecting girls such as child
brides, girl mothers, LGBTQ girls, girls in institutional care and others.
Elana Haviv is the Founder and Executive Director of Generation Human Rights. She is a human rights education
specialist with two decades of experience designing and delivering innovative human rights multi-disciplinary programs
for children, young adults, and teachers in schools, refugee camp settings, and humanitarian emergencies worldwide.
The programs she creates enable youth to develop the skills they need to live informed and engaged lives as they
navigate the circumstances of the world around them. She is well-versed in leading consultative processes, working with
stakeholders to develop programs and policy recommendations for promoting tolerance and human rights within
educational settings around the world. Elana has a BA from Bryn Mawr College and a Masters in Historiography of
Education from Antioch University.
Julia has over two decades of experience working in the areas of human rights, child protection and international policy
and strategy. She was the founding director of the world’s leading NGO network on children and armed conflict,
Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, and currently works as an independent consultant for UN agencies, NGOs,
donors and others. Julia has a BA from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and a Masters in International Affairs from
Columbia University in New York City.
Shiphrah is a counselling psychologist specializing in conflict transformation, refugee trauma and recovery with over 20
years of experience, interest and skills in programming for trauma, peace building, conflict transformation, organization
development, leadership and change. Shiphrah has held senior level leadership and management positions with various
organizations in East Africa, currently serving as a director for a USAID funded program on trauma awareness and
resilience building implemented by EACOM International in South Sudan. She is currently enrolled in a PhD in Leadership
and Change from Antioch University.
Chrissie Orr was born in Scotland, a descendant of the Picts (the painted ones) She is an artist, animateur and creative
investigator focused on developing “a relational aesthetic around community and site with issues relevant to both.” Orr
has created innovative, challenging community based art projects in diverse areas of the world and is recognized
internationally for her pioneering work.
Cecile Lipworth is the Founder of Ripple Catalyst Studio. She consults with state-wide and international women-led
organizations harnessing her expertise in movement building, event producing, fundraising, marketing and
communications to support their work. She is the host of the weekly feminist radio show, Brave Space. Prior to founding
Ripple, she worked for 15 years at the intersection of art and activism building the global movement, V-Day, founded by
playwright Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues.) In 2011 & 2014 she produced Ensler's play for teen girls, Emotional
Creature, in South Africa.
Alice Bennahmias is an international marketing and communications executive and management consultant with 20
years experience in leading philanthropic initiatives from the corporate/brand side, with a focus on social justice,
women's empowerment and children's health and education. Alice has been at the forefront of multiple philanthropic
initiatives in both non-profit and for-profit environments, raising over $5M for disadvantaged youth, positively impacting
over 500 women globally, and over 10,000 NYC children living in poverty.
