Background
Based on a series of discussions with adolescent girls, youth, and AGIP Board members, we agreed that the inclusion of adolescent girls should be at the centre and prioritized in AGIP’s governance and structure. In March 2023, AGIP launched its very first Adolescent Girls Advisory Committee (AGAC) with the intention of sharing decision-making power with adolescent girls. AGAC was intended to be a co-created journey where the members collectively decided how they wanted to engage with AGIP’s governance process, Working Groups, and Board with the idea that AGAC will inform the work of AGIP at all levels.
One-year updates
AGIP’s first ever Adolescent Girls Advisory Committee officially completed its first year on 14th March 2024! We organised annual review and celebration calls with our Girl Advisors and their community-based focal points in March and April and are delighted to note all the positive progress made over the year.
From creating a safe, joyful space during monthly calls, democratically electing AGAC members to AGIP Board, providing need-based support calls for each Girl Advisor and focal point, organising capacity building sessions, reviewing key AGIP projects and annual workplans, co-designing and co-facilitating monthly calls, we have made positive progress on the core mandate of AGIP around sharing decision-making power.
While doing so, we have ensured intentional focus on fostering mutual learning spaces across AGIP working levels as well as amplifying the voices and leadership of AGIP Girl Advisors beyond AGIP via external communications and event opportunities. Some of the ways in which we have done so is through creating buddy pairs between Girl Advisors to enable peer-to-peer mentoring, pairing each Girl Advisor with an AGIP Board member to enable leadership coaching and mutual learning, and offering speaker positions to Girl Advisors in external events. One of the key highlights for us is the feeling of sisterhood felt by the Girl Advisors in the group and the information exchange between Girl Advisors that has enabled global perspectives and mutual inspiration amongst the Advisors.
My favorite memory from one of the monthly calls is when the meeting agenda was dropped due to low energy in the room. All girl advisors were invited to share how they were feeling which led to a space where advisors were able to bring their personal stories, learn more about each other, and forge trust and empathy in the group.
Girl Advisor, March 2024 Annual Celebration Call
Initially I found the focus of AGIP on safeguarding and well-being a little too much. But over time, I have realised this is such a crucial piece in ensuring meaningful engagement of young people. I never paid attention to things like informed consent, and it was more like a tick-mark process for me. But having experienced AGIP’s safeguarding practices and learning how such tools can actually inform and empower young people to engage safely and meaningfully, I really appreciate its value now. It has been a great learning experience. I have learned a lot about centering young people’s engagement using safeguarding mechanisms and I now use it for all my community-based projects!
Girl Advisor, March 2024 Annual Celebration Call
The annual reflections from Girl Advisors and focal points report the benefit of financial recognition in overcoming digital connectivity barriers, ensuring meaningful inclusion, prioritizing personal well-being, and managing personal emergencies in a few cases. Girl Advisors also reported feeling more informed and capacitated to design and lead sessions and centre safety and well-being in their community-based work with peers and other girl allies. Focal points also reported important learning on meaningful inclusion of adolescent girls in their association with AGIP.
We will be taking more time to document the lessons and celebrations from this journey for external sharing over the next few months. The Girl Advisors are also planning a virtual event so stay tuned for updates on this project! While we are working on celebrations and documentation, we acknowledge more work needs to be done to ensure true power-sharing between AGAC and other decision-making spaces within AGIP. We are thrilled to continue this work given that AGAC’s original term of one year has now been extended till 31st December 2024!
For more information, please reach out to our Girl and Youth Engagement Specialist- Pooja.