GALS works to promote the value of leadership and advocacy through regular skill-building workshops with high school girls in Philadelphia.  These workshops provide training in skills such as public speaking, social media, money management,  strategic planning, and global advocacy.  The program also encourages girls to make a difference in their own communities through the creation of local advocacy campaigns.  The GALS program fosters grassroots leadership by working with youth to raise awareness around issues that they find important.

At the event, Marjorie and GALS Director Karen Doyle spoke about their plans to expand the program to additional schools around Philadelphia.  Karen also stressed how valuable the program is in that it gives the girls access to women they would otherwise not have had the opportunity to meet and learn from.  Karen also affirmed an important part of the program’s mission, which is to reach girls at a young age, because “Girls who lead become women who lead.”  Guests of the event also watched a short film of interviews with GALS participants reflecting on their experience of the program. WCI thanks all of those who were able to attend this exciting evening!

If you were not able to attend the event but would like to support WCI, please visit the Take Action page at womenscampaigninternational.org

WCI thanks all of those who were able to attend this exciting evening!

Join Marjorie Margolies, president of Women’s Campaign International (WCI), at her home for an evening dedicated to learning about WCI’s program for adolescent girls in Philadelphia, GALS (Global Advocacy and Leadership Series).

When: Monday, September 12, 2011 from 5:30 to 7pm

Where: Marjorie’s home

To encourage civic participation at an early age, WCI facilitates Saturday workshops for high school girls interested in improving their communities. Throughout the program, participants build life-skills in communityleadership, advocacy, global awareness, financial literacy, public speaking and networking.

All guests are welcome, feel free to bring a friend.

Suggested donation $100

For location details and to RSVP, contact Marion at marion@womenscampaigninternational.org

On Saturday, April 30, as part of their global awareness education, the students in WCI’s GALS program had the great privilege of Skyping with young Liberian women from our Liberia office!

We’ve asked one participant from Liberia, Office Assistant, Jojo, and three GALS girls from our Philadelphia office, high school students Helena, Simone and Tion, to share what they learned from the Skype call. Following is the written and video responses from participants:

1) Were you nervous about the Skype call? How did that change through the course of the call?

Helena and Simone: I think that our group was scared to ask the girls questions. But, people started to get more comfortable once [our Liberian counterparts] started to ask us questions.

Jojo: Before the call I was feeling nervous.  It was my first time using Skype.  It makes it easier because you can see the people and it is easier to interact.

2) What was your favorite part of the experience?

Helena and Simone: Our favorite part was when we found out that we had something in common with them. They listen to the same music we listen to.

Jojo: I loved talking with the girls.  It was my first time interacting with young girls from the United States. When we were walking home Christine said that she loves Skype.  It is easy and doesn’t cost much money.  She wants to use Skype all the time now.

Students in GALS Skyping with WCI Liberia Staff

3)  What did you learn through the experience?

Helena and Simone: We were surprised that they did not know who Michael Jackson was but that they know the rapper Nicki Minaj.

Jojo:I learned that they care about abuse and women. I learned that we like the same movies and music.

4) Do you think this is a valuable activity for young girls?

Helena and Simone: We do think this is a valuable activity because it gives young girls a chance to be aware of what’s going on in different parts of the world.

5) Is there anything you wanted to tell the Liberian girls during the call that you didn’t get a chance to?

Helena and Simone: We would like to tell them thank you for sharing information with us. Thank you for enlightening us.

6) Additional comments?

Jojo: I would like to be friends with the girl on Facebook so we can communicate.

The Freire Charter School Advocacy Club was started by the 2010 graduates of WCI’s Global Advocacy Leadership Series (GALS). After completing their advocacy training in the spring of 2010, this group of students desired to continue advocating for issues that strongly affect them and their communities. Thus, beginning in October, 2010, the students continued meeting, convening every Tuesday afternoon at Freire Charter School to discuss issues concerning them and their peers. Through these discussions, they came to choose bullying as the top issue concerning young people at Freire, as well as young people across the country.

Once it was determined that the Advocacy Club would focus on bullying, the members of the GALS Advocacy Club set out to collect data on just how much bullying occurs at Freire. This data was collected by designing and delivering surveys to other students at the school. The survey results showed that bullying is taking place at Freire. With this data, the Advocacy Club began to strategize how they could raise awareness of bullying and work together with their peers to stop it.

One way the Club thought they could impact their school community was through sharing their survey data. The students compiled their data into graphs which became an integral part of the Take Back the City anti-bullying curriculum at Freire Charter School. During the Take Back the City lessons this year, all Freire students had the opportunity to focus on and discuss bullying. The data the Advocacy Club collected was included in the discussion!

Sample graph made from Advocacy Club survey results

The Advocacy Club students then applied these survey results to design and conduct a series of interviews. These interviews were filmed and became part of a very popular and engaging “Public Service Announcement” broadcast to the entire student body during morning announcements. In the development of this awareness raising five piece video, the students worked to write a script, encourage volunteers, conduct interviews, and even expand their knowledge of audio-visual equipment. The intent of these interviews and videos was to raise awareness of the issue and motivate their peers to change their behavior. (You can read reflections from one of the Advocacy Club students who played an integral role in making this video here).

Through their research and outreach the young women involved in the Advocacy Club have made an impact on their peers at Freire Charter School and on the conversations happening in the classroom. And now, through their online presence, the Advocacy Club students will continue to have an important impact by participating in the conversations taking place about bullying at the national level. It is amazing what a group of determined, creative, and passionate young women can do!

– By Julie Anderson, Freire Charter School

Thank you Miss Julie, for taking the time to share your thoughts with us! We can certainly concur that the Advocacy Club has made an impact. In fact, when we visit the school on Tuesday afternoons, we often hear students discussing bullying, even referring to some of the questions raised by the Advocacy Club. Good work leaders!

Financial Literacy Day at GALS!

The GALS will learn how to create budgets, how to allocate money, and how to optimize their networks to save money and receive in-kind donations.

Monica stood up to introduce herself. She said, “Uh, um, I’m really sorry that I am not prepared, and like, I hope you can follow along…” She trudged through a painfully delivered speech for the next five minutes. The girls squirmed in their seats, not knowing if she was genuinely having a hard time delivering her speech or whether they were expected to intervene.

When she was finished, Monica and Nickie, another WCI Program Officer, asked the girls what they thought. What did Monica do well? What could she have done better? Thus began the day’s discussions of effective communication and public speaking skills.

We have all been there: excessive use of fillers, poor eye contact, twisting hands, talking too fast, the gamut. These are, as the girls learned, not effective ways to engage an audience. Through Monica’s role-playing activity, the girls learned the ABC’s of public speaking and then put these skills to use in creating campaign videos with Flip cams.

For example, in this video Shayna discusses her group’s campaign against abuse:

Guest teaching artist, Laura Deutch, shared videos created by other teens as good examples of sincere, simple messages conveyed through media. The GALS enthusiastically critiqued the videos, learning from the mistakes and successes of the other teens’ work. They not only critiqued the content of the videos, but also the technical components. Laura led the girls in understanding how to hold a camera, how to position a subject in a frame, how to compose a shot, and what to look for when selecting a background.

Now it was time for the girls to put their “messages in motion”! After working in their groups to create a concise and convincing campaign message, the girls, with Laura’s expertise and their public speaking tips, used the Flip cams to create eye-catching and professional campaign message videos. See for yourself!

In this example, GALS student Lex presents her team’s campaign to promote healthy self-esteem among middle-school aged youth.

Two of our Junior Coaches, Ama and Alexis, GALS’ participants returning from last year, also produced an amazing video of a “fictitious” campaign. When Alexis joined the program last year, she characterized herself as shy, however as depicted in this video, she has found her voice!

Although all the girls had little time to prepare, the videos highlighted their poise and willingness to get up and speak publicly about their campaigns.

After all of the groups created their videos, it was time for peer-to-peer feedback! The girls gathered and watched the campaign messages their peers had made. A critique workshop can be scary, but the trust that has been built among the GALS helped to make this feedback session an incredibly enriching and effective tool. The GALS watched each other’s videos and filled out these forms, anonymously, to provide feedback to their peers. They also provided positive verbal feedback.

After all this hard work, it was time for lunch. The girls were very fortunate to have The Links, Incorporated provide a healthy lunch, as part of a program that day at International House to raise awareness about healthy living. GALS hopes to partner with the Links in the future, as helping young women to become leaders is a goal of both organizations.

As the girls continue implementing their advocacy campaigns, social media will be a crucial component. Facebook, YouTube and blogging will carry the GALS’ messages to a larger audience. Many of the groups have in fact already created Facebook pages on which to post updates about their campaigns!

The GALS program is evolving to use social media very effectively this year, as is shown by these messages. As digital and social media grows, so too does the use of it in our program!

– Written by Karen Doyle

GALS: Join us for a pizza party and work session on Saturday April 9th!

The final presentation day for GALS, May 21, is rapidly approaching!

To make sure you’re all moving ahead on your projects, we’re offering a chance to get together with your groups in our WCI offices and eat pizza, bond with your group members, and work on your campaigns!

WCI staff will be on hand to answer your questions, help you with computer-related issues, and provide support for your campaigns in any way we can.

Imagine this, but in the shape of pizza!

Tokens will be provided.

To get started, the WCI staff introduced the girls to online social media concepts and tools, including the usual suspects: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. The presentation was lively and the girls were eager to see examples, ask questions, and brainstorm ways to apply this information to their own campaigns.

Later in the day, the GALS saw an example of how social media can be used to increase awareness about an issues-based campaign. They were visited by Paul Wright, Executive Producer of the upcoming documentary, Submit: The Virtual Reality of Cyber-Bullying.

Paul talked with the girls about how the Submit team uses social media to build a support base and to create interactive communities online. For example, one uniquely interactive component of the film’s social media campaign crowdsources personal stories. Site visitors are invited to record their responses to the following questions:

Visitors can then upload their recorded thoughts to Submit’s YouTube page. Such a method is increasingly popular among non-profits, NGOs, and any organization looking to support positive social change.

At the same time, Paul reminded the GALS that social media is only a tool, not the message itself. Things happen so quickly online. Content gets distributed, re-tweeted, refracted. By a simple click of the mouse, the message can get lost. In order for a campaign to use social media effectively, the message must be clear, focused, and consistent. One way to do that is to ask specific questions of participants that will provide a consistent structure, one in line with organizational needs.

Paul Wright introducing the GALS to "Submit"

Currently, in the development arena, there’s a lot of discussion of how Information and Communications Technologies can help to create change in women’s lives. The GALS were able to see, first-hand, how they themselves can use ICT skills to promote change in their communities. And over the next few weeks, they will experiment with using the ICT tools they are already well versed in – Facebook, SMS, YouTube – toward a socially constructive cause. We look forward to seeing what they learn. And what they teach us.

Paula Introduces Herself

On Saturday February 26, the GALS were visited by girls’ leadership coach, Paula Singer. Paula joined the group activities, listened to the girls’ brainstorming, and shared her reflections with our WCI staff. Here’s what she had to say:

“When I walked into the room, I was really impressed with the many bright faces of the young women who were assembled there. Considering that it was 10 AM on a Saturday morning, these young ladies looked alert and ready to work and engage with each other and their coaches on important social advocacy projects!

I had the privilege of sitting in on the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. group. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. stands for:
Real
Empowerment
Self-Esteem
Potential
Enthusiasm
Confidence
Tenacious

As their acronym suggests, the R.E.S.P.E.C.T. campaign focuses on issues of self-esteem. One  group member, Lex, put it this way: Some people have too low self-esteem. And some people – they know who they are – have too high! We wanna help people to balance their self-esteem so it’s in a healthy place.

‘What age group do you think you need to target?’ I asked them. Not surprisingly, they had already thought about this question. Each of them eagerly vied for a chance to explain their decision to focus on middle-school populations. As I’ve seen in my own work, middle school is one of the toughest times for girls and boys. It’s in middle school that youth are faced with the task of forging an identity in the midst of so many pressures and rapid changes – physically, socially and emotionally. Thus, R.E.S.P.E.C.T is wise to target this group of students.

The team’s ‘Junior Advocacy Coach’ (a student who participated in the advocacy program in her sophomore year and decided to stay on to help newcomers), Alexis, recounted to R.E.S.P.E.C.T. her experiences trying to get people excited about her group’s campaign the year before. She’d learned that the best way to get people involved is to do something interactive. R.E.S.P.E.C.T. followed that advice and began brainstorming fun activities to use when meeting with middle-schoolers. Some of their brainstorming led to activities with beaded bracelets and even better, home-made cookies!

GALS at work!

As I continued to observe, I noticed that everyone listened respectfully to each person who spoke, and it felt like a real group effort. I loved the way each young woman at the table volunteered for assignments based on her strengths and talents.

This experience reminded me of a quote I read recently about the Women in the World Summit, to be held in New York next week. Diane von Furstenberg, a pioneering fashion designer and Summit participant, said: ‘I am forever impressed by the strength of women, but channeling that strength is crucial. Getting together and inspiring one another is the most valuable thing we can do for the future.’

I’m glad to have been able to witness groups of young women inspiring one another. And I look forward to continuing my work with the GALS teams as I visit their after-school club at Freire Charter School later in the month.”

Paula Leads a Team-Building Workshop in a Summer Program

Simone was the first to speak. She rose slowly out of her seat to introduce herself. It was, after all, 9:30 in the morning on a Saturday and she is a teenager, a time in life where sleeping in on a Saturday is sacred.

Simone, deep in thought

In eloquent and compelling language, she told the audience about how tired she was that morning. About how much she wanted to keep sleeping. How easy it would have been to keep sleeping. But, she said, “I had to ask myself, ‘Am I committed?’” She thought hard about it. Because, as she noted, you have to be committed in order to roll yourself out of bed at 7 AM on a Saturday to get to the workshop on time. And now, she was here. Because, she concluded, “I AM committed. I’m committed, and if I want to make a change in the world, it has to start now.”

Thus began WCI’s second-annual leadership institute for young girls in Philadelphia, our Global Awareness and Leadership Series (GALS). With Simone’s voice ringing in our ears, the young, female students from Freire Charter School sat upright in their seats, took detailed notes through Executive Director Kerri Kennedy’s presentation on women’s issues around the world, asked poignant questions, and dove in to their work towards change.

Over the next four months, these girls will work in groups to identify issues in their communities that need attention and possibly change. From here, the students will craft advocacy campaigns to address these issues. These campaigns can include a host of activities and interventions, including producing short PSAs, making presentations that they can share with local schools, creating buttons and other tools to raise awareness about their issues, and whatever else their creative minds devise and implement. Here is an example of such a campaign created in the first year of GALS, 2010:

Throughout this important program, the students will be exposed to leaders from all walks of life, people who have struggled to make change, who are pioneers in their field, and who are experimenting with new methods of engagement. Our hope is that in these discussions, the GALS students will connect with the leadership skills they already possess but have not yet learned to name. That is, we hope they will each be able to look at themselves and say with confidence that yes, they are committed. And yes, they can and have made a change.