We believe that girls are at the forefront of change.
We envision a world in which every girl has access to the information, services, resources, skills, and support necessary to decide when, if, and whom to marry so that she can live a healthy and equal life and have a brighter future.
OUR THEORY OF CHANGE STATEMENT
If community-based organizations (CBOs) are essential to ending child marriage but they are currently underfunded and we can radically expand resources to CBOs to deliver locally relevant, girl-centered and gender-transformative strategies then we (grantee-partners and donors) will contribute not only to reductions in child marriage, but also to driving positive shifts toward gender equality and bringing about beneficial impacts across a range of development outcomes.
OUR GOAL
- To catalyze CBOs to reduce child marriage while increasing gender equality in their communities by 2030.
OUR OBJECTIVES
The Girls First Fund believes deeply that those most impacted by inequality are best served to design solutions.
In pursuit of our overall goal, the fund aims to achieve the following three objectives:
- Increase donor commitment: The Girls First Fund will increase financial resources to prevent and respond to child marriage and will increase donor confidence in funding community-based organizations (CBOs).
- Support CBOs: The Girls First Fund will fund CBOs, equip grantee partners with skills, and connect grantee-partners to networks and movements. Through this trust-based, relational partnership, grantee-partners will have strengthened confidence, skills, and connections. They will be developing and implementing comprehensive, locally relevant, gender transformative projects, joining forces with others, and shaping and leading movements at the local, national, regional, and global levels.Through the work of these strong, well-connected, community-driven organizations, girls will have increased agency and leadership, social norms will be transformed and equitable, and community champions will develop advocacy skills and opportunities to influence.
- Effective grantmaking: The Girls First Fund will expand the body of evidence on CBOs and will facilitate responsive grantmaking as well as active strategic learning. Through monitoring, evaluation, and learning strategies, the fund will generate and disseminate evidence and increase the field’s understanding that CBOs are a key component to ending child marriage.