Learning opportunities at the College come in various contexts, often beyond the traditional classroom setting. One such opportunity is provided by the “Orizzonti” conferences, where our community has the opportunity to engage with external guests visiting the College. We recently had the honor of hosting Julia Lynch, the founder of Global Girl Project, a non-profit charity that supports and empowers young girls in the global south to become agents of change within their communities.
Founded in 2004 by Lynch, the organization addresses the significant gap between educational opportunities for girls in the northern and southern hemispheres. The project was inspired, in part, by Lynch’s personal experiences.
A Canadian, Lynch worked for many years as a social worker and community therapist in the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. As she shared with our students, the decision to establish Global Girl Project stemmed from her desire to reflect on an issue close to her heart and find a practical and beneficial way to address it.
What began as a single-person exchange program has evolved into a more complex organisation, reaching around ten girls each year. In practice, Global Girl Project collaborates with local NGOs, aiming to identify young women in the communities where these NGOs operate who would benefit most from a leadership training program. The selected girls are then placed in groups of about ten individuals and participate in a three-month program, during which they undergo leadership training while relocating to another country in the global south.
As Lynch explained, Global Girl Project’s approach differs from other charitable projects, starting with the composition of the team: all women, many of whom are non-white, and advocates for a feminist approach.
