In every corner of the world, girls, non-binary young people, and young feminist activists are on the very frontlines in struggles for freedom and liberation, and yet, too often left with little to no financial or other material support for their efforts.

The With and For Girls Collective, a group of justice funders committed to resourcing girls’ activism for the long term, is determined to change this. We are working to improve our own internal funding practices to be more accountable to girls and advocating across the philanthropic and development sectors for more and better resources and programmatic practices. All too often we hear from activists about how limited or restricted funding affects their work. At the same time, funders are grappling with how to better resource them in ways that support solidarity and add value to their organising.

On the sidelines of the United Nations 68^th Commission on the Status of Women this year, we gathered a group of 50 girls and young feminists, their adult allies, and funders in a solidarity space. The goal – to move us closer to a funding ecosystem where girls and young feminists can thrive. We share our four essential lessons

1. Let girls be girls – trust them, and centre joy. If they want to eat fries, let them eat fries!

‘We need to stop adultifying girls. We need to support them to be children—in their organising and in their lives. We need to let them make choices and follow their lead, not dictate what they do, not make them organise like adults…We shouldn’t force them to do the thing we think is more efficient’ – Nyawira Wahito, Resource Center for Women and Girls, Kenya. 

Nyawira, explained how in a recent proposal process, girls included a line item for fries, but none for transportation. The girls shared it was more important for them to have fries at their meetings than transport because fries were a source of joy in a particularly challenging context. Understanding her role as an enabler and as someone who should not prescribe, but rather support young people’s visions, Nyawira trusted the girls to know what was best for them.

2. Centre the lived realities of girls and young feminists in our definitions of risk

‘Challenging power brings risk. Risk is a condition of many activists. Communities are already living the risk, and they need support to counter these risks’ – Justin Chidozie Chukwukere, CHEVS, Nigeria. 

Risk has become a conversation driver in philanthropy. When girl and young feminist activists ask to be directly resourced and funded for their work, risk is often used as a reason not to fund them because they lack the infrastructure needed to receive, manage, and account for funds. 

Instead, we should listen to girls and young feminists who sit at the intersection of gender justice issues globally. We should be asking: What risks are required of you to do your work? How can I support you to mitigate these risks and promote your safety? As one participant put it, ‘The moment a funder is thinking about risk, it means there’s a greater need for support. This is not the moment to retract support, but to deepen it’. 

3. To meet the needs of girls and young feminists, we must prioritise speed and agility

‘We are here to try to fight back from scratch, to fight back, to fight to even be human…Overnight they took our power, but this will not stop Afghan women. They know how to fight for their struggles’ – Heleena, ECDC African Community Center of Denver, Afghanistan. 

The importance of rapid response to acute and protracted crises and emergent opportunities cannot be overemphasised. Funders need to streamline bureaucratic processes, minimise administrative barriers, and deploy resources swiftly to support youth and girl-led initiatives in times of need and at moments of opportunity.

By embracing a proactive, community-centred approach and prioritising speed and flexibility, philanthropy can become a powerful catalyst for advancing the rights and agency of girls and young feminists.

4. Funders need to reduce the burden on activists

Many young activists said they spend way too much of their time on donor reporting. They had concrete strategies for exactly how to reduce this burden.

Stop expecting grantees to create an entirely new report for each donor, and instead replace current practices with standardised reporting templates and streamlined processes across organisations.

Make reporting about learning instead of accountability –prioritising questions, reducing the number of questions and focussing on simplicity. What did you do? What did you learn? How will you apply your learnings going forward? These questions offer a space for reflection, provide rich information and free up time to do the work.

Girls and non-binary young people deserve to be trusted, to be fully supported and resourced with the urgency and flexibility they need to do their work. As Nyawira shares; ‘Investing in girls takes a long time, it doesn’t happen overnight…I would not be here today if I was not invested in over a sustained amount of time’. 

There are no shortcuts or quick fixes that can be achieved in a grant cycle. Girls and non-binary young people face so much violence and discrimination, and yet they are dreaming of, and fighting for, a world that is better for them and all of us. Imagine what the world might look like if we robustly resourced them, with the support they needed? They not only deserve this, the world needs it.

Aminita Kamara is a feminist activist and an adolescent girls programme specialist. She has managed youth-led participatory grant-making initiatives at Purposeful and has years of experience engaging and working with young people, especially girls.

Caitlin Mitchell is the Senior Manager, Impact & Partnerships at EMpower – The Emerging Markets Foundation. She is an experienced philanthropy professional dedicated to advancing the human rights of marginalised communities globally, with a particular focus on women and girls. 

Jody Myrum is an advocate, consultant and Director of Our Collective Practice, a hub that builds narrative, knowledge, and power towards a stronger and more connected ecosystem that is accountable to girls and young feminists. The Hub co-leads the With and For Girls Collective.