Every Girl Can is a five-year gender-transformative (GE-3) project, running from 2021 to 2026 in three rural districts of Nampula province, Mozambique. The project is committed to improved gender equality and the realization of the rights of adolescent girls and young women (aged 8-24 years old) to live free of sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination.

Every Girl Can is funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented in close collaboration with the Government of Mozambique and local civil society and community partners and stakeholders, especially women and girls. It is being implemented in the Nacaroa, Monapo and Murrupula districts, in partnership with ActionAid and HOPEM.

Every Girl Can incorporates innovative, evidence-based and gender-transformative models and approaches. Project interventions engage with adolescent girls’ and young women’s complementary spheres of influence—their parents, religious and traditional leaders, teachers, peers, and the men and boys in their communities. This helps to ensure the changes in community structures, attitudes and behaviors are deep and lasting, with a positive impact on the lives of girls and young women.

All project approaches used in Every Girl Can aim to empower girls as agents of change, while creating an enabling environment for them. This includes promoting gender equality by working with stakeholders at the national, regional and community levels.

The project has three key results:

1. Improved effectiveness of government protection institutions at the community level to deliver gender-responsive prevention, early intervention, protection and response services related to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), COVID-19 and discrimination of girls and young women.
2. Enhanced agency and decision-making of girls and young women to protect themselves from SGBV and COVID-19, and to be active change agents in their communities.
3. Enhanced community support and systems that advance gender equality and girls’ and young women’s agency, rights and protection from SGBV and gender discrimination, as well as mitigating the secondary impacts of COVID-19.

Every Girl Can prioritizes sustainability, which is closely interwoven with the project’s gender equality strategy. The project empowers girls and young women to promote positive change in their families and communities, giving them the tools to make choices beyond early marriage and pregnancy.

Through the Citizen Voice and Action (CVA) model and other advocacy platforms, Every Girl Can creates sustainable mechanisms to influence policies for improved protection and realization of the rights of girls and young women. Key influencers, like parents and religious leaders, are engaged to create long-lasting change that impacts future generations. Focusing on engaging men and boys as advocates for girls’ and women’s rights further enhances the project’s sustainability.

Every Girl Can uses several key project models and approaches in its implementation.

Channels of Hope for Gender
Channels of Hope for Gender is an innovative approach to exploring gender identities, norms and values that impact male and female relationships in families and communities.

Gender Transformative CVA
Citizen Voice and Action is a gender-transformative social accountability approach. It aims to increase dialogue between communities and their government to influence the quality, efficiency and accountability of services, and improve government accountability at the local and national level.

Safe Space Approach for Girls 
The Safe Space Approach for Girls aims to create a secure and safe environment for girls to learn, share and interact. Using this approach, girls develop the life skills and knowledge to become active agents of change in their communities. Girls and young women are empowered with knowledge about their rights so they can make informed decisions about their lives and their sexual and reproductive health. Participants build their confidence to actively engage in their communities.

Behaviour Change Model for Child-Friendly Initiation Rites 
Behaviour Change Model for Initiation Rites is a model that aims to change behaviour and attitudes within the scope of initiation rites.