Daughters of Global Leadership Mentoring Program (Daughters Global) Coordinators are pleased to announce a special Girls Global Poetry Project. Details below:
Yougether Global is an endorsing partner on Daughters Global Projects.
About the Project:
The project will be a booklet of poems written in English by girls (14-18 yrs) around the world on subjects significant to their lives and experiences. It can be a thought piece on a broad topic or a singular experience. Poems shouldn’t be longer than 1 page or 800 words.
Submission Process:
Poems (written in English) will be submitted by messaging us through our contact form here. We will need the poet’s name, age, country, and the poem itself. If the poem is too long, just indicate you’d like to email it separately and we will be back in touch. The Project Coordinators will review and if appropriate, the poem will be selected to be included. You may be asked for a color headshot to be included. (Selected poems will not be edited; please review for any mistakes, misspellings, or other errors.) There will be no cost for submission.
DuSable Museum (largest African American History Museum in the US) endorses Daughters Global projects.
Deadline for Submission:
May 10, 2021.
What Happens After the Project is Complete:
The purpose for the booklet is two-fold. The first purpose is that the project is intended to be a gift to the United Nations and the plans are for it to be delivered by an Ambassador associated with the Youthgether Global organization. The date and time for this gifting is to be determined but will likely coincide with a United Nations 2021 event appropriate to the emphasis on the girlchild, youth, and/or arts and culture. The second purpose is to bring together talented young girls around the world to collaborate on an artistic endeavor as a project of unity.
Meet the Project Coordinators:
Poet, Blogger, Speaker, Namara Lwansa (Tanzania)
What is Daughters Global?
In the fall of 2020, one of our Frontrunners Innovate articles caught the attention of a father who wanted his young 13-year-old daughter in Africa to be able to make something of her growing talents and leadership abilities. It started with her Youtube video instructing on different types of mental disorders. When he connected with us, he told us how she really wanted to share with the world information on different topics and advocate for education and girls empowerment. We were blown away by the girl whose leadership was already established well beyond her 13 years. And, we took on the task of mentoring her with information, providing her platforms to speak while coaching her on presentation, and introducing her to other girl leaders around the world and reputable adult leaders who might inspire her. We have given her a blog platform for her to safely share her thoughts, poems, and interviews which we’ve encouraged her to do (because interviewing global leaders helps her to build her own network as well as learn new skills). Not even a year has passed and our young mentee has already been a panel speaker on several events associated with the United Nations SDGs alongside diplomats and royals. She blew them away, too.
Poet and Artist, Chaitali Sinha (India)
In early 2021, the same thing happened again. Another father with a talented daughter in India showed up. His daughter longed to have her poems published. We’ve begun working with her on writing, but, also, on other skills to help her build her leadership as she enters into college later this year. We have already published in Frontrunners Innovate her poem relating to overcoming Covid. The posting acquired over a thousand views within a few days.
It was at this juncture that we partnered once again with the Sub Saharan Open University founder, Dr. Osita Aniemeka out of Nigeria, on structuring this mentoring program officially, calling it Daughters Global where we can present opportunities, connections, and valuable life skills that will help burgeoning young female leaders make the most of their interests and ability to influence. We need them, because the unity of working together on the world’s big life-threatening problems leads to peace. A rocky journey, for sure, but, that’s how we develop our relationships – by listening to languages we can hardly understand, realizing and working through the biases that come with different cultures, and seeing (really seeing) the humanity that is present everywhere. Today’s youth will have to know how to do this work and pass it to the next generation. And, even though we likely won’t fix every big problem, it matters only that we are working together and building the most important thing…peace.
We’ve focused our mentorship program on young girls because of the global nature of our work and how so many countries where leadership is needed don’t view education or equality for females as important. Many of the United Nations SDGs focus on equality and rights in education, health, etc. but #5 on gender equity hits the target dead on. With God’s blessing, we aim to do our part.
Daughters Global is currently in pilot with the aim of launching officially summer of 2021. We are currently entertaining interest from families of English-speaking girls 13-18 years of age anywhere in the world. Check the flier below for more details. Contact us here if you have questions or wish to help support our efforts as a sponsor, mentor, or resource.