On 15-17th July 2025, Wezesha Girls Network Uganda proudly joined the Girls First Institute Advanced Certification a milestone moment in our journey to uplift girls across Uganda.
She’s the First’s Girls First Institute offers two tiers of training: Essential and Advanced. The Advanced Certification is an intensive, selective program providing one year leadership support, coaching and skills-building focused on:
- Advanced training in Girl-centered program design. Wezesha’s newly acquired skills help them involve girls at every stage of program design right from planning to evaluation ensuring interventions are truly impactful.
- Girl led advocacy, content delivery, M&E and Communication. Programs now integrate safe spaces for conversations about reproductive health rights, led in culturally-responsive ways.
- Practical tools for Feminist mentorship & SRHR programming. We learnt how to mentor girls ethically and empowering ways—encouraging decision-making, confidence, and leadership.
This serves as a space for learning, reflection, sharing experiences and developing strategies to enhance knowledge, nurture capacity and strengthen collaboration among participating Organizations.
Day 1, We unpacked how unconscious bias can change from factors like age, gender, race, religion and how it shows up in our thoughts, behavior and decisions. These biases can deeply affect how we interact with others and the decisions we make in our work.
Recognizing these biases is not just an eye-opener, it is a necessary step in creating inclusive, fair and girl-centered programs. This session has helped us to strengthen our commitment to feminist leadership and ensure we are more intentional in how we engage with the girls and communities we serve.
Day 2, we explored girl-centered monitoring and evaluation, emphasizing the importance of data that truly reflects girls’ realities and priorities. A key highlight was on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights which is a timely and necessary conversation equipping us to advocate more effectively for girls’ bodily autonomy and access to information.
This learning space continues to challenge, inspire and remind us that when we shift power to girls, real change happens. We are excited for what is next as we strengthen our approaches to girl-led, feminist programming.
Day 3 was the Summit and it kicked off with a powerful panel discussion featuring young leaders from different schools as they share their perspectives on what leadership means to them, how they are navigating challenges in their communities and what kind of change they envision for the future. Their words are bold, honest and reflective of the leadership values we are learning throughout this training. It is clear that when girls are given platforms to lead, they don’t just speak but they shape. They don’t just dream, they drive change. Grateful to shesthefirst for creating such a transformative space
Earning the Advanced Certification will put us on the map as a leader in girls’ development across Uganda and East Africa and it will open doors to new partnerships, grants and collaboration with other global girl-focused leaders.
Why This Matters
- When Wezesha girls-led projects are strengthened, girls across Uganda benefit:
- Program initiatives become more inclusive and powerful.
- Local organizations get stronger at mentoring and protecting girls.
- Communities learn to uphold girls’ rights and agency.
Wezesha Girls Network Uganda’s participation in the Girls First Institute Advanced Certification is more than a title, it’s a promise, A promise of better-designed programs, deeper impact and a future where girls lead with confidence.
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