Beyond the Screen: Seeing Ellas al Frente in the communities where it happens

By Dania de León

For most of the time I have been working with Ellas al Frente, I have gotten to know the organisations in our cohort through screens. I have learned about their work through Zoom meetings, WhatsApp conversations, planning documents, reports, and the many conversations that happen behind the scenes when you are coordinating a regional program. This year, for the first time, we introduced site visits as part of Ellas al Frente. 

Instead of only seeing them in person once a year in our summit and asking organisations to tell us about their work, we wanted to go to them, spend time in their spaces, observe their sessions, talk with girls and mentors, and learn from what is happening on the ground. For me, this has been one of the most exciting parts of the year because there is something about being physically present that changes the way you understand a program.

Visiting Asociación ATLAS, witnessing mentorship in action

My first visit was to Asociación ATLAS in Sololá, Guatemala, an organisation working with Indigenous girls. During my visit, I had the opportunity to observe not only the activities they facilitate, but also something that is at the centre of their work: mentorship.

What struck me was the relationship between the girls and their mentors. The sessions created space for girls to express what they think and feel, ask questions, share their experiences, and practice using their voices. There was a sense that the girls were not simply there to receive information; they were being encouraged to participate in the conversation and to trust that what they had to say mattered.

I also got to learn how ATLAS has used the WWYD — What Would You Do? Game to create conversations around situations girls may encounter in their everyday lives. The game opens the door to conversations about bullying, mistreatment, leadership, self-esteem, and how to respond when something does not feel right. 

And, of course, the visit did not end quite as formally as I had imagined. The girls had questions for me, wanted to know more about who I was and what I did at Girl Rising, and by the end they had prepared a card and a gift for me, picked flowers, and decided we had to take a picture and where we should take it. 

Centro ARI and their attention to detail

My second visit took me to Centro ARI in Antigua, Guatemala, and it offered a completely different perspective on what girl-centred programming can look like. Centro  ARI works with girls and young people with disabilities and neurodiversity. I spent my day visiting two different classrooms. Some of the girls were non-verbal, while others communicated more independently, and the activities included painting, manual work, and exercises designed to support concentration and learning.

What stayed with me from that visit was how much of the work happens in the small adjustments that you might never notice from a report. A mentor changes the way she explains an activity. Someone gives a girl more time to participate. Another girl becomes overwhelmed and the adults around her immediately know how to help her regulate before she can return to the activity. The activity itself may look simple, but the work of making that activity accessible to every girl is anything but simple.

At the end of the visit, the girls gave me a bouquet made from their painted handprints, each one carrying a name, along with one special card thanking Girl Rising for the scholarships that allow them to continue participating in the program through the grant they receive as part of the program. 

Organisations, Communities & Impact: What Ellas al Frente Represents

I remember looking at those handprints and thinking about how differently impact can look when you see it up close. We spend a lot of time talking about outcomes, indicators, organisational capacity, and program design, all important parts of the work, but sometimes impact is also a girl putting her hand on a piece of paper, painting it, signing her name, and handing it to you.

That is what these first visits have made me think about most. Working across Latin America is not simply about having programs or partnerships in the region. It is about understanding the communities where that work takes place and recognising that there is no single version of what a girl-centred program should look like. The organisations we work with are the ones who understand their communities best, and being based in the region allows me to experience that context firsthand and bring it into the way we support our partners.

While writing this, I kept coming back to something these visits have reminded me of: organisations have stories too. Stories about the girls they accompany, the challenges they navigate, the solutions they create, and the communities they are building every day. I want to tell those stories. I want more people to know that the Ellas al Frente community is not simply a group of organisations implementing programs across Central America. It is a group of women, mentors, girls, and leaders who are growing, adapting, and creating change in ways that are deeply rooted in their own communities.