What it really means to put girls at the centre: Reflections from the Girls’ Agenda Conference 2026, Nairobi

By Deborrah Odenyi & Dorise Ng’ong’a

At Girl Rising, being girl-centred means recognising girls as people with rights, aspirations, knowledge and agency. It means their experiences inform decisions, and their priorities shape the programmes, policies and systems meant to serve them. 

Girls should not simply receive opportunities created by others. They should help build them.

However, girls do not live in isolation. Families, schools, communities, institutions, cultural expectations and public policy all shape what is possible for them. Empowering girls therefore means working with the systems around them, while keeping girls themselves at the centre of the conversation.

According to the  UN Women Kenya County data, 12.5% of women aged 20–24 years old were married or in a union before age 18. The adolescent birth rate is 43.8 per 1,000 women aged 15–19 as of 2020, down from 51.32 per 1,000 in 2019. In 2020, 77.1% of women of reproductive age (15-49 years) had their need for family planning satisfied with modern methods. 

We know that progress for girls is real, but so are the gaps; we know that counting the girls we reach is not enough. We need to ask whether girls are learning, whether they feel safe, whether they can make informed decisions, and whether their voices influence the institutions that affect their lives. Girl Rising, in practice, works at three connected levels around girls. 

• We equip girls, boys, educators, mentors and caregivers with the knowledge, skills and confidence to imagine and pursue different futures. 

• We connect girls with community organisations, peers and trusted adults, so they are part of networks that believe in their potential and support their choices. 

• And we influence the systems around them, building and sharing evidence of what works so that governments, school leaders and funders can adopt and sustain it. 

• Storytelling runs through all three, helping girls build skills, confidence and agency. 

  
  

We co-create with girls and partners at every stage, designing, adapting and learning alongside them; girls are not only the audience for this work. They are its authors.

From individual projects to collective responsibility

We highlighted these partnerships, central to Girl Rising’s approach, at the Girls’ Agenda Conference 2026, under the theme Sustaining the Girls’ Agenda: Building Systems, Partnerships and Investments for Lasting Impact. 

Organised by The Kilgoris Project, Irise Institute of East Africa, and The Freedom Fund, in collaboration with close to 50 other partners, the central message of the conference was the need to sustain progress beyond individual projects and funding cycles.

Speaking during the panel discussion, Deborah Odenyi, RISE Program Specialist, highlighted that building partnerships for sustainability has remained a guiding principle for Girl Rising since we began work in Kenya seven years ago. Partnership is not simply about bringing organisations together. It is about aligning around a shared outcome, building on each other’s strengths, and creating the conditions for change that no single organisation could achieve alone.

Too often, development interventions operate in silos. Education programmes focus on school retention, health programmes on adolescent well-being, protection organisations on preventing and responding to violence, while economic empowerment initiatives focus on livelihoods. Yet, a girl's life is not divided so neatly. A girl who drops out of school may also be experiencing household poverty, restrictive gender norms, weak protection systems and limited access to youth-friendly services. Addressing these interconnected challenges requires intentional and sustained partnerships. Such partnerships bring together complementary strengths, align resources, strengthen institutions and deliver results that extend beyond the lifespan of any single intervention. At Girl Rising, one of the things we have learnt is that collaboration does not automatically translate into impact. 

Girls in the decisions, not just the discussions

There is a difference between speaking about girls and making room for girls to speak for themselves. We must move from consultation to real participation: girls shaping programme design, contributing to policy, taking leadership roles and holding institutions to account for promises made on their behalf.

That participation must be inclusive. Girls in rural and marginalised communities, girls with disabilities, adolescent mothers and girls out of school must not be left behind. Girls are not one group, and our responses must reflect that.

Going Forward

The conference was a reminder that good intentions are not enough. Lasting change needs sustained investment, evidence-informed programming, strong partnerships and accountable institutions.

No single organisation, programme or funding cycle can build a world that works for girls. It takes collective responsibility, a willingness to listen to girls, and investment in the structures that let them thrive.

At Girl Rising, our commitment is simple: girls at the centre of the decisions, partnerships and investments that shape their futures. When girls have the agency, opportunities and support to shape their own futures, the impact reaches far beyond individual lives. It transforms families, communities and societies. We work across these relationships.

Through storytelling, education and mentorship, we partner with girls, educators, caregivers and community organisations to challenge limiting stereotypes and expand girls’ aspirations. Our RISE (Resilient, Inclusive, Skilled & Educated)  programme was accredited by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development in 2024, showing what happens when innovative programming connects with national education systems.

In 2025 alone, RISE was launched in Narok County through our Flagship Naserian Program, where we reached 19 teachers, 9 government schools, 923 adolescents (551 girls, 372 boys) and engaged 1034 parents. 

Today, we work across 11 counties: Nairobi, Kisumu, Machakos, Kilifi, Narok, Samburu, Laikipia, Kakamega, Uasin Gishu, Isiolo and Kajiado. 

Our funded partners are Sunflower Trust, Drawing Dreams Initiative, Teach for Kenya and Pacemaker International. We also learn and grow alongside our Learning Network Partners: The Kilgoris Project, Thorn Tree Project, Chezacheza Dance Foundation, Crossing Thresholds, Murua Girl Child Education Program (currently implementing Naserian), Empower HER Initiative, Patinaai Osim and S.A.F.E.