Education Shifts Power

Introduction
Education Shifts Power is a feminist and intergenerational initiative committed to resourcing feminist youth-led organizations working on gender equality in and through education. Launched in 2021 as a campaign to call for investments in gender-transformative education, it is now piloting a new grant-making offer.

Our aim
Advance gender-transformative education at the country level by strengthening and resourcing the work of organizations led by young feminist experts.

 

Our Offerings

Resourcing young feminist-led education organizations and groups

Education Shifts Power’s first pilot initiative is a closed call for small grants with tailored support from partners & peers. The Education Shifts Power Grant is being hosted on the Equality Accelerator, Plan International’s one-of-a-kind participatory youth-led grant-making online platform. The successful grantees will be selected by applicants in an anonymous peer-to-peer voting process. The grants are flexible, meaning they can be used for projects, general support (including staff funding, office space, connectivity), and/or for emotional well-being/psycho-socio support of members.

Learning, unlearning and relearning together 
Education Shifts Power is committed to working with young feminist-led education organizations to identify their needs and wants, and to co-develop learning agendas together. We are also committed to reflecting on how we work as organizations so as not to perpetuate patriarchal practices.  We invite our partners and supporters to come on this learning journey with us. 

Opening up meaningful and brave spaces for young feminist advocacy 
We recognize young feminist groups as leaders and actors for their own rights and we will support them to exercise their voice and agency for change across all levels. Young feminist leadership is central to Education Shifts Power and to our advocacy and wider influencing. Through this initiative we will accelerate youth-led advocacy and activism on gender equality in and through education and localization by shifting power to young feminists and opening spaces for them to exercise their voice and agency, both for change locally in their own communities and in global spaces. 
 

Partners

Education Shifts Power brings together a consortium of young feminist led NGOs and movements, INGOs, and the United Nations. Consortium members bring a range of expertise, experience and skill sets, with the shared mission of providing holistic support mechanisms for young feminist educators.

CHEVS, WEST AFRICA. A young feminist organization committed to advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights (SRHR) and social justice for young women, LGBTIQ+ individuals and sex workers.

Gufasha Girls Foundation, UGANDA. A community-based organization in Africa founded in 2016 committed to promoting girls’ rights and education through advocacy, capacity building, and awareness creation.

Transform Education, WORLDWIDE. A young feminist-led coalition working to advance gender equality in and through education, hosted by UNGEI.

 

UNGEI, WORLDWIDE. A global partnership and platform for gender equality

in and through education.

Plan International, WORLDWIDE. An international NGO that works with children and girls in over 80 countries to strive for a just world that advances children's rights and equality for girls.

Youth Innovation and Transformation Trust (YITT), ZIMBABWE. A youth led social movement aimed at transforming the social, economic and civil spaces for youth. 

SOCHAI, NEPAL. Supports women, children and girls to reach their full potential in life by improving their intergenerational well-being through community engagement and youth leadership.

 

How are we shifting power in this process

Entering this initiative, all partners were intentional and committed to ensuring that all processes within Education Shifts Power are rooted in intersectional and decolonized feminist leadership. We collectively identified the following feminist principles that guide all aspects of our work:  

  • Care: community, collective and self-care 
  • Recognizing biases and giving space and humility to address them 
  • Transparency in decision-making 
  • Active listening: To each other and to the community
  • Accountability 
  • Risk Sharing 
  • Intention 
  • Power sharing: Starting from a place of acknowledging power dynamics and committing to dismantle them
     

Join Us!

Over the coming months, we will be on a learning journey together with the grantees as we test and refine this innovative model. We are committed to sharing the successes and challenges of Education Shifts Power. To truly meet young feminists where they are and to achieve deep and sustainable impact, the longer-term goal is to establish a revolving fund and to build an ecosystem of supporters who believe in the transformative power of young feminists, and the importance of their leadership in achieving gender equality in and through education.

We invite you to come on this journey. By pledging a commitment to the Education Shifts Power Funding mechanism in 2024, we can together move more and better resources to girl and young feminists on the ground and strengthen the movement for gender equality and gender-transformative education.

If you would like to learn more, please email: 
Natasha at nharrisharb@ungei.org 
Ellen at ellen.stewart@plan-international.org