From Silence To Leadership: Girls Finding Their Voice and Shaping Change

Argentina kept to herself for many years. After becoming pregnant at a young age, she left school in Grade 7 and withdrew from community life. The shame and stigma she felt made it difficult to face others, and speaking to teachers or local authorities seemed impossible.

“I was no longer capable of facing people,” she recalls. “Everything I had dreamed of for myself had vanished.”

But Argentina’s story took a remarkable turn. Today, she is back in school and confidently engages with teachers, local leaders and public service providers. No longer a quiet observer, she is now an advocate who is working to improve services for girls in her community in Mozambique’s Monapo district.

Argentina’s transformation began when she joined a Girls Club through Every Girl Can initiative. She learned about Citizen Voice and Action (CVA), a social accountability approach that equips community members with tools to assess public services and collaborate with authorities to improve them.

Argentina became one of 4,190 adolescent girls and young women trained in the CVA methodology. Participants received training on how services, such as education, health and protection systems, are meant to function in their community. They also learned how to constructively engage with the officials to strengthen those systems to benefit more people.

For many girls, this knowledge was empowering. Those who once felt intimidated by authority figures began learning how to raise concerns respectfully and participate in discussions about improving their community’s services. At the start of the project, only 5.6 per cent of girls reported seeking help from authorities when they faced problems. Halfway through the project, that number had risen to 23%.

Argentina now leads the Girls’ CVA Committee in Monapo district. Working alongside school authorities, the committee helped address teacher shortages and achieve gender balance among staff, with 16 male and 16 female teachers now working at one school. 

“I learned that nothing is ever lost and that I can start over,” Argentina says. “More than that, I learned that I have a voice.”

Her journey reflects a wider transformation across Nampula province, where girls are gaining the confidence and tools to shape the services that affect their futures.  This outcome embodies the primary objective of Every Girl Can project: to advance gender equality and uphold the rights of adolescent girls and young women aged 8 to 24 to live free from sexual and gender-based violence and discrimination. 

Funded by Global Affairs Canada, the five-year initiative was implemented from March 2021 to March 2026 in the rural districts of Monapo, Murrupula and Nacarôa by World Vision Mozambique, in partnership with ActionAid Mozambique, HOPEM and the Government of Mozambique.