When Girls Find Their Voice: Ludmila’s Journey to Change

In Nampula, childhood is being reshaped by the courage of young advocates like Ludmila through Every Girl Can, a five-year project funded by Global Affairs Canada and implemented from 2021 to 2026 by World Vision Mozambique, in partnership with ActionAid Mozambique, HOPEM and the Government of Mozambique.

Ludmila described her young life as simple, filled with school theatre, friends and community gatherings, unaware of the deeper struggles many children around her quietly carried.

Everything changed when she joined the project. What began as a learning opportunity became a turning point. Through discussions on children’s rights and gender equality, Ludmila began to question certain practices in her community.

“I didn’t have much knowledge of the themes addressed [in the project],” she reflects. “There were things I practiced as part of society which I thought were normal. But with the awareness, I began to realise they weren’t normal acts at all.”

Child marriage, once an abstract issue, became heartbreakingly real. Ludmila saw how it robs girls of their education, confidence and childhood.

“We helped people get out of child marriages,” she says. “Children were returning to their normal lives of being children. That was very significant for me.”

Restoring those freedoms became Ludmila’s mission. She developed leadership skills, guided peer groups, and spoke openly in rooms filled with elders and community leaders.

“There were grown people there listening to what we children had to say,” Ludmila says. “It gave me a lot of confidence.”

Her voice now carries beyond meetings and into her community. Her message is clear: young people must not be silenced. Gender equality is not a privilege; it is a right. And real change can begin when young voices are heard.