Shifting
POWER
to girls
The Billion Girls CoLab is a creative space where girls take the lead in designing products, services, and experiences that improve their lives and support their futures. Anchored in design principles, the work of the CoLab is mutually beneficial to girls and the organizations that participate—girls access opportunities to learn new skills and strengthen their agency while organizations reap the benefits of their expertise through more resonant programming.
Girl-led
design
We believe that girls have the vision and ability to drive the solutions that affect them most. That’s why we created a space that enables girls to imagine a radically different future for themselves and then work collaboratively with a network of actors to bring their visions to life.
How we work
We engage girls from start-to-finish in the process of identifying challenges relevant to them and designing solutions that support their sexual and reproductive health and wellness. This means girls conduct research in their communities, generate ideas alongside partners and funders, and then participate in the testing and implementation of new solutions that meet their needs.
Girls at the centre
Through our fellowship program, young women are coached to identify and articulate the pressing needs in their communities, generate new ideas, and utilize the CoLab's resources to implement the solutions that they want to see.
Multidisciplinary teams
IDEO.org designers support the young women in the fellowship program by bringing their ideas to life through designing products, services, and experiences that are then implemented by CoLab partners.
Grassroots Implementation
Purpose-driven implementing partners work with girls and IDEO.org designers to bring the solutions that girls want to see to life itheir communities.
What we've learned
In the past two years, we have worked with a select group of young women, and they in turn have worked with their peers in their communities to provide insights into their realities and the challenges they face from puberty to adulthood.
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Read more about the lessons we learned from these stories
Tools and Resources for girl-led design
We've developed a series of tools and resources to support teams working with girls to bring new solutions to life.
Solutions designed by girls
Billion Girls CoLab fellows worked with designers and partners to create a number of new solutions, from menstrual health management to digital literacy.
Have a look at our solutions library here.