Effecting change

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Why did you decide to move from the creative/media industry to this role?

In CEO roles at AMV BBDO and All3Media, I had embraced disruption and innovation to challenge the status quo. I had overseen the $1bn private equity sale of All3Media and was open to a new challenge: to build something of lasting value to the world. When the Nike Foundation and its co-chair, Maria Eitel, approached me to become CEO of Girl Effect, I was drawn to the real potential to use my skills in a new sector. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build true return on impact.

In what ways is development like the creative/media world and how is it different?

While the private and development sectors both recognise the power of behaviour and social-norm change, the former is built around the power of the consumer, while development still speaks to the needs of beneficiaries. In its most simplistic form, it is a ‘pull’ or a ‘push’ of services. 

What has surprised you most in this role?

After working with global brands, I thought the international development sector may be slower and more risk-averse – but I’ve learned more about disruption to negative beliefs and social norms than at any other point in my career. I have been surprised, however, by the unrealised potential of private sector and international development partnerships – beyond conventional CSR initiatives – to create change at scale.

Girl Effect partners with organisations such as Omnicom and Facebook, which amplify and enhance our work through in-kind investment, allowing us to tap into their expertise and infrastructure. Girls Connect is one example. Launched in Northern Nigeria with iSON Group, one of Africa’s largest IT companies, this digital platform delivers a personalised experience for girls – a place where they can access on-demand content and conversations with role models from iSON’s call centre, via mobile. We’re seeing extraordinary early results – both in the lives of the girls who call in to Girls Connect and the role models themselves. 

You rationalised the Girl Effect portfolio when you took over – what was your strategy and how did it shift the focus? 

I spent the early months listening and learning from our teams in London, Rwanda, Nigeria and Ethiopia – with our partners, our board of trustees – and immersing myself in the reality of adolescent girls. It meant I could apply my fresh eyes, business experience and strategic view to the Girl Effect portfolio, shifting focus from global advocacy and awareness building to changing perceptions of girls on the ground, using youth brands and mobile platforms.

I also invested in new people and capabilities – from data scientists and evidence specialists to content makers and academic collaborators. 

How have you introduced evidence-based decision-making and assessment?

Everything we do is about impact for girls, so robust evidence and assessment is essential for proving the efficacy of our work, as well as for improving our programmes. The concepts and designs of our youth brands and mobile platforms are based on deep insights, revealed by our own research and large-scale digital data sets. At every stage, girls take part – as designers, field researchers and data collectors – so our insights are unfiltered and authentic, as well as actionable.

We developed a Theory of Change framework that sets out how we evaluate change for cross-cutting issues (voice, value and connections), as well as specific thematic issues, such as health, education, safety and economic opportunity. We evaluate ourselves by the tangible impact we have on a girl’s life, her relationships, and her ability to make choices and create paths for change. 

How have you best used mobile technology?

We start by understanding girls’ lives and the challenges they face, then designing mobile platforms to help them overcome these so they can create positive changes in their lives. We currently have three examples of how mobile technology can be a game-changer: Girls Connect, TEGA and Springster. We created TEGA to address a significant data gap on girls.

Conventional research methods in hard-to-reach communities can have serious limitations – they can be slow, expensive and inaccurate. Often, girls won’t be honest answering questions asked by adult outsiders – if they are given the chance to answer at all. By employing and training girls to use bespoke smartphones and gather insights from members of their community, through surveys, photos and videos, TEGA can uncover powerful data in real time, in robust sample sizes. So organisations can understand the reality of girls’ lives, resulting in better designed, more targeted programmes.

TEGA is now operating in communities in Nigeria, Malawi, Rwanda, India and the US. Our global digital brand, Springster, uses mobile to connect marginalised and vulnerable girls around the world. Featuring content designed for and created by girls, the platform puts essential, tailored information directly into their hands. Springster is now live in 66 countries and has reached 15m unique users in the past year. 

Why was there a need for TEGA in a developed country such as the US?

We adapted and piloted the programme in Saginaw, Michigan, where violent crime is 3.5 times higher than the national average, and a woman is four times more likely to be a victim of rape. Forbes labelled Saginaw as the most dangerous city in America to be a woman, but there was little to no research revealing the cause, extent and impact of violence on the community – and, in particular, on women and girls. We recruited 16 girls from vulnerable or marginalised backgrounds in Saginaw and trained them to become TEGA mobile researchers.

The data is providing invaluable insights for local community groups such as Saginaw Community Foundation, which has now prioritised education as one of the biggest concerns of Saginaw’s youth. Other youth programmes – such as HIRE, Men of Excellence and Youth MOVE – have also looked to expand their services after collaborating with the TEGA initiative.

Why should brands work with Girl Effect?

Not just brands! At Girl Effect, we’re always looking for partners who are committed to creating positive change for girls – people who can fund us, partner with us, or share their expertise and resources. We believe the most effective way to create change is to collaborate with like-minded people. The work we do is supported and funded by a wide range of people and organisations, such as Gavi, the vaccine alliance, PEPFAR and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Female empowerment is currently front of mind; do you see equal pay and campaigns such as #MeToo as allied, or the preserve of the affluent while you’re fighting a poverty-focused agenda?

What movements like #MeToo and #TimesUp have shown, is that gender discrimination affects all women and girls. A letter published by Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, the US farmworkers women’s organisation, in support of #TimesUp showed that women from farming communities, who are far from ‘affluent’, can powerfully raise their voices in support of one another.

In the countries where we work, these inequalities are exacerbated by poverty and entrenched social norms, which make our work even more important. I’m encouraged to see so many women and girl empowerment movements thrive, because they are all driving towards a shared end goal we all strongly believe in.