A Toolbox for Girls and Young Women Leaders on the Frontlines of Gender Justice in Health

This toolbox, FLOURISH, is a collection of programming, advocacy, leadership, and mentorship resources and information that inform the collective action of emerging girls and young women leaders pursuing gender justice in health.

It can be used to design, implement, expand, and strengthen programmes and activities of girls and young women and helps enable practical, meaningful, and impactful advocacy and leadership work across a wide variety of settings. FLOURISH has been written and inspired by young women leaders all over the world, with leadership from partners including Positive Young Women Voices (PYWV), the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV (Y+ Global), and the Africa Youth and Adolescent Network (AfriYAN).

In supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, this toolbox is part of an important effort to find innovative solutions in various forms and ways of thinking towards empowering girls and young women and promoting real and sustainable change. In addition to helping build and support their capacities and skills, it also aims to raise awareness about the need for substantial investments in community-led organizations, groups, and networks of girls and young women in all their diversities. All local and global development partners should recognize and respond to the fact that such investments are essential for real change in all aspects of gender justice.

At the heart of this toolbox is the belief that the substantive leadership of girls and young women must be encouraged at all levels if we are to achieve gender justice locally, nationally, and globally. Making significant progress toward this goal requires increasing and supporting their opportunities to shape policies and practices related to the health and rights of themselves, their peers, and communities  including by holding governments, multilateral agencies, policy makers, programme managers, and other decision-makers to account.

This type and scope of direct engagement is essential to ensure that gender equality commitments are translated into sustained and meaningful change in areas such as HIV prevention and treatment, human rights, and sexual and reproductive health.