Leave No Girl Behind International (LNGB) is a non-profit girls’ empowerment organisation founded in 2013 and based in South Africa, dedicated to empowering girls and young women around the world to find, respect and embrace their own voices, talents and unique potential through leadership.  The organisation was founded by activists and sisters, Haseena Patel and Shameema Patel.

The organisation works to reach girls before they become statistics. The focus of Leave No Girl Behind International is develop girls thought leadership training, thus helping to break the cycle of teen pregnancy, HIV, self-harm and abuse in all its forms as well as prevent child trafficking, child marriage, female genital mutilation and other human rights violations.

• There are still 31 million girls of primary school age out of school. Of these 17 million are expected never to enter school.¹
• If all women had a secondary education, child deaths would be cut in half, saving 3 million lives.²
• If all girls had a secondary education, there would be two-thirds fewer child marriages³

• Seven in ten girls in America believe they are not good enough or do not measure up in some way, including their looks, performance in school and relationships with friends and family members.⁴
• 75% of girls in America with low self-esteem reported engaging in negative activities such as disordered eating, cutting, bullying, smoking, or drinking when feeling badly about themselves (Compared to 25% of girls with high self-esteem)⁵

Millions of girls worldwide, both in developing and developed countries, lack the resources to explore their strengths and capabilities, and develop their potential.  Often, the adults in their lives also lack the resources to help them.

Our mission is to provide the environment, opportunity and tools for every girl who uses Leave No Girl Behind resources and programs, to find her voice, expand her world, explore her abilities and talents, contribute to her community and develop the skills needed to be independent, goal oriented and financially stable as an adult.

We do this by:

1. Raising awareness about the need for girls’ empowerment

Despite the high statistics worldwide that speak to the need for empowerment and change, lack of awareness on the part of the adults in girls’ lives results in girls often not getting the help and the resources they need to begin the journey to knowing and living their true potential.

Leave No Girl Behind is part of changing this by sharing this vital information on a large scale, and providing resources, direction and solutions through our programs and the Bubbles Beyond Borders campaign.

2. Education and empowerment

When girls learn about their strengths and abilities, their individuality, the art of communication, cultural diversity, being part of a global community and giving of themselves to others, they are able to interact with others at a higher level and create more opportunities for themselves.  They also stop accepting gender stereotyping as a barrier to their success.

Through the LNGB teachings, based on our six principles, girls are able to increase their self-esteem, learn new skills, break through their perceived limitations, interact with others more confidently, build better relationships, explore new opportunities and make a difference in their communities. Our LNGB School of Leadership is an intensive program focused on this.

3. Prevention

When girls have access to credible information together with a healthy self-esteem and a healthy value system, they make better choices and have a long-term perspective.

According to a national report in America commissioned by the Dove Self-esteem Fund, 93% of girls with low self-esteem want their parents to change their behaviour towards them in at least one way – this includes:

• Wishing to be understood better
• Being listened to more
• Spending more time with them⁶

LNGB teachings and programs help girls to build a healthy self-esteem and the foundation of a healthy value system.  By providing parents, caregivers, teachers, coaches, mentors and youth leaders with resources, we ensure that they are well equipped to educate, empower and support the girls in their lives.

^{1, 2, 3}     2012 EFA Global Monitoring Report; UNESCO Institute for Statistics database

^{4, 5, 6}     Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem, commissioned in June 2008 by the Dove® SelfEsteem Fund