Founded in 2017, the Girl Build Girl Foundation is an offshoot of a self-empowerment platform presented by Gabriella Chapman when she competed at the Miss Bartica Regatta Pageant that year and won. It is a non-profit organization that strives to empower and improve the lives of members.
Back when she competed in the pageant, Chapman used her platform to speak on self-empowerment and also advocate for the empowerment of individuals. She wanted young women, particularly, to be confident in themselves, to pursue their dreams and achieve them regardless of the obstacles they faced.
Following her win that year, she began trying to come up with an initiative which would benefit her community. In fact, during the Question and Answer segment, when she was asked what she would do as an ambassador for her community should she win, she said that she intended to host an empowerment seminar. As such, she worked towards making this a reality.
At the time, she was residing in Georgetown where she worked and studied, which made it somewhat difficult to pull off the project. So, she decided to use social media to reach out to the girls in her community. It was initially supposed to be ‘Let’s Talk With Gabby’, a YouTube channel which she intended to be a platform where young women interacted, spoke on social issues and provided encouragement for each other. She asked for ten volunteers for a photoshoot for the show. The very night the post was made, Chapman saw interest from more than 70 young women. Her phone kept freezing throughout the night as she tried to read and reply to all the messages. It was an incredible moment, she said, as she did not even expect to get the ten volunteers she was hoping for.
It was at this point that she realized the influence she had on these young women. After pondering for some time, Chapman realized that the intended YouTube programme would be too small to cater for all who were interested. She discarded that venture and the concept for Girl Build Girl was birthed.
“What I wanted to do was to provide a space for young girls to have access to other sisters’ support,” Chapman said. “Sometimes as girls we need someone to talk to, to give us advice. We need support in our personal lives, even our academic lives and while we have that sister support available, we also have programmes to empower them with the necessary tools so that they can be productive members of society.”
The foundation’s objectives are to create a sisterhood in which members will be willing to help and motivate each other; provide programmes that will expand their knowledge about life; provide a safe and supportive place where members can experience new opportunities, overcome barriers, develop positive relationships and build confidence and life skills; and provide programmes that can help to shift gender norms, attitudes and practices. It also seeks to increase girls’ self-confidence, encourage them to express their views and give them access to role models who often also act as mentors; provide programmes that will expand or maximize their skill sets; create opportunities for their talents to be harnessed and exposed; help them with self-awareness and to find their path to live passion driven lives; and groom them to be positive forces in Guyana.
Since its founding, at the start of every year, the organization sets an action plan detailing what its focus for each month. Not all of last year’s agenda was fulfilled, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. By the middle of last year, the organization had 143 members and mentors but because they were unable to do anything, many got disconnected. As a result of this, Chapman decided to have the organization restructured and created new application forms. The current group is made up of 87 members and mentors with another 205 applications pending. Applications have been closed off until July. The former Miss Bartica explained that the reason for this is because the group has already moved ahead with forums and other activities and the addition of new members now will require mentors to redo all the work that has been done to get them on the same level with other members.
The restructured Girl Build Girl Foundation allows for more engagement on social media platforms. Socializing is an important part of life, but it has mostly come to a standstill because of the pandemic. Nevertheless, Chapman said, understanding the pivotal role it plays in our lives, Girl Build Girl has created a buddy system where two of three young women have been assigned to each other. She shared that for the time being, the members are getting acquainted on social media before they venture out together.
They are required to come up with their own activities and are expected to report back to the group as well as share photos or videos of the activities. Not all of the members are residents of Bartica. In fact, the majority of them reside in Georgetown while there are also members from Berbice, Linden, and Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara).
The group’s members are aged 14 to 25 years old and women over 25 are relied on for their mentoring skills. However, whether a member or mentor, they endeavour to build each other. Chapman stated that before the group was reworked, she did all the mentoring unless there were forums where facilitators presented. She has since realized that she cannot do it all on her own. The new group has 15 senior and junior mentors. The junior mentors assist the seniors with their assigned jobs which help to mould their leadership skills.
“The feedback from the members has been good. I’ve never had bad feedback from anyone. The only grounds on which people leave the group is when things get too hectic for them, especially when they are studying, working, or have personal issues that may be emotionally overwhelming. But even when they leave, many of them still return in a month or several months. Everyone has shared how much they love being part of this group. Some of them have been inspired to start their own small businesses. And, in sharing with the group, they get the support for their businesses from the members. Currently, many of our members are entrepreneurs and we are working on helping them…,” Chapman said. She noted that some of them started their small businesses as a result of being laid off owing to the pandemic.
The activities are mainly geared towards self-development, including life planning, life skills training such as the CPR which was provided by officials from the Georgetown American University, mental health sessions, career guidance, and entrepreneurship, among others. “The core of this group does not surround these activities per se, but our in-house activities and girl talk sessions. That’s when we really see persons opening up,” Chapman shared.
The foundation has done sessions at the Mahaica Girls’ Home in the past and at one point hosted a six-week programme at the home. Last Christmas, the group did a clothing drive for the Mahaica Girls’ Home and Sophia Home for girls and put on a concert for the children there. Chapman said the children are always thrilled to see them, but it is bitter-sweet. “It’s also heartbreaking because we cannot go as much as we want to or as much as they want us to,” she noted.
Over the past several years, Chapman said, the foundation was supported by the Youth Ministry as it relates to facilities provided for the various forums; this was under the previous administration. Girl Build Girl is looking forward to the support of this current administration.
Members of the organization’s executive are Denita Prowell (President), Lisa Hussain (Vice President), Rashaana Barakat (Finance Manager and Outreach Coordinator), Renata Anderson (Fundraising Director), Sharon Wright (Programme Director), Sydney Solomon (Secretary), Akelah Young (Treasurer), Dominique Best (Membership Manager), Britney Valladares (Social Media Manager), Jennay Duke (Junior Vice President), Shanae Heber (Junior President), Cheyenne Jordan (Junior Fundraising Director and Coordinator for Social Activities), Susana Augustin (Junior Programme Director and Coordinator for Social Activities), while for social activities, the other coordinators are Gianella Gajie, and Trina Persaud.
There is no registration fee, but applicants can choose whether they would like to have a group t-shirt and/or pin which will attract a cost.
The NPO can be followed or contacted via Facebook at Girl Build Girl Foundation, on Instagram @girlbuildgirl, or via WhatsApp at 616-7452.
