Empowering young girls to be future economic leaders , in partnership with Standard Chartered
Standard Chartered’s Goal programme is designed for girls under 18 living in underserved communities, and provides life skills education through sport and other activity-based learning. The programme enrols 200 girls each year, aiming to empower them with the skills and equipment they need to make informed life choices, and to take on leadership roles within their communities.
In 2017 & 2018, Lensational partnered with the Goal programme to provide girls across three country cohorts in the United Kingdom, Zambia and Kenya with core photography and storytelling training, focusing on growing self-confidence, communication, and on exploring how the Goal programme has impacted them and their avenues for the future.
In the same year, Standard Chartered’s Goal programme hosted the Beyond Girls’ Education Global Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. The event highlighted the need to move beyond simply providing education and focus on the skills and empowerment young women require to achieve economic inclusion. Discover more about the summit below.
Using photography to improve young women's confidence and self expression
Lensational’s training approach with the Goal cohort members had the following objectives:
- To empower girls between 12-20 years old, emotionally and economically by equipping them with photography & life skills and nurturing their self-confidence
- To work alongside SCB’s ‘Goal’ programme to combine sports participation and education with photography training to allow the girls to explore a range of avenues for their future
- To expand on the theme of economic empowerment by training the cohorts to explore digital and creative careers.
To ensure our engagement had maximum impact, we also conducted pre and post training surveys with participants throughout the project. The majority of our training participants reported a positive increase to their confidence and to their ability to reflect on their lives and formulate stories by the end of the programme.
Participants also notably reported a more positive attitude towards overcoming challenges, and a drive to do their best to achieve their goals going forward.
Putting skills to the test: the Standard Chartered Photo Competition
It was important to both Lensational and the Standard Chartered that the girls who took part in our skills training have an opportunity to put their new photography skills to the test, and that they engage with a professional brief, and earn economic revenue. To do this we organised a photo competition with all GOAL cohort participants who had taken training with us. Participants were invited to submit photographs, which they felt portrayed Standard Chartered’s core Valued Behaviours:
Do the Right Thing Never Settle Better Together
Eight women were selected to be featured in the campaign, and all were paid professional rate for their winning photographs. See highlights of the winning photographs below.
