Sophomore’s Passion Project ‘EmpowerHer’: A Powerful Movement for Girls

Inspiration Behind the Initiative

Over 130 million girls are denied an education globally every single year. In Ivory Coast alone, between the years of 2021 and 2022, 20% of women failed to attend school for reasons related to menstruation. Without the resources needed for their health issues, many women find themselves facing significant health challenges in regards to overall well-being.  Moved by these injustices, determined sophomore Kristelle Bila created EmpowerHer. This is a service learning group dedicated to addressing these issues and empowering young women.

Kristelle Bila’s experiences when she returned to her home country, Burkina Faso, sparked her drive to create EmpowerHer. She was confronted by how common female genital mutilation was when she returned in the summer of 2023. Describing her shock by how prevalent the disturbing issue was, Kristelle Bila shared. “ I went back to Burkina Faso, which is where I’m from, and I really firsthand witnessed it, and it was really shocking”.

Bila decided to bring the topic up to her sister when she suggested that she do something about it. This ignited the idea to create EmpowerHer at the beginning of her 9th grade year, after the summer of 2023.

EmpowerHer’s Mission

EmpowerHer was created to uplift and empower young girls. They are actively try to ensure that they have access to the necessities they need. EmpowerHer also ensures that they educate them on certain topics that they may not have learned before. This is so that they understand that it’s okay. They try to ensure that they’re able to freely ask for sanitary products, and this group is able to provide that for them. The biggest goal as an NGO at the moment is giving women and girls the access to sanitary products that they need.

At the moment, the NGO is focusing on obtaining greater funds. To do this, EmpowerHer is hosting several fundraisers in order to carry out larger projects. Some of the ones from last year have varied from bake sales to movie nights to self-defense classes.

They are about to put one of the main service learning projects into action, which is a trip to the Orphelinat National de Filles de Grand-Bassam. This orphanage is a Replacement Protection establishment for orphaned children who are in vulnerable situations. The mission of this initiative would be to educate and talk to the girls at the orphanage about their health and the taboo related to it. 

Challenges on the Journey to Change

Being a small NGO in a school full of popular service learning groups that have been active for years has not been easy. When Kristelle first started her mission, the biggest challenge she faced was trying to establish EmpowerHer’s prominence in the school.  This means having less opportunities, and less of a say about events occurring at school. When you are a large service learning group, you have more priority in picking events. 

Bila explains that gaining recognition is hard as of right now. “There’s often an event list or planning list that they have at school. “Sometimes there are events that only certain service groups are able to plan because they’re a bigger name.”

Despite these obstacles, EmpowerHer has worked to create unique opportunities to grow its presence on campus.

The Future of EmpowerHer

Kristelle Bila describes herself as ambitious. Her main goal at the moment with EmpowerHer is to make a name for itself. She hopes that one day, the NGO will become a recognized name not only within ICSA, but also potentially internationally.

She also hopes to be able to partner with some distinguished names in the future. By spreading awareness, she hopes to make a lasting impact in her community, and many others.

Creating an NGO at school with little experience can change you as a person. Ever since she created the NGO, Bila says that she has become more confident. After a leadership summit that she participated in 2023, she says that she can delegate roles, and she is not constantly second guessing herself like before. 

It helped her to realize and understand the capabilities of others. Now EmpowerHer is running smoother as Bila has grown as a leader.

“Being in a leadership position to really help me understand more about everyone.”

Kristelle Bila, Grade 10

Advice for Aspiring Changemakers

If you want to start your own NGO on campus, the advice that Kristelle Bila gives is worth a listen. 

I would definitely say, do not be afraid. Although it may be hard to gain recognition for your non-profit at first, just keep trying. Sometimes, you will plan an event that keeps getting pushed back. You have to keep pushing. Keep pushing for what you want to be done. If you do not keep pushing and do not keep rescheduling and do not keep re planning everything, it won’t get done.

If you want to read about a former leader that also started a passion project, check out the article written about Abhinav Kumar. His aquaponics system has helped in the fight to stop hunger in Ivory Coast.

Also, if you want to listen to a podcast series on our other Service Learning organizations, Voices of Vision, is highly informative.