Michelle Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance Celebrates International Day of the Girl by Providing $2.5 Million in Support to More Than 50 Girl-Serving Organizations Around the World
October 12, 2025 at 9:00 AM CDT
CHICAGO – In celebration of International Day of the Girl, former First Lady and founder of The Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance, Michelle Obama, announced a new commitment to support organizations that educate and empower adolescent girls around the world.
The Girls Opportunity Alliance will support 54 organizations in 28 countries with a total of $2.5 million. These organizations support girls by offering scholarships, mentorship, after-school programming, and more. These organizations join the 11 Chicago-based organizations that received $500,000 in funding and organizational support during the back-to-school season this year.
In a new video (Opens in a new tab) released today, Michelle Obama honored girls worldwide and the organizations who support them. “Today, I’m celebrating the promise, talent, and determination inherent to every girl in our world. I’m also celebrating the extraordinary leaders in our Girls Opportunity Alliance Network who are helping to break down the barriers that girls still face.”
“I believe every girl has the power to not only make a difference, but be a mighty force for good that ripples across local and global communities,” said Valerie Jarrett, CEO of The Obama Foundation. “The Girls Opportunity Alliance is proud to support these organizations around the world who are empowering and educating young women and girls to achieve their dreams, and become changemakers in their communities and countries.”
With the support of the Girls Opportunity Alliance, these organizations will expand their programming and impact — examples include:
Amani Initiative, Uganda: Empowers girls through education and addresses barriers like child marriage and teen pregnancy. With this support, the Amani Initiative will grow its Dream Achievers Program, which identifies girls at high risk of dropping out of school and enrolls them in a support system designed to help them transition successfully through the next three years of their schooling. Girls receive life skills training and mentorship to navigate academic and personal challenges, as well as educational materials to relieve financial barriers.
Generation Girl, Indonesia: Equips adolescent girls with the skills, confidence, and community they need to become future leaders in STEM. With this support, Generation Girl will deliver four one-week STEM bootcamps which combine hands-on technical workshops, leadership sessions, and mentorship from inspiring women in STEM fields. Hybrid programming will reach girls in underserved cities and remote areas, removing barriers to participation. Generation Girl will reach 1,000 adolescent girls and more than 3,000 community members through this project.
Fundación Niñas de Luz, Colombia: Expands opportunities for adolescent girls from underserved communities through academic support and mentorship. With this funding, the program will run weekly workshops where 100 adolescent girls will receive support in subjects such as math, reading, and financial literacy. The program will also provide space for artistic expression and mental health support. Continuous family engagement and community involvement will ensure that each girl is supported both inside and outside the classroom.
Jharkhand Vikas Parishad (JVP), India: Promotes education, health, and sustainable rural development. With this funding, JVP will implement its Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment Program in a district with high rates of early marriage, poverty, school dropouts, and limited opportunities for adolescent girls. The project will provide vocational skills training and educational support. It will also connect girls with economic opportunity and strengthen community infrastructure for child protection. The Adolescent Girls’ Empowerment Program expects to reach 800 adolescent girls and an additional 3,200 community members.
Girls With Roots, Trinidad and Tobago: Empowers adolescent girls through leadership development, mentorship, and community engagement. With this support, Girls With Roots will expand its Girls Meet Program, which offers peer support and interactive sessions to help girls build confidence, develop leadership and life skills, and gain exposure to educational and career opportunities. With the program design led by girls, the project will help 200 students find their voice, make informed choices, and envision brighter futures.
The Girls Opportunity Alliance is dedicated to empowering and educating adolescent girls, helping them reach their full potential and create lasting change in their families, communities and countries, by connecting grassroots leaders, amplifying the impact of their organizations, and raising public awareness. To date, the Girls Opportunity Alliance has supported more than 205 projects led by grassroots organizations across 46 countries, reaching hundreds of thousands of girls.
In addition to funding, leaders of these organizations join the Girls Opportunity Alliance Network, a community of more than 4,000 leaders around the world, which facilitates the exchange of ideas, information, and resources to enhance organizational capacity and sustainability. As Network members, these leaders also gain access to capacity-building opportunities, equipping them with the latest data, strategies and tools to strengthen their work on girls’ education and empowerment.
Learn more about all of the organizations in the Girls Opportunity Alliance Network here.
About the Girls Opportunity Alliance:
The Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance seeks to empower and educate adolescent girls around the world, allowing them to achieve their full potential and transform their families, communities, and countries. The program works to connect girl-serving leaders and strengthen their impact, inspire action and commitments globally, and empower adolescent girls to learn and take action. When girls get the opportunities they deserve, our whole world benefits.
About The Obama Foundation
The Obama Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with a mission to inspire, empower, and connect people to change their world. That mission begins on the South Side of Chicago, where the Foundation is building the Obama Presidential Center. But that approach extends to all our work, whether it’s holding leadership training sessions in communities throughout the U.S., bringing local leaders together in countries around the world, working to support the global education of girls, or ensuring young men of color have pathways to opportunity. From every corner of the globe, our program participants are working together to address some of the biggest challenges of our time—from renewing our democratic institutions, protecting LGBTQ+ rights, fighting climate change, and so much more.
###
Contact: Emily Bittner, press@obama.org