Opportunities · Pathways · Education · Networks
Our philosophy
We don't believe the answer is simply creating more opportunities.
We believe in making existing opportunities visible, accessible and actionable for girls who have historically been disconnected from them.
The scale of the gap
This isn't only a pattern we observe. It shows up in the data.
Three different barriers — where a girl is born, whether she is connected, and whether the people around her can open doors — all point to the same underlying gap between girls and opportunity.
Displacement & conflict
2.5x
Girls in countries affected by conflict — like Myanmar and South Sudan — are 2.5 times as likely to be out of school as girls elsewhere, and 90% less likely to be enrolled in primary school.
Source: UNICEF, Plan International & UN Women, "Girl Goals," 2025
Refugee education access
46%
Nearly half of the world's 12.4 million school-age refugee children are out of school. No country has yet reached gender parity in refugee girls' access to primary education.
Source: UNHCR Refugee Education Report, 2025
Digital access
90%
Of young women and teenage girls in the world's poorest countries have no internet access at all — compared with 78% of young men in the same countries.
Source: UNICEF, 2023
Our mission
OPEN for Girls works to close the gap between girls and opportunity.
Who we serve
Girls and young women, particularly those who face barriers to opportunity.
We prioritize the Global South — girls whose potential has been separated from the opportunity to act on it.
01
Girls from low-income communities
02
Girls affected by displacement or conflict
03
Girls with limited access to educational opportunities
04
First-generation students
05
Girls in underserved communities
06
Girls transitioning into higher education or employment
Two ways of closing the same gap.
Our programs
OPEN for Girls works at two depths at once — going deep with a selected group of girls, and working to make opportunity visible far more broadly.
Program 1
4 Girls Forward →
Intensive · Personalized · Girl-centered
A selective, cohort-based program for girls and young women who have aspirations but face barriers to accessing the opportunities that could help them move forward.
