ABOUT SAFIGI

For Girls and by Girls, and with support from our allies, SAFIGI is innovating new ways to listen to girls and young women, and present actionable steps for their safety. Every girl is a priority.

The Community.

It was the community, journey, strategy, and values that led us here. Welcome to the SAFIGI Tribe.

'It takes a village to raise a child.' This is no different for girls safety. It takes a community. With over 200 volunteers across the globe, SAFIGI is a collective expression of the hope for a world where girls are safe and have equal rights.

Our volunteer board has been evolving each year. Spearheading this initiative is Hadassah Louis; a creative, author, technologist, and inequalities practitioner. She is Founder and Chief Curator of SAFIGI. She likes to think of herself as a bit of a caretaker in a community garden. So many hands have put good into Safety First for Girls over the years and that is why it continues to thrive.

The Journey

They called us feminists even before it was a buzzword. Gender equality is not a trend; it is the practical element between peace and trauma, safety and disaster, life and death. We have been in this journey from our youth, and even as we grow older, we will continue to create pathways for girls to take up leadership position.

The Strategy

Our strategy is to be of service; a crowd-sourcing of good deeds. SAFIGIs package is called SERVPAC.

SE: Safety Education R: Research V: Volunteering P: Partnerships A: Advocacy C: Community

Furthermore, we have a 5 year strategy as outlined below:

2012 - 2017: LEARNING BY LISTENING

We asked; what are the core issues affecting safety of girls in developing communities. The answer came in two Safety Reports; a Report featuring 8 female researchers and a data analysis document featuring 5 countries. All our projects have been about listening and have centered girls and women in asking and answering these questions.

2018 - 2023: RAPID-RESPONSE ACTION

The point of listening is in order to offer equitable responses that have human dignity embedded in the process. We have made 7 Safety Demands which clearly outline what is required to ensure girls are safe. If a person or institution falls short of these demands, then they have a lot of work to do to uphold girls safety. Furthermore, our projects have been to provide rapid response especially with the increasing systemic inequality.

2024 - 2029: BUILDING SAFETY TOOLS

Long term action is necessary for systems change. There is a crisis in girls safety because systems are not adapted to respond to girls or even take us seriously. Our ultimate goal is to build technological software and hardware that increases safety of girls by creating an interactive safety education game, making processes to report easier, and ensuring safety tools in response to policy do not traumatize girls or put them at increased risk.

The Values

Our space is sacred. We see it as a place of healing, pushing boundaries, testing our elasticity and still having a soft place to land. All our members must comply to these values. As it is, the world is not safe especially for girls and women. While we deal with deep-seated inequality, trauma, learning self-love, and unlearning harmful beliefs, we prioritize joy, imagination, and deep listening in order to create new equitable futures. Openness is necessary for growth, intersectionality and inclusiveness; and our core cause is the health of every girl who experiences the work we do at Safety First for Girls (SAFIGI).

JOY

We live in a difficult world. Joy is defiance to adversity and that is radical for the world we live in.

IMAGINATION

We can only build towards a world we envision. Imagination helps us build tools to rewrite our futures.

DEEP LISTENING

We are responsive and not reactive. Deep listening allows us the nuance to receive abundance, and likewise, to reject what is false or harmful.

OPENNESS

Each individual has an important role to play. Our openness is rooted in actions that speak louder than words. Each one has something to give.

HEALTH

No bandaids. No plasters. No judgments. Sometimes it has to hurt before it heals. We will hold each other. Even if one stumbles, there will be another to stand.