When Adolescent Girls Lose Their Way: A Call to Action for Communities to Show Up

Across many communities today, adolescent girls are facing serious risks not because they are reckless, but because the world around them is failing to protect, guide, and empower them. Instead of being supported to dream big and reach their full potential, many girls are being drawn into dangerous cycles seeking fast money, harmful relationships, and attention that ultimately harms their well-being, education, and future.

We are seeing an alarming trend: more and more girls are leaving home in search of so-called “better opportunities,” unaware that they are often walking into situations of exploitation and abuse. These choices are not just acts of rebellion; they are often silent cries for help. We must respond with understanding, not judgement.

What Should Adolescent Girls Be Doing?

Every girl deserves a chance to:

• Discover who she is and what she loves.

• Learn and grow in safe, supportive environments.

• Build healthy friendships that uplift and challenge her.

• Ask bold questions, make small mistakes, and learn along the way.

• Dream without limits, backed by adults who believe in her.

  
  

But too many girls are instead:

• Pressured to prove their worth through beauty or sexuality.

• Drawn into friend groups that encourage harmful behaviours

• Feeling ignored, unloved, or invisible at home or school.

• Struggling with poverty and inequality that hold them back.

Why Are So Many Girls Losing Their Way?

• Lack of Safe, Supportive Spaces: When girls feel unsafe or unheard at home or school, they seek belonging elsewhere, even in dangerous places.

• The Validation Trap: Today’s world places too much value on appearance and attention. Girls begin to chase approval from people who may not care about their well-being.

• Poverty and Pressure: Financial hardship can make girls vulnerable to abuse. In the absence of proper support, desperation can be mistaken for independence.

• Wrong Role Models: Many girls only see success through shortcuts dating older men, chasing internet fame, or dropping out to make fast money. Few are exposed to examples of success built through education, resilience, and purpose.

What Can We Do as a Community?

• Create safe, open conversations: Girls need spaces where they can speak honestly and be heard without fear or shame.

• Promote Positive Role Models: Shine a light on girls and women who are leading change, those who are excelling in school, building careers, and leading in their communities.

• Support Mental Health and Emotional Resilience: Teach girls to handle pressure, speak up, say no, and seek help when needed.

• Rebuild the Village: Raising strong girls takes everyone parents, aunties, teachers, neighbors, religious leaders, and youth mentors all have a role to play.

• Strengthen Families: When homes are stable and supported with resources, girls are less likely to seek security in unsafe relationships or environments.

To Every Girl Who Feels Lost or Alone

You are not your social media likes.

You are not what others say about you.

You are not your past.

And you are not alone.

You are worthy of love, of dreams, of joy, and of new beginnings. You deserve to be surrounded by people who believe in your potential. Come home to yourself. The world needs you to rise. Let’s stay present. Let’s protect. Let’s raise girls who know their worth.

Do you know a girl who needs someone to believe in her? Start there.

At SAFIGI, we have compiled a list of organisations working to protect adolescent girls, known as the Resource List. If you know of any organisations doing this important work, please reach out so we can add them and strengthen our collective safety net for girls everywhere.