Globally, one person in eight is a girl or young woman aged 10 to 24 years – that is 900 million people. Yet, less than 2 cents of every $1 spent on international aid is directed towards adolescent girls , according to the World Bank.

A group of philanthropists and foundations came together in 2014 to launch the With and For Girls Collective, to try to change this. They wanted to tilt the funding balance in favour of girls and young women.

Five years on, they have awarded close to $3 million of fully flexible funds to 60 girl-led and girl-centred organisations in 41 countries, alongside capacity building support. But for them, giving directly to girl-led and girl-centred organisations is not enough - they have created a decision-making process that enables adolescent girls have the final say on where that funding should go.

“Too few girls have the chance to make decisions about any aspect of their lives – whether they can stay in school or what they can study, when or who they marry, if and where they can see friends.   We know girls experience particular injustices at the intersections of their gender and their age.  We also know that girls are often the last to be seen and invested in within the community and within philanthropy. This needs to change – girls are smart, have opinions and should make decisions on matters that affect them,” reflects Swatee Deepak, Director of the With and For Girls Collective.

Why does participatory grantmaking rarely happen? One of the realities in philanthropy is that the ones with the resources to give is rarely the ones experiencing the problems. As grantmaking professionalises, we continue to face the challenge of lack of diversity among foundations staff – so the need for participatory grantmaking may not be apparent to those who yield power.

Read the full article about girls in the driving seat of philanthropy by Bonnie Chiu at Forbes.