By Sugandha Gupta, Good Shepherd Girl Advocate
Sugandha Gupta shares her journey as a Girl Advocate with the Working Group on Girls, illustrating how amplifying girls’ voices—from social media campaigns to global platforms—can spark real change and remind the world that when girls speak, action follows.
When I joined the Grupo de Trabajo sobre Niñas (WGG), I stepped into a global community of changemakers all united by one goal: to amplify girls’ voices everywhere. I joined the digital advocacy team for the Día Internacional de la Niña 2025 campaign, and from the start, it was clear that this wasn’t just about posting nice graphics or trending hashtags.
It was about creating real, uncomfortable, and necessary impact!
Our campaign centered around bold voices, girls who dared to speak the truth about what growing up looks like when your rights aren’t guaranteed. We highlighted stories about child marriage, gender-based violence, online exploitation, and the silence that too many girls live in.
I worked on crafting posts, captions, and visuals that made people stop scrolling.
And somewhere in between the planning meetings, design edits, and endless rewrites, I realized something profound: advocacy isn’t about speaking for others; it’s about creating space so they can speak for themselves.
I also had the opportunity to make a video intervention on investing in girls’ mental health en el Human Rights Council in Geneva, something I’ve always felt isn’t spoken about enough, even in global advocacy. It wasn’t a performance. It wasn’t scripted to sound perfect. It was just me, a girl like millions of others, talking about what it feels like to grow up in a world that constantly pressures you but rarely protects your mental well-being.
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I spoke about how girls carry invisible weights, from unrealistic expectations to the trauma of violence, to simply never being seen as enough. I wanted to remind leaders that mental health isn’t a side issue. It’s the foundation of everything -education, safety, equality, ambition.
Watching my words play in that hall, knowing they reached diplomats, organizations, and decision-makers, was surreal. But more than pride, I felt a kind of responsibility. A reminder that advocacy doesn’t end when the camera stops rolling.
Both experiences – working with WGG and speaking at the UN – taught me that girls don’t need permission to lead. We already are. Our voices have power, real, undeniable power.
And that’s what I carry with me now, the belief that change begins when we speak boldly and truthfully, no matter how big or small the platform.
Because when girls speak, the world doesn’t just listen. It starts to move!
