Leading with Heart and Power: Tujifunze Africa’s Journey Through the Girls First Institute

How Advanced Certification in Girl-Centered Programming is Transforming Our Approach to Supporting Adolescent Girls

In July 2025, Tujifunze Africa Foundation took a significant step in strengthening our capacity to serve adolescent girls. Dr. Shamilah Matama and Ms. Donna Kajumba represented our organization at the Girls First Institute Advanced Certification and Summit—a three-day intensive program in Kampala that brought together grassroots, women-led organizations committed to improving outcomes for girls across Uganda.

What we gained went far beyond certificates and toolkits. We emerged with renewed conviction, practical frameworks, and a deeper understanding of what it means to place girls at the center of everything we do.

What is the Girls First Institute?

The Girls First Institute is the premier skills-building, outcomes-improving professional development program designed exclusively for women who uplift girls in their communities. Led by and for women serving girls in the Global South, the Institute is an initiative of She’s the First—an organization that has impacted over 936,000 girls by working alongside 827 community organizations and 295 girl-led chapters in 62 countries over the past 15 years.

The Advanced Certification program launched its first Uganda cohort in 2025, convening a select group of organizations that participated in the 2024 Girls First Summit. The program offers targeted training, shared learning, and year-long coaching and support, all designed to help organizations build stronger, more effective programs for girls in their communities.

A Year-Long Journey of Learning and Growth

The Advanced Certification is no ordinary training program. It’s a comprehensive, year-long commitment that combines:

In-person intensive training (July 15-16, 2025 at Fairway Hotel, Kampala)

Girls First Summit (July 17, 2025)—a powerful networking and capacity-building event

Virtual training and coaching (August 2025 to June 2026)

Final in-person training (July 2026)

This hybrid methodology ensures that organizations don’t just receive information—they have ongoing support to implement what they learn, adapt it to their unique contexts, and sustain momentum over time.

Six Transformative Modules

The Advanced Certification covers six comprehensive modules, each addressing critical aspects of girl-centered programming:

Module 1: Girl-Centered Design — Learning how to ethically include girls in program design to ensure our work addresses their real needs, not what we assume they need

Module 2: Listening to Girls — Practical ways to include girls’ voices in our programs through participatory approaches and meaningful engagement

Module 3: Feminist Mentorship — Exploring principles of feminist mentorship and developing practical skills to create inclusive, safe spaces that build girls’ agency

Module 4: SRHR Program Design — Learning how to design rights-based Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights programs rooted in girls’ needs, addressing these sensitive topics with care, confidence, and clarity

Module 5: Girl-Centered Monitoring and Evaluation — Learning to assess our impact and develop tools that measure what truly matters to girls

Module 6: Girl-Led Advocacy — Practical ways for girls to advocate for themselves and others, amplifying their voices in spaces that affect their lives.

Key Learnings That Are Changing Our Work

The summit provided transformative insights that are already reshaping how Tujifunze Africa Foundation approaches our programs:

1. Building Organizational Assets

We learned that sustainable impact requires strengthening both tangible and intangible assets, from skilled human resources and community trust to robust systems that enable long-term sustainability in girls’ rights work.

2. True Girl-Centered Design

We explored methods for tailoring programs to the specific realities and needs of girls, with particular focus on SRHR education, menstrual health, mental well-being, and access to safe spaces. This isn’t about asking girls what they want once—it’s about creating ongoing feedback loops that keep programs relevant and responsive.

3. Feminism and Leadership

The summit emphasized that feminist leadership requires both conviction and compassion—leading with heart, valuing lived experiences, and actively dismantling oppressive systems that limit girls’ potential. This resonated deeply with our team and reinforced our commitment to challenging the status quo.

4. The Four Pillars of SRHR Programming

We learned a comprehensive framework for SRHR work:

Safeguarding Rights: Ensuring legal, social, and emotional protections for girls

Prioritizing Wellness: Integrating self-care and holistic well-being into programs

Leading with Heart and Power: Balancing empathy with decisive action

Creating Safe Spaces: Providing inclusive and non-judgmental environments where girls can thrive

5. Addressing Unconscious Bias

Through practical exercises, we learned strategies for identifying and mitigating biases that can unintentionally marginalize certain groups of girls, particularly those from underserved or vulnerable communities. This work begins with honest self-reflection and requires ongoing vigilance.

6. Listening to the Girl Child

Through interactive toolkits, we learned participatory approaches for amplifying girls’ voices, gathering their stories, and using their feedback to improve program relevance and effectiveness. The tools we received will help us move from talking about girls to talking with girls.

What We Gained

Our participation resulted in tangible outcomes:

Official Certification: Dr. Shamilah Matama and Ms. Donna Kajumba received recognition as She’s the First leaders and advocates for girls’ rights

Comprehensive Resources: A complete toolkit on girl-centered advocacy, program design, and monitoring

Ongoing Support: A structured schedule of virtual follow-up trainings and peer-learning sessions through June 2026

Network of Allies: Connections with other feminist leaders and grassroots organizations across Uganda working toward similar goals

How This Changes Our Work

The Girls First Institute experience reaffirmed Tujifunze Africa Foundation’s commitment to advancing adolescent girls’ SRHR, leadership, and education. But more than affirmation, it provided practical direction for improvement:

Integrating Girl-Centered Design: We are applying the frameworks learned to ensure all our programs—from sponsorship to menstrual health to literacy—are responsive to girls’ lived experiences

Embedding Feminist Approaches: Feminist leadership principles are being integrated across all organizational levels, influencing how we make decisions and structure our work

Leveraging New Tools: The resources provided are enhancing our participatory program evaluation and storytelling capabilities

Applying the Four Pillars: These pillars of SRHR programming are being mainstreamed into existing and future initiatives for greater impact

Deepening Partnerships: We’re strengthening strategic collaborations with organizations advocating for girls’ rights, both locally and nationally

Reflections from Our Team

As Dr. Shamilah Matama and Ms. Donna Kajumba shared in their summit report, the experience provided “not only technical insights but also a renewed sense of solidarity with other feminist leaders and grassroots organizations.”

The summit reminded us that we are not alone in this work. Across Uganda, dedicated women are fighting for girls’ education, health, safety, and agency. Together, we are stronger. Together, we are building a movement.

Looking Forward: A Year of Implementation

The July summit was just the beginning. Over the coming months, our team will participate in virtual training sessions, receive personalized coaching, and work alongside fellow organizations to deepen our practice of girl-centered programming.

In July 2026, we’ll reconvene for final in-person training, bringing with us the lessons learned from a year of implementation. We’ll share what worked, what challenged us, and how we’ve grown.

A Commitment to Every Girl

Participation in the Girls First Institute Advanced Certification represents more than professional development for Tujifunze Africa Foundation. It represents a commitment—to listen more carefully, to challenge our assumptions, to center girls’ voices, and to lead with both heart and power.

Armed with practical tools, enriched perspectives, and strengthened networks, we are poised to scale our impact and continue championing the rights, voices, and potential of every girl in Kamuli and beyond.

Because every girl deserves to be educated, respected, and heard. And we’re here to make sure that happens.