Programs

 

iGEM members advocate for policies that support women and girls, raise awareness and funds for adolescent girls globally, and plan community development initiatives to promote female leadership in the Chicagoland.

 

Advocacy

In some cases, 80-90 percent of youth program participants are boys. Indeed, less than 2 cents of every development dollar goes to programs specifically for girls. Accordingly, iGEM calls for international policy that effectively includes girls and makes them visible members of development programs and the global political landscape. iGEM educates Northwestern students about pieces of legislation like the Girls Count Act, which aims to increase the number of girls who are registered at birth and thus counted as full citizens with fully recognized, equal rights. iGEM called on their representatives to co-sponsor the bill and collected hundreds of signatures of support for the act, contributing to the unanimous passage of the bill in Spring 2015. Most recently, iGEM held an advocacy workshop for refugee girls in Chicago. iGEM members worked with this vulnerable population of adolescent girls to teach them about the structure of democracy, to build their capacity to engage in civil society, and to develop the skills necessary to advocate for policy relevant to their backgrounds and interests.

 

Awareness

As the first step to action is knowledge, iGEM actively seeks to educate members of the Northwestern and Evanston communities about the lives of women and girls in developing countries. In particular, iGEM focuses on the following five issues that impact girls worldwide: education, health, safety, leadership, and documentation. iGEM takes a creative approach to awareness efforts by joining forces with other student groups and powerful voices within the Northwestern community. For instance, last year, iGEM partnered with eight other groups and departments to host a movie screening of the film Girl Rising and thereby to increase understanding of many issues girls face in their everyday lives around the world. The screening was followed by a Q&A session with the film’s Ethiopian screenwriter and NU Writer-in-Residence, Maaza Mengiste. iGEM also encourages students to voice their own thoughts and reactions to gender inequality. For example, iGEM has held several whiteboard campaigns in which students share their answers to unique questions about gender and development with the general public via iGEM’s social media accounts.

 

Fundraising

iGEM raises funds for UN programs specifically aimed at girls in the developing countries of Ethiopia, Guatemala, Liberia, Malawi, and India. Through various campus events, from gift-wrapping to bake sales to letter-writing campaigns, iGEM mobilizes funds that allow girls to reach their full potential. In iGEM’s first year, the club raised over $3000 in a few short months and plans to continue to expand fundraising efforts in the years to follow. Most recently, we held a donation-based dance class with Northwestern’s Fusion (pictured), using our two left feet to raise funds for girls globally. Other plans for the year include our second annual open mic night entitled “Jams for Justice” that will bring artists, musicians, and poets together to raise awareness and capital for Girl Up, and our charity 5K on the Evanston lakefront to be held in Spring 2016.

You can donate to support girls and women around the world here. For just $15, you can help a girl gain access to clean water and sanitation. A donation of $38 can provide a girl with a solar lamp so that she can do her homework at night even without electricity. Click here to learn more about where your donation would go.

 

 

Community Development 

Because some of these issues are oceans away from Northwestern University, iGEM utilizes a unique community development model in order to stay connected to its mission in a hands-on way. Through working with adolescent girls in Evanston and Chicago, iGEM promotes the education, leadership, and well-being of girls in its vicinity. For example, in the fall, iGEM hosted a Campus Day for local high school refugee girls. 40 female refugees visited Northwestern’s campus for the day to learn about the possibility of college and why they should attend through interactive workshops, a panel of Northwestern faculty and staff professors and college guidance professionals, and a performance by an all-female acappella group.

Each spring, iGEM culminates its community development initiatives with an annual leadership summit for local middle school girls. Through comprehensive training and educational enrichment, the summit aims to bring girls in grades 5-8 together for a day of leadership. The summit’s mission is to promote strong communities both at home and around the world through the engagement of a critical demographic – adolescent girls. In the morning, girls participate in activities geared toward empowerment and development of leadership skills, while the afternoon is devoted to learning about girls’ lives around the world and how to create sustainable change at the local and global levels.