The GGM UK 2024 Mentorship Programme

Help us run our 2024 Mentorship Programme!  We want to match media experts to each of last year's Global Girls, graduates from our Summer Academy, to prepare them for the world of media work and to boost their potential to thrive.   We'd love your help.  

(Photo: The graduates - Global Girls - from the 2019 Summer Academy, trained in association with Ark Globe Academy, Elephant and Castle )

Background:  Global Girl Media UK has been training young women, girls and non-binary people from under-represented communities since 2016.  We provide them with the tools, platforms and confidence to tell their own unique stories - from their perspectives.

We believe we need to hear more diverse voices to reflect our society properly.  In 2024 we want to empower even more young women and non-binary folk to change the media landscape.  

The problem: In a world where 51% of the population is female, the voices and stories of young women - particularly women of colour - are still largely absent from mainstream media.                     

Across 114 countries, women comprise only 24% of the people we read about, see, or hear from on television, radio, and in the newspapers (UN Foundation). Levels of those working in the media from non-white backgrounds in the UK are currently even lower than 30 years ago (Creative Employment Survey). 

(Photo:  Global Girls visit the BBC August, 2023)

Getting into this notoriously tough industry is no mean task. The young women who graduate from our Academy may not have the contacts and networks of those from more privileged backgrounds.  

The solution: We break barriers by making our Summer Academy free and we select candidates who may not otherwise have had such opportunities. We choose our participants from a wide variety of backgrounds, creating a safe and rich environment conducive to learning.  

(Photo:  The Graduates from our 2023 Summer Academy, trained in association with Graveney School, Tooting)

We train our participants aged 14-22 in reporting, blogging, camera work, research, editing and much much more, building their capacity to create impactful content.  They meet successful women professionals during our training - women from similar backgrounds to their own - and they take trips to broadcasters such as the BBC and news agencies such as PA.  They graduate at the end of the intensive 3 week course with their own short documentaries. 

You can see graduating films on our website https://www.globalgirlmedia.uk.  

(Photo:  Gabi and Daisy collaborate on an i-phone filming project)

But what then?  

After the Academy:  We aim to support our graduates long-term. 2 of our 2023 cohort, for instance, are currently undertaking a paid internship at female-led production company, Nutopia.  

Still, we always want to do more.  

This is where our Mentorship Programme - and you - come in. Please help us to build an exciting and effective mentoring programme by funding us now.

The need:  We require £5000 for the 4 months of our programme, which will run from March to June inclusive. We will use your money to administer an ethical service, from vetting to graduation.  If we reach our target, the stretch target will help us provide more opportunities for our Global Girls.  

The programme: We will use the London Mayor's Mentoring Quality Framework to screen, interview and enlist mentors from our own extensive networks, to carefully match mentor with mentee, to run induction, training and information sessions, to help build relationships and trust and to provide advice for mentors and a listening ear for mentees.

(Photo:  The 2023 Global Girls) 

Mentorship:  We want to match our 12 Global Girls from 2023 with experts in the media industries, across all areas of interest. These mentors will offer invaluable advice, support and affirmation to our graduates, opening doors and creating opportunities, acting as inspirational role models and boosting both skills and confidence.

Please donate what you can now.  

We thank you. 

Tasnim, Aysun, Daisy, Haja, Halima, Sharon, Charlotte, Henry, Marianna, Savannah, Willow and Gabi - the 2023 Global Girls - and with gratitude from Tor and all the GGM UK trustees and volunteers.  

Testimonial from a 2023 Summer Academy graduate

‘I’ve loved everything about the training, from the amount of information I’ve learned to the human connections I’ve made. To the never ending and endless kindness and support from all the facilitators, the speakers, the trustees. That feeling that I got every time I went home that feeling of being able to make a change and that I wasn’t alone and I can always fall back on the girls (and non binary/trans folks) of the group. I don’t feel alone against the world any more;  I’m not shy to come and ask people for help.’  Tasnim 

(Photos:  Messages from former Global Girls.)

Testimonials from former Summer Academy graduates:

Testimonials: 

'GGM UK gave me the courage to pursue my dream of becoming a news journalist. Being surrounded by fellow empowering women empowered me to use my background and love of writing to pave my own way into the field, often through providing voices for those from minority communities.'

Danielle Desouza, Social Media journalist, Press Assocation, Global Girl Media UK Graduate 2019

‘Without the training and support from GGM UK I wouldn’t have had the confidence to pursue a career in the media industry. I now work as a freelance Assistant Producer and the charity was instrumental in helping me onto my career path, especially as I didn’t know anyone who worked in media’ 

Aisha Clarke, Freelance AP, Global Girl Media UK graduate, 2016

'GGM UK has empowered me to be the woman I am today. Since joining GGM UK, I have grown in confidence, gained invaluable skills and built a network of empowering women. Through this, I owe my professional and personal development to GGM UK. I wouldn't be where I am today without it'.

Dila Su Yalman, Digital and Technology professional, Global Girl Media UK, graduate, 2020 

Changing the face of media by putting girls behind the camera 

- and at the centre of the story