16 June 2026 -  One year ago, on the Day of the African Child, SWEDD+ countries, the World Bank and UNFPA launched the Regional Social and Behaviour Change Communication Strategy for SWEDD+. The strategy was designed to support greater investment in adolescent girls and young women through education, health, protection, leadership and economic empowerment.

At its core, the Together for Her campaign carries a simple conviction: transforming the lives of girls requires more than policies. It requires changing social norms, strengthening family and community support, and creating an environment where every girl can learn, decide and shape her own future.

From the outset, the campaign brought together ministers, development partners, youth representatives and regional leaders from the seven SWEDD+ countries. Dr Robert Lucien Jean-Claude Kargougou, Minister of Health of Burkina Faso, called for girls’ empowerment to become “a national priority, not only in words, but also and above all through concrete actions and substantial investments.” Mrs. Fatou Kinteh, Minister of Gender, Children and Social Welfare of The Gambia, emphasized the shared responsibility to ensure that every girl, in every community, has the opportunity “to learn, make her own decisions, and live with dignity.”

One year later, this regional ambition is beginning to translate into country-level action. Online, the launch and digital campaign reached more than 1.07 million people across 11 countries and generated approximately 2.47 million views in eight weeks. The strongest engagement came from content highlighting family support for girls’ education, vocational training and women’s economic participation. This shows the power of strategic communication when institutional messages are connected to the lived realities of families and communities.

Chad: Community dialogue and safe spaces

In Chad, the first national rollout of Together for Her took place in Moussoro, in the Bahr El Gazal province. Administrative authorities, traditional and religious leaders, community representatives and adolescent girls came together to discuss the barriers that continue to affect girls’ education and protection. The initiative strengthened the capacity of 137 local leaders on the prevention of gender-based violence and highlighted the role of 40 Safe Spaces, which support nearly 2,000 girls through mentorship, life-skills education, health information and economic empowerment activities.

For Nadège Nemercie, a participant in one of these Safe Spaces, change begins with confidence: “When I come to the Safe Space, I feel confident. I have learned that I also belong in school and that my future matters.” Her father, Abdoulaye Adoum, also described how community dialogue helped shift his perspective: “I have come to understand that educating and protecting girls does not go against our values. On the contrary, it strengthens them.”

The Gambia: Sustaining political momentum

In The Gambia, the regional momentum was sustained through high-level political advocacy, including the First Ladies Forum on Zero Tolerance to Gender-Based Violence. Opening the forum, H.E. Fatoumatta Bah-Barrow, First Lady of The Gambia, reminded participants that gender-based violence is not only a violation of human rights, but “a direct assault on dignity, health and opportunity.” This message placed the protection of women and girls at the centre of development, social justice and public accountability.

Burkina Faso: Mobilising communities for girls' education

In Burkina Faso, the campaign was adapted under the national banner Kom-Pugli Kaoreng Yõodo, meaning “The Benefits of Girls’ Education.” Led by the Government of Burkina Faso, the initiative combines community dialogues, theatre forums, radio programmes, advocacy activities and reproductive health services. Implemented in the Bankui and Nakambé regions, it is expected to engage more than 8,000 community leaders and reach over 2 million people, demonstrating the importance of communication that is rooted in national and local realities.

Strengthening how change is measured

This first year also helped strengthen how change is measured. In N’Djamena, more than 30 monitoring and evaluation specialists, communication officers and technical partners from the seven SWEDD+ countries co-created six harmonized regional indicators to better measure changes in knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and social norms. As Saleh Bourma Ali, Chad’s Minister Delegate for the Economy and International Cooperation, noted: “We must move from a logic centred on activity monitoring to a logic centred on documenting transformation.”

One year after its launch, Together for Her shows that communication can be much more than a visibility tool. When backed by political leadership, adapted to national contexts, rooted in communities and supported by evidence, it becomes a driver of social transformation.

The experiences from Chad, The Gambia and Burkina Faso demonstrate that regional commitments can produce concrete results when translated into local action, carried forward with communities and monitored through evidence. The first year has laid the foundation. The next step is to consolidate this momentum, expand national coalitions and continue shifting the norms that still too often shape the future of girls.

Together for Her. Together for more just, resilient and prosperous societies.