In rural India, adolescent girls face persistent vulnerabilities: 40% drop out before completing secondary school, nearly 23% are married before the age of 18, and limited access to health, safety, and leadership opportunities severely curtails their potential (UNICEF, NFHS-5). Deep-rooted gender norms, lack of role models, and the normalization of discrimination further marginalize girls, treating them as passive recipients rather than agents of change.
Milaan Foundation created the Girl Icon Program as an innovative response to these systemic challenges. Traditional interventions often focused on providing services to girls, but failed to build leadership with them. We recognized that lasting change required empowering girls with the agency, skills, and platforms to challenge inequality from within their own communities.
The Girl Icon Program is a flagship, evidence-based, girl-centric model that identifies girls from vulnerable communities, equips them with critical knowledge, life skills, and leadership training, and supports them to lead peer-driven social action projects. Each Girl Icon mentors 20 other girls, creating a ripple effect of empowerment and norm change.
Through this model, Milaan is not just investing in individual girls — we are nurturing a generation of grassroots leaders who are breaking barriers, redefining gender norms, and building a more just and equal world from the ground up.
The Girl Icon Program is an 18-month, action-driven leadership journey that empowers adolescent girls from marginalized communities to break barriers and lead transformative change. Rooted in the leadership framework of Leading Self, Leading Others, and Leading Social Change, the program helps girls first build inner strength, then mentor peers, and finally lead community action.
It starts by creating safe, girl-only spaces where participants can speak freely and confront issues like gender discrimination, early marriage, and violence. Girls undergo structured training in life skills, rights awareness, health literacy, decision-making, and emotional resilience.
Each Girl Icon mentors and trains 20 younger girls, multiplying her impact. Armed with knowledge and confidence, she leads a Social Action Project to address urgent issues — stopping child marriages, keeping girls in school, promoting menstrual health, and ending violence.
Families and communities are engaged early, turning resistance into strong support systems. This fosters dialogue, shifts social norms, and ignites grassroots action.
By the end of 18 months, Girl Icons emerge as resilient, organized leaders — influencing decisions, challenging gender inequality, and claiming public spaces. Many also earn educational scholarships, fueling their leadership journey. They are the architects of a more just, equal world — one village, one action, one movement at a time.
The Girl Icon Program has been spreading through a powerful combination of community-driven strategies, alumni leadership, and global recognition. From the outset, deep engagement with families and communities has built trust, pride, and ownership of the program. Girl Icons serve as visible role models, inspiring new generations to step forward.
A key driver of exponential growth is our alumni network: today, nearly 80% of our field team consists of former Girl Icons who lead outreach, mentoring, and program delivery. Their lived experience brings authenticity, strengthens relationships, and accelerates expansion across new geographies.
Peer mentorship lies at the heart of the model. Strong Girl Icons mentor new cohorts, while success stories celebrated through local events, village networks, and social media make the program aspirational to more communities.
Strategic partnerships with Sony Music Global Social Justice Fund, the Obama Foundation, Echidna Giving, Malala Fund, UC Berkeley, and Girls Opportunity Alliance have further amplified visibility and credibility.
By 2030, Milaan aims to reach one million adolescent girls, building a powerful, girl-led grassroots movement. In the future, partnerships with government systems and nonprofit networks will allow the model to scale even further — embedding girls’ leadership at the heart of community development across India.
If you want to try implementing a similar initiative, start by building trust — it’s the foundation of any successful community-based program, especially when working with adolescents. Create safe, inclusive spaces where girls feel heard and respected. Provide ongoing support and counseling to both girls and their families to foster confidence, encourage participation, and address concerns early.
Develop a training curriculum that is culturally relevant, gender-sensitive, and anchored in the realities of the community. Respect local social norms while thoughtfully challenging harmful practices. Use participatory, adaptable delivery methods that allow flexibility across different contexts.
Before scaling, pilot your program with a smaller group. This will help you identify potential challenges, test your content and delivery models, and make course corrections based on real-world feedback.
Invest time in community engagement — work closely with parents, teachers, local leaders, and youth groups to build a broad support system around the girls. Remember that building a movement requires more than training; it requires creating an ecosystem that sustains leadership and change.
Finally, ensure a sustainable funding pipeline and invest in robust monitoring, learning, and evaluation systems. A strong evidence base will not only help improve the program over time but will also strengthen your case with funders, partners, and policymakers for long-term growth and impact.
