My Experience in the Girls Belong Here program with Plan International Canada
Hi!
Im Grace and I just completed my first year of university. Ill be making a more detailed post about that as I have been a bit busy, but today I wanted to go over some of my takeaways from the Girls Belong Here program with Plan International Canada! It happened this year and ended around March, and according to the Plan Canada website, https://plancanada.ca/girls-belong-here
here is a quick summary: (video from Plan)
"This year, our Girls Belong Here Program is shifting to a digital platform to meet this historic moment. Though we may face unprecedented challenges, we are committed to this landmark program, our incredible partners, our fearless youth ambassadors and to achieving global gender equality. Sign up today, and give girls in Canada the chance to step into your position for the day, giving them space to lead while also learning from their unique perspectives and experiences. Now is the moment to support girls as they lead us toward a better tomorrow. Seize this moment, take a stand, and declare that Girls Belong Here."
So, as an ambassador, we were matched with a CEO or executive of a company and we shadowed them during their day or week, depending on their schedule some people did multiple day shadowings while some did one complete full day.
I got to shadow the VP of Business Development at Plan, Nadine, and I was so fascinated by her work ethic, her motivation to help others, and her ability to lead groups during my shadowing was very inspirational. The program was enlightening and the other girls were an absolutely positive light, especially during that time it was midterm season and hearing their words of impact really helped me to continue pushing harder and trying to challenge myself.
I will likely make a youtube video as well, but before I do that, here is a more concise overview of my takeaways.
Grace~ Seat share w/ VP Business Development of Plan
-Adapt
-Time manage for work life balance
Other takeaways from discussions with staff: (finance)
E-courses
Refine and save info
Entrepreneurship
Constant Opportunity
Longterm Thinking = essential
Focus on gaining Skills to solve problems, passion will follow
If you ever feel imposter syndrome, think about the White man who may not be as qualified but who is still able to advance up the ranks regardless, try to challenge yourself to get away from your comfort zone its during those moments where you learn the most / grow the most
Network importance
Takeaway on climate change programs staff: https://plancanada.ca/what-we-do/climate-change
Locally Community resilience, infrastructure/building, Rainstorms in dvp
Local Environmental damage: Wetlands, Floodwall, lake ontario, Real estate
Global Projects on solar energy, electricity reduces need for kerosene and other polluting energies like coal
Economic development / empowerment, youth unemployment =big issue
Local actions: Divestment uni from fossil fuels, disease burden,
Mobilize action = difficult
Takeaways from others :
Self esteem
Test your assumptions
Strong convictions and actions
Feedback: take it and do what you want with it
Raise hand and focus energy on where it is welcomed
Never too late to start something
Perfectionism or fear of failure = large barrier especially for women, stop overthinking things, do it if it can help you
You will feel like you don’t know things sometimes, thats ok
No excuses for not doing what you want to do
Internet = free ressource for so many things
Be scrappy and use your resources
Ignore the doubts just do it, learn on the way
Go deeper into your thoughts and break it down into easy steps
Links: (my other peer who made a blog post is linked below!)
https://planualberta.wixsite.com/championsofchange/post/stepping-into-cole-pinnow-s-role-as-president-of-pfizer-canada