Girl Effect

Girl Effect is an independent non-profit organization, launched in September 2015 with the goal of ending poverty globally. Its work is based on its belief that when given the opportunity, girls are able to lift their countries out of poverty.
History.
Girl Effect was created in 2008 by the Nike Foundation, in collaboration with the NoVo Foundation, and United Nations Foundation among others. It launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos with a film that challenged people to think differently about the role girls play in development. The film has been seen by 1.8m people to date.
Girl Effect brought on Farah Ramzan Golant as CEO. Maria Eitel, President and CEO of the Nike Foundation, was also brought on, as chairman of the organization. In 2019, Jessica Posner Odede joined as CEO.
Since becoming an independent organisation, Girl Effect is still supported by the Nike Foundation and other funders, as well as by new partners. Its activities include a number of youth brands and mobile platforms, such as Technology Enabled Girl Ambassadors and Girls Connect.
Critiques.
This campaign has been the focus of feminist and academic critiques. As other projects that talk of women and girls as 'the magic bullet of development', the campaign was said to rely on essentialist views of womanhood, depict women and girls in developing countries as 'in need of saving'. Further, these type of campaigns that do not take into consideration men and the relations of women and girls with their households and community often have the effect of overburdening women who are already responsible for childcare and all types of formal and informal labor.