Black Girls Rising

29/05/2026

CLEAN ENERGY PROJECT ✨

On the 23rd, the Energy & Clean Air leads led by had a full-day advocacy and innovation session with brave girls, a space of learning, healing, creativity, and problem-solving. 💚

We started the morning with body movement and self-development activities focused on “My Body.” The girls painted outlines of their bodies and engaged in meaningful conversations about the importance of each body part, body awareness, dignity, and understanding safe and unsafe touch. It was a powerful reminder that climate justice work must also center healing, confidence, and self-awareness.

In the afternoon, we shifted into innovation and environmental advocacy. Together, the girls identified key environmental challenges affecting their communities and worked in groups to brainstorm and present possible solutions.

What stood out most was the creativity, courage, and leadership the girls brought into the space. The future of clean energy and community change is already here, and it looks like young girls leading with vision and care.

YouthLeadership CommunitySolutions

27/05/2026

Bauleni access 🇿🇲 in water.

As water access becomes more difficult in Bauleni, Lusaka , some people with resources are installing boreholes and selling water to communities. On one hand, it’s innovation and entrepreneurship. On the other, it raises deeper questions about justice, inequality, and who gets access to basic needs.

What happens when survival becomes a business?
Can water solutions be both sustainable and equitable for everyone?

We’re holding the complexity, listening deeply, and learning from young people and communities imagining different futures.

What do you think a just water future should look like?

18/05/2026

Today, Black Girls Rising was represented at the on Children and Adolescent Mental Health by our counsellor and Rising in Leadership participant Olwam.

Mbali spoke on the importance of caring for the carers, reminding us that those supporting communities, movements, and young people also need spaces of rest, healing, and mental health support. 💛

Olwam shared powerful reflections on what young people truly need when it comes to mental health support, safe spaces, people who listen without judgement, community, creativity, and access to holistic care. She also spoke about how Black Girls Rising supports young climate activists through psychosocial support, mentorship, sisterhood, wellness practices, and leadership development.

At Black Girls Rising, we believe climate justice work cannot exist without care, healing, and emotional wellbeing. Our movements must make space for young people to feel seen, supported, and held. 🌱

CareForTheCarers AdolescentMentalHealth GirlsLeadingChange HealingJustice YoungPeopleRisin

14/05/2026

Our Project Manager, , is attending the launch of the Climate Justice in Education Project led by Motheo Brodie & Professor Ann Skelton and her team at the University of Pretoria.

At Black Girls Rising, this conversation is deeply personal and urgent. Some of our girls contributed to this research by sharing their lived experiences of climate injustice and education in marginalized communities. Their voices matter.

Sikelelwa also shared reflections from our work with girls and young people across Southern Africa, highlighting why climate education must be prioritised in schools, not as an “extra topic,” but as a critical part of preparing young people for the realities they are already living through.

From water shortages, food insecurity, flooding, heatwaves, and pollution, young people are experiencing the climate crisis now. Education systems must equip them with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to respond, lead, and reimagine a more just future.

Building a climate-resilient future starts in the classroom, and young people must be at the centre of shaping it. 🌍✨

JustTransition GirlsLeadingChange

13/05/2026

🇿🇼 Yesterday at Shallcross High in Kuwadzana, young people gathered for the Black Girls Rising Just Transition Innovation Lab 🌿✨

Together, we explored Zimbabwe Vision 2030, opportunities for young people, and what it means to reimagine our communities through climate justice, innovation, care, and youth leadership.

From powerful conversations to bold ideas, the day reminded us that young people are not just the future, they are already shaping the future now 💛🌍

InnovationLab Kuwadzana

11/05/2026

🇿🇼 Today in Zimbabwe, we spent time with our girls and their families in Zengeza listening, learning, and grounding our Just Transition Innovation Lab in community realities.

A just transition begins with care, connection, and the voices of young Black girls and their communities 🌿✨

11/05/2026

07/05/2026

At BGR, we are not just teaching climate justice, we are holding space for whole lives, building girls who are supported, grounded, and ready to shape the future

In April, through 36 counselling sessions, we supported 31 girls navigating school, grief, family challenges, and major life transitions. What stood out most wasn’t just the challenges, it was the strength.

💬 “I feel safe here… I am excited to learn how I can make a difference in the world.”

💬 “Learning about climate knowledge has made me do better at school.”

💬 “I have a community no matter what happens.”

This is what a safe space looks like ✨

Girls building confidence.
Girls finding belonging.
Girls stepping into leadership.
Girls learning to heal, cope, and grow.

And even through grief, academic pressure, and financial challenges — they are reminded that they are not alone.

Because when girls feel safe… they rise 🌱

01/05/2026

On a cold autumn day, our Water Justice Brave Girls travelled from Khayelitsha to St James Beach, bringing curiosity and creativity with them 💙

Invited by Claire from , some of the girls and their leads took part in the Silent Lab marine bioacoustic mural workshop.

They listened to the sounds of sea animals found along the coast and translated those sounds into colour and storytelling on a mural 🎨🌊

The experience was beautiful, wholesome, and joyful, reminding us that climate learning can be creative, embodied, and deeply meaningful.

From Khayelitsha to St James, our Brave Girls continue to reimagine what climate leadership looks like.

28/04/2026

Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) Motherwell

Our final stop: Gqeberha 🍃 Today in Motherwell, we hosted our last Just Transition roundtable of this regional journey, bringing together our girls and local stakeholders in the green economy.

We shared, listened, and reflected on:
🌱 Climate realities in our communities
⚡ Energy & clean air
🌍 Pathways in the just transition

From Umlazi to KwaBhaca to East London, and now Gqeberha - one thing is clear:
young people are ready.

Grateful for every voice, every story, and every space that made this journey possible 💛