Mission: GLOW’s mission is to educate and empower girls across Georgia, particularly in underserved communities, to develop their leadership skills, realize equal opportunities and become agents of change.
GLOW Georgia programming aims to educate and empower girls across Georgia, particularly in under-
served communities, to develop their leadership skills and become agents of change in their own
communities. GLOW has historically been a Peace Corps-led initiative that first launched in Romania
in 1995. Its purpose was to “encourage the girls to become active citizens by building their self-esteem
and confidence, increasing their self-awareness, and developing their skills in goal-setting,
assertiveness, and career and life planning.” The program expanded worldwide and now is one of Peace
Corps’ most widespread gender empowerment initiatives.
GLOW held its first camp in Georgia in 2003. It accomplishes its mission through week-long summer camps and two subsequent follow-up programs: Taking GLOW Home, through which girls carry out their own community improvement projects and the Ambassadors Conference, for girls who implement three or more projects in their own communities. Additionally, GLOW implements a separate Mother Daughter Conference, which is an opportunity to bring mothers and daughters together to address topics such as relationships and communication, gender stereotypes, higher education, women's health, hygiene and fitness, women's rights, and childhood marriages. The program has become increasingly popular, with large increases in applications from year to year, and in 2014, it took steps to become its own independent NGO with a Georgian Board of Directors, volunteers, and interns. The Board of Directors (BoD) consists of 5 Georgian women who work with 4 interns. The BoD’s responsibilities include strategic planning, organizational advising, and contributing knowledge and insight. Interns’ responsibilities include transferring skills to new interns, organizing logistics, and sharing experience. Interns are responsible for translations, fundraising, social media and communications, recruitment, Training facilitation and many other tasks.
