The awards were presented to the laureates by UNESCO Director-General, Khaled El-Enany, and the Vice-Minister of Education of the People’s Republic of China, Ren Youqun, at a ceremony held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 9 October, ahead of the International Day of the Girl (11 October).
Selected by the UNESCO Director-General on the recommendation of an international jury, the two laureates each received US$ 50,000 to further their work in advancing girls’ and women’s education.
Project Soar: Supporting adolescent girls to stay in school and shape their futures
Project Soar was awarded for its Project Soar in a Bag initiative, helping underserved adolescent girls in Morocco and beyond stay in school and shape their futures. Delivered by trained local women facilitators, its curriculum is built around five pillars – value, voice, body, rights and path – strengthening girls’ confidence, health literacy, rights awareness and future planning.
The initiative combines girls’ empowerment with community action and menstrual health support to address barriers to education, including child marriage. Soar Clubs enable girls to develop solutions to challenges in their communities, while Soar Dialogues bring together parents, teachers and community members. In 2025, 97.5% of participating girls passed their school year and 99% remained free from child marriage.
CARE Peru: Expanding opportunities for rural and Indigenous girls
CARE Peru was awarded for its Girls with Opportunities (GWO) project, helping rural and Indigenous adolescent girls complete secondary education and build pathways to further study and decent work.
Through a whole-school approach, the project combines socio-emotional learning, comprehensive sexuality education, science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics (STEAM), financial education, life planning and mentoring. Secondary school completion among participants rose from 65% to around 82%, while reported adolescent pregnancy cases in targeted schools fell by 50%. The model has also been integrated into public schools, helping strenghten its sustainability and wider uptake. Since 2016, the initiative has reached more than 37,000 rural adolescent girls aged 14 to 19.
