Engaging Girls in Deliberative Dialogue

A learning series to build the skills of deliberative dialogue.

Beginning in 2026, you’re invited to join Close Up, the International Coalition of Girls’ Schools (ICGS), and the Stanford University Deliberative Democracy Lab (DDL) as we bring together high school students to identify the issues most pressing for girls worldwide and engage in deliberative dialogue around those issues. Through this multi-event experience, students will identify topics that matter to them and to girls around the world, hear and learn from an array of perspectives, weigh competing arguments, and come away with their own carefully considered opinions.

Schools are encouraged to select the opportunities that best fit their goals and student availability. Participation in one, two, or all three experiences is welcome.

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Creating an International Survey: Coming in 2026

This online webinar, hosted by DDL and the World Association of Public Opinion Research, will introduce students to the factors they must consider when creating a survey or poll for their community. Students will learn how to identify bias in questions, avoid making assumptions, target the survey for specific audiences, and tailor the survey to answer the identified questions. Following the webinar, students will reconvene to create a survey to be shared with over 350,000 students at girls’ schools worldwide. They will work in cohorts to identify the information they wish to gather, construct unbiased and thoughtful questions, and then analyze the incoming data and create a report that will shape future programming with ICGS.

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Online Deliberation Experience: Coming in 2026

Using the data and topics identified in the worldwide survey, students will participate in an online deliberation with girls from across the globe. During this event, students will engage on important issues with peers worldwide and with a panel of experts on the topics. They will hear and learn from an array of perspectives, weigh competing arguments, and come away with their own thoughtful, reasoned opinions.

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Empowering Girls’ Voices Student Summit: February 3-6, 2026

In February 2026 in Washington, D.C., Close Up and ICGS are partnering for a global summit for students and educators that uses the international survey results and report to inform the policies and topics considered. Empowering Girls’ Voices will help girls of all backgrounds identify their own policy priorities, develop empathy for the perspectives of others, and build the skills and confidence to be strong civic leaders. The student summit will culminate in the Empowering Girls’ Voices Civic Action Symposium, with girls sharing selected policy proposals with a panel of female leaders and policymakers.

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