The adolescent population is the largest in the world’s history with 1.8 billion ages 10-24.  Of this number, 1.2 billion adolescents are between the ages of 10-19 and make up 16 percent of the world’s population. Half of these are children who identify as girls, with the majority living in low and middle-income countries. Empowering the girl child and adolescent represents an unprecedented opportunity for global progress and achieving SDGs 3, 4, & 5. Investing in children and adolescents who identify as girls yields many returns including reductions in early pregnancy, increased earning power, and overall healthier families and communities. Girls’ rights are codified in the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that identified rights of the girl child as critical to the full realization of women’s rights as human rights. Empowering girls requires a shift from girls as beneficiaries of programming to agents of change in their own right. Implementation of safe space programming for girls needs to be intentionally designed to give greater participation, influence, and control in their own households. This presentation highlights grassroots initiatives in the US and globally to strengthen the role of social workers and social work associations in advancing the rights of girls.