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More than 750 young women aged 16 to 18, including 37 from South Down, delivered almost 500 community leadership projects in Northern Ireland over the past year, according to a new report from charity SistersIN. The projects reached 17,755 people in schools and communities throughout the north.
SistersIN is a leadership and mentoring programme that pairs young women with mentors from business, public life and the community, encouraging participants to identify issues they care about and design projects to address them. Students from South Down schools taking part in the 2025-2026 programme included those from St Mark's High School in Warrenpoint, Kilkeel High School, St Malachy's High School in Castlewellan and Assumption Grammar School in Ballynahinch.
Over the past 12 months, more than 750 SistersIN participants designed and delivered 480 leadership projects, contributing 9,060 hours of activity to their schools and local communities. More than a third, 38%, of participants created entirely new initiatives that will continue beyond the programme.
A teacher from Kilkeel High School said the programme empowers girls to challenge themselves. "This is an amazing programme which empowers girls to challenge themselves and to step outside their comfort zone in an engaging way, building self-belief and self-esteem. It has been wonderful to see female teachers in school become involved too in sharing their expertise and experiences."
SistersIN commissioned research involving the participants along with their teachers and mentors to assess the impact of its work. The report found that girls who started the programme with lower confidence and self-awareness showed three times greater improvement than those who began with higher baseline scores. It also found that 92% of pupils felt more prepared for the transition from education into the professional world following their mentoring and job-shadow day, while 42% reported a clear boost in their ability to lead and said they were actively looking for opportunities to use their voice. Among teachers surveyed, 90% said they had seen measurable improvements in pupils' self-belief, communication, resilience, self-leadership and teamwork.
Mental health and wellbeing emerged as the most common project theme, featuring in one in six initiatives, followed closely by charity and fundraising, then clubs and extracurricular activities, mentoring, community impact and sport. Participation from young women living in deprived areas increased by 37% this year, which the charity said reflects its belief that opportunity should not be determined by background or postcode.
Among the businesses and professionals who volunteered as mentors, 62% said they came away with a better understanding of Generation Z's ambitions and the workforce of tomorrow, while 61% said they had built new community connections through the programme. The majority, 90%, said they would volunteer again.
Peter Dobbin, SistersIN Chairman, said talent exists throughout Northern Ireland but opportunity is not always evenly distributed. "SistersIN exists to help change that by ensuring young women from every background and every part of Northern Ireland can access the mentoring, networks and experiences that help them thrive." He added: "This year's participants have shown what happens when young women are given the confidence to lead. They have created projects that have made a real difference in their schools and communities, while developing the skills, resilience and ambition that will serve them throughout their lives. Northern Ireland's future leaders are already here, and they are ready to make their mark."
Founded in Northern Ireland in 2022, SistersIN was created to help close the leadership gender gap by supporting young women at a formative stage of their lives. In four years it has grown from a local initiative into one of Northern Ireland's foremost youth leadership programmes, built on mentoring, community impact and the belief that every young woman should have access to the skills, confidence and networks needed to lead.
