Boxgirls: Strong Girls, Safe Communities 6/16/2017 Faculty Share this Story: Boxgirls South Africa seeks to build safe communities by strengthening girls and young women in disadvantaged communities through education, leadership development and violence prevention. Founded by Heather Cameron, Michael B. Kaufman Professor of Practice in Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Boxgirls serves 20 primary schools with evidence-based, after-school programs for 5th-grade girls, as well as community events and parent outreach to build capacity for violence prevention in the wider community. The program is part of a global best practice initiative funded by the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and Comic Relief. In March 2017, Cameron took five Olin Business School students to Cape Town to work on Boxgirls marketing and impact strategy as part of Olin’s Center for Experiential Learning practicum. Additional collaborations are planned with impact accelerators and agencies in Cape Town for student and research exchanges. “Boxgirls is a community-led grassroots empowerment and school development program working with very disadvantaged girls,” Cameron said. “I am honored that we can take the proven success of this grassroots venture to the highest level of policy development at UN Women.” “The success of the sustainable development goals depends on effective grassroots organizations, innovative foundations and government and impact oriented university research. At Brown with our practice, policy and research strength we contribute to all three at a global level.”