Maryam Montague

BH Fellow 2022
Maryam Montague (Morocco)

Born in Egypt to an Iranian mother, Maryam was personally familiar with many of the problems that teen girls faced. Mother to a teen girl herself, she wanted to develop a feminist leadership program that would help marginalized teen girls better advocate for themselves and the rights of all girls. To address the many challenges that girls face during adolescence, Maryam founded Project Soar. Project Soar’s award-winning 25 workshop curriculum in Arabic helps keep vulnerable teen girls in school and protects them from underage marriage. After scaling the Soar Solution to reach nearly 4,000 girls in Morocco, Maryam wondered how the Soar solution could be modified for girls in very challenging situations - war, displacement, migration, etc. In 2021, the Soar Solution was adapted for girls in Northwest Syria. As a Blossom Hill Fellow, Maryam will scale her work to additional Syrian girls. The curriculum is designed specifically to increase the self-agency of Syrian girls who are internally displaced or marginalized and contributes to social cohesion between IDPs and host communities. As a Blossom Hill Fellow, Maryam will continue to enhance vulnerable Syrian girls’ chances for productive futures.