Mercy Girl Effect (MGE) is a global “mercying” movement associated with Sisters of Mercy. It was originally known as “Girls Leadership Conference” and rebranded as Mercy Girl Effect in 2007 by Sister Deirdre Mullan and Ms. Eileen Killeen.

The movement brings together students — mostly girls — from “Mercy” high schools across the United States and in Ireland. In recent conferences, dozens of students and chaperones from across those countries attended and then were responsible for activities in their schools. According to a 2024 report in Global Sisters, a UN Platform, MGE involves “more than 4,000 girls” across the U.S/Ireland school networks.

Mission and Goals

Raise awareness about global challenges faced by girls and young women — such as lack of access to education, equality, health care, water, and other basic rights.

Empower young women to become “agents of change,” developing leadership skills, global awareness, and a sense of solidarity with girls worldwide.

Mobilise concrete action: fundraising, projects, and sustainable support for communities in need — not just symbolic solidarity.

How It Works — Structure & Activities

Each year, MGE holds a global leadership conference at Gwynedd Mercy University) for students from participating “Mercy” schools.

At this conference, students learn about global issues affecting girls using data from UNICEF and other international bodies. Students receive leadership training — including personality/work-style assessments (e.g. Myers-Briggs).

After the conference, selected students, known as MGE “ambassadors” return to their schools to organise awareness campaigns, fundraisers, and school-wide projects — rallying their peers to act.

Each year, MGE picks a different focus (e.g. building schools, installing wells, supporting teen mothers, providing scholarships and uniforms, supplying sanitary products, combating human trafficking, environmental themes and taking action by planting trees).

Impact and Projects

Over the past 18 years, MGE has supported a variety of concrete projects around the globe including:

• Building small schools (in Cambodia, Sudan, Zambia), providing scholarships, school uniforms, and educational materials.
• Installing clean-water wells (e.g. in Nigeria), helping communities where girls — who might otherwise spend hours fetching water — gain more time to attend school.
• Funding clinics and healthcare support for vulnerable young women.
• Supporting special initiatives tailored to urgent needs — During the COVID-19 pandemic, our fundraising supported vulnerable young girls working in tea gardens (who faced exploitation and poverty) with basic needs like food, hygiene supplies, and shelter in association with the Arise Foundation.

Philosophy and Principles

Inspired by the vision of the Sisters of Mercy and their founder, Catherine McAuley, we are an action based outreach, and a movement for “systemic change”: While we support education, basic rights, dignified living conditions, and empowerment — underpinning all that we do is an  understanding that those helped are equal partners, not passive recipients. We live by the motto: “those we think we are liberating are in fact our liberators.”

Geographic and Thematic Reach

MGE has supported projects across multiple continents. Thematic areas include:

• education access (schools, scholarships, uniforms),
• clean water & sanitation (wells, water-access campaigns),
• health & clinics, environment (green wall / sustainability campaign),
• human trafficking / exploitation mitigation (support for vulnerable tea-picking girls),
• support for teen/young mothers, and — more recently — support for marginalised indigenous communities in the U.S.. Choctaw support project.

Download a Snapshot of MGE Projects & Impact HERE

Strengths

MGE uses a holistic approach to girls’ empowerment.

It bridges youth in wealthy countries (U.S., Ireland) with very vulnerable communities globally — fostering global solidarity and awareness.

Messages to: Deirdre Mullan
E:deirdremullanun@aol.com