With little over a year until the Millennium Development Goals expire, we have a once in a generation opportunity to drive mass resources to girls. The Girl Effect movement is seizing that opportunity. Since the Girl Declaration launched in October 2013, we have seen an incredible shift occur. In just 9 months, what started as a rallying cry to get girls on the global agenda has turned into something much, much greater.
Individuals and organizations are making the Girl Declaration their own. After the Girl Declaration made headlines at the World Economic Forum and African Union Summit at the start of the year, supporters went on to make sure that adolescent girls’ voices – and what they need to transform their lives, as expressed in the Girl Declaration – were heard by decision-makers at important convening moments around the globe.
The Girl Declaration inspired more than 450 of the world’s most influential women at this year’s Makers Conference, and Plan International brought the Girl Declaration to the Global Child Forum on Social Entrepreneurship in Stockholm. At the Commission on the Status of Women and Women Deliver meetings in New York this past March, the International Center for Research on Women, the World Health Organization and Johnson & Johnson brought the Girl Declaration to the halls of the United Nations.
During the Women: Inspiration & Enterprise Africa Symposium in Lagos, Nigeria, leaders like Toyin Ojoro Saraki and Mo Abudu sat down to speak with three of Girl Hub Nigeria’s Girl Ambassadors who set the hall alight with their poise, grace and determination in the face of the recent Boko Haram abductions. Liz Ngonzi, global thought leader & entrepreneur, Julie Gichuru, Kenyan journalist & news anchor, and others amplified their messages by tweeting photos and quotes from the event, and helped us increase the Girl Declaration’s reach with an African audience of nearly 300,000 people.
This July, girls will again be on the agenda in a very big way. On July 20th, Girl Effect Live, a day-long festival devoted to celebration, creation, and conversation about the potential of girls in poverty, will connect girls in London to girls around the world, Then, two days later, the British Government and UNICEF will host the Girl Summit 2014. The Girl Summit will rally support to end female genital mutilation and child and early forced marriage. Momentum for girls around the world has never been stronger. Truly, it is time for 250 million girls worldwide to say with voices loud: this is our moment.
News source: girleffect.org
