If we ever thought, even for a moment that girls were treated equally and with respect, the illusion was so clearly and brutally shattered last month with the horrific news about Malala Yousafzai, the 14 year old girl from Pakistan who was hunted down and shot by the Taliban for the sin of simply going to school. This is clearly an extreme, but it sheds light on the fact that many girls around the world do not get to enjoy the most basic of human rights.
As you may know, the United Nations declared October 11, 2012 as the world's first International Day of the Girl Child and Canada has led the international community in adopting this day. The example of Malala Yousafzai is one of many that show why such a day is so important. Around the world, girls face many significant barriers when trying to get educated and make a living, such as early and forced marriage, abuse and extreme poverty. This day helps to not only shine a light on the discrimination that girls face, but also on the amazing and inspiring work that women and girls are carrying out to change their communities and their world.
We need to seize this moment and turn our collective outrage at what happened to Malala into a call to action. We can speak out and we can support the very courageous women and girls who are fighting on the frontlines. And we can choose to invest in the women and girls who are making change happen.
At Crossroads, we have chosen to invest in women and girls. When we see a promising idea, we will support partners to pilot and scale up programs and then to share what they have learned with others. One exceptional example is the Girls’ Empowerment Clubs piloted with Crossroads longtime partner, the Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA). Launched in 2008, the Girls Empowerment Program allows 400 school-aged girls from across Swaziland to find a safe space to share their experience of abuse. They receive counselling, learn about their rights and how HIV is transmitted, and engage in discussions around sexual abuse and violence. They are also encouraged to become leaders themselves. Initial results are promising. More girls are coming forward with their experiences of abuse and getting help. In the first year alone, teachers reported that teen pregnancy dropped by half. And school attendance and academic performance of club members has markedly improved. The program hopes to keep empowering girls in the years to come and ensure that they are better equipped to assert their rights and become the leaders of tomorrow.
We are also very fortunate to have the support and leadership of Cebile Manzini Henwood is Executive Director of SWAGAA as a member of our board of directors. One of the best things about my job is that I get to meet and work with some truly amazing women. Cebile has many accomplishments and professional credentials, but more than all of that she is a feminist survivor advocate who is passionate about women’s rights and about life and she believes that we are all here for a purpose and we only finding meaning in life when we begin to fulfill that purpose. You can learn more about Cebile, SWAGAA and our work in Girls Empowerment through the podcast available at this address: http://www.cintl.org/podcasts
Read more about the importance of the UN Day of the Girl Child and SWAGAA’s Girls Empowerment Programs in Karen’s opinion piece, published in the Vancouver sun on October 10th, 2012. The piece also appeared in the Saskatchewan Star Phoenix the next day :
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