International Day of the Girl 2020: “My voice, our equal future”
The International Day of the Girl Child, celebrated on October 11, 2020, demands attention towards the specific challenge’s girls face, to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights. This year, the theme is ‘my voice, our equal future,’ aimed at garnering the diverse voices around the world of individuals who come together as a community.
This year also marks 25 years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – regarded as the most progressive document for the rights of women and girls on a global scale. The document discusses 12 specific areas needing particular focus to reach equality including accessing education, health care, involvement in political discourse and a life free from violence.
One notable highlight in the 25 years on, is the number of out-of-school girls has dropped by 79 million in the last two decades, from 208 million in 1998 to 129 million today. (March 2020).
There has been monumental progress for many individual women across the world over - but - we still have work to do to translate Beijing’s commitments into widespread systematic, structural, and transformative change.
“Women’s rights are human rights, and human rights are women’s rights”
The day of the girl celebrates the potential every young girls has. When supported during these impactful, adolescent years, empowered girls become powerful entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, political leaders and mothers.
Midaye is invested in the young women and girls in our community.
We have witnessed the linear path between success in education to a positive future and as a source of cultivating self-pride and self-confidence. We offer weekly education support to students, assisting them in subjects like English, maths and science. These sessions are small in numbers, offering a safe space, focussed on highlighting on individual skills and talents.
Twice a week, we host a debate club, a friendly space honing critical thinking, listening skills, public speaking skills and how to best articulate ones’ idea.
On Monday afternoons, we have a peer support group for 15-20-year olds girls, designed to learn while ensuring plenty of laughter. So far, our sessions have included poetry writing, self-confidence and self-awareness discussions, drama workshops and goal setting. We plan to celebrate the international Day of the Girl on October 12th with knowledge sharing about issues members of the group are passionate about.
