Making sure girls have a voice in the post-2015
development goals is essential. That's why the girl effect made
sure the voices of girls were heard at this year's Women
Deliver conference, which took place in Kuala Lumpur this
week.
Our tree installation at the conference told the
stories of 250 girls from
all over the world. Their voices represented those of the 250 million girls living in poverty.
all over the world. Their voices represented those of the 250 million girls living in poverty.
Their stories have been translated into a series of
recommendations that will ultimately become the Girl Declaration, which - when it
comes out on International Day of the Girl in October - will call
on the development community to recognise the unique potential of
girls to catalyse global development.
More than 1,650 people signed up to support the Girl
Declaration at Women Deliver, and you should too.
But don't just take our word for it. Here's what the
development community at Women Deliver had to say about the
importance of making sure girls' needs are heard and met…
1. "We have joined together to raise our voices in a
single call to action - girls' and women's health and rights must
be prioritised today, tomorrow and every day until our work is
done. Because we know: when girls and women survive, all of us
thrive." - Jill Sheffield, founder, Women Deliver
2. "If we don't put a girl first, if we don't start
with a girl, we may never have the opportunity to help her as a
woman. If you address a girl's issues across the board, you have a
really good chance of ensuring that she will have an opportunity to
live a long and healthier life - changing both her life and her
family's." - Kathy Calvin, president and CEO, United Nations
Foundation
3. "I visited the girl effect tree - the hopes and
dreams of girls around the world that we must all help realise." -
Melinda Gates, co-chair, Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation
4. "The opportunity to invest in an adolescent girl's
education is not only shifting her trajectory, but actually
fundamentally creating much more inclusive societies; and creating
economic growth, which is much more equitable." - Reeta Roy,
president and CEO, The MasterCard Foundation
5. "Our girls are asking for social and economic
empowerment. Education, education, education and education." -
Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda, general secretary, World
YWCA
6. "I'm lucky to have had tremendous opportunities
just by virtue of having been born in America. We have a
responsibility to do everything we can to make sure that other
girls have the rights and opportunities that we had." - Chelsea
Clinton, the Clinton Foundation
7. "Generally we don't actually talk to young girls,
so what the girl effect is doing is quite exciting." - Nafis Sadik,
special advisor to the UN secretary general
8. "Women and girls can start a virtuous cycle of
progress. They just need a little help to get started." -
Ashley Judd, actress and political activist
9. "We need to think differently, we cannot keep
doing the same things. We need to engage men and women in this
discussion equally and engage the power of young people to drive
change." - Hugh Evans, CEO and co-founder, Global Poverty
Project
10. "This is a unique moment. This is the first time
in history that we are working on a girl agenda." - Maria
Eitel, president, Nike Foundation
Convinced? Then help us put girls at the heart of the
post-2015 development agenda by supporting the Girl Declaration and
spread the word on Twitter using #girls2015.
Courtesy: http://www.girleffect.org/news/2013/05/women-deliver-10-inspiring-reasons-to-put-girls-at-the-heart-of-the-post-2015-agenda/#