Palais des Nations
in Geneva 1211
When the International Day of the Girl Child was adopted in 2011, the objective was to make the invisible lives of girls truly visible, and to inspire commitments and action to promote girls’ rights. The IDG has been growing each year since 2012 and is now a foundation for advocacy and activism for many individuals and organisations across the globe.
Empowering girls in all spheres of society – political, economic, social – requires commitment and action from those in power. When spaces are opened up for girls to voice their opinions and see the potential they have, change can be made.The theme of this year’s IDG is “With Her: A Skilled GirlForce”, focusing on ensuring girls’ full participation in the future workforce through tackling gender stereotypes and harmful social norms across professions, and addressing the many systemic barriers.
The International Day of the Girl is an opportunity to highlight the need to empower girls as active agents of change, which calls the leaders of Geneva-based organisations, institutions and bodies to ensure the active and meaningful participation of girls and young women in decision-making and accountability processes. The international community in Geneva can play a critical role spurring global action on girls’ rights, not only through its normative and standard-setting activities, but also through commitments made by individual stakeholders in the Geneva space.
The event for International Day of the Girl will serve as a culmination of these mentorship experiences, and 5 October working-level meeting. During the event, young women and their mentors will share with the international community their experiences, as well as present the outcome of the 5 October meeting on principles and commitments for young women’s empowerment and leadership in the Geneva space.
The panel discussion will be moderated by a young woman.
The proposed flow of the event is as follows:
- Welcome and opening remarks (Plan International)
- Introduction by moderator (one of mentees)
- Questions to panellists (panellists consist of 2 mentees, 2 mentors and one speaker external to mentorship programme)
Exact questions to be decided - Q&A