Women and girls’ summit

Girl children are smart and resourceful and research has shown that investing in them translates to empowerment of our communities. ‘They go to school, help with housework, work in factories, make friends, care for elder and younger family members and prepare themselves to take on the responsibilities of adulthood. Girls play multiple roles in the […]

Girl children are smart and resourceful and research has shown that investing in them translates to empowerment of our communities. ‘They go to school, help with housework, work in factories, make friends, care for elder and younger family members and prepare themselves to take on the responsibilities of adulthood. Girls play multiple roles in the household, society and the economy.’
Are we contributing to the development of the girl child through supportive policies? The UN says ‘upholding the rights of the girl child has seen increased support through the nearly global adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, as well as through the UN Millennium Development Goals MDG target of increasing equality between girls’ and boys’ educational attainment. Education is critical to ensuring that the girl child achieves her potential. While today, equal numbers of boys and girls are receiving primary education in most of the world, few countries have achieved that target at all levels of education.
According to the 2014 MDG Report, in 2012, 781 million adults and 126 million youth worldwide lacked basic reading and writing skills, with women accounting for more than 60 per cent of both populations. Even when girls are encouraged to continue their education, they face major challenges that make it difficult for them to attend regularly. Schools may be sited far away from home and parents worry about the security of their daughters. We used to consider boarding schools as safe spaces for our girls but the abduction of 235 girls by Boko Haram insurgents from Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Borno State in April 2014 shattered that confidence. It was a shock. We have mounted unceasing advocacy for our girls to be brought back alive and well.  Our campaign, #BRING BACK OUR GIRLS, is a resounding cry across our country and around the world. That Chibok abduction has set us ten years back in our advocacy for promoting girl child education.
It happened within a context of violence that is directed at the vulnerable segment of our population, the poor, women, children, the aged and the disabled.
For girls, discrimination begins at the family level where they are oftentimes allocated an unequal share of the household tasks due to customary practices in many regions of the world. Though life for the girl child is steadily improving, many are still subjected to harmful practices, such as female genital cutting, child marriage, trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse.
 Among poor families where resources are inadequate for educating all the children, girls are more likely to be withdrawn from school and are often outpaced and outranked by boys in all spheres of life.
Here in Nigeria we are working to eliminate harmful cultural practices that hinder the progress of girl children. ‘The Girl Child was also one of the 12 critical areas of concern raised in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, concluding in nine strategic objectives framed as a means of holding governments accountable for girl’s rights. Freedom from all forms of discrimination against the girl child remains only partly fulfilled, and governments and societies must galvanize efforts if true freedom is to be won. Policies and programmes initiated must be duty-bound to take into consideration the differing, yet critical, needs of the girl child in terms of physical protection from sexual and physical exploitation, discrimination in all forms including in the field of education, and increased awareness of the struggles being faced by girls today.’
To mark the day of the girl child, the Office of the First Lady Her Excellency, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan in collaboration with the National Centre for Women’s Development (NCWD) and an international Non Governmental Organisation, Friends Africa hosted the first ever Women and Girls Summit. The event held at the National Centre for Women Development in Abuja on October 13th and 14th. It was attended by over 1000 women and girls drawn for representatives of Ministries, Departments and Agencies, NGOs and CBOs, schools, professional organisations, youth groups and development partners.
The theme of this year’s Summit focused on “Reinforcing the Agenda for the Girl-Child” and had the following themes of Health, Education, Safety & Security and Economic Empowerment. The objectives of the Summit were: to create a platform for high level dialogue on current issues affecting women and girls in Nigeria and Africa, create an avenue for the economic empowerment of marginalized women and girls, communicate the pulse of the African women and girls to the African Union AU and the UN development processes for women and girls.
The Summit began with a welcome address from the Director General of the NCWD, Lady Onyeka Onwenu who presented a highlight of the progress made in addressing issues on women and girls. The President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan was represented by the Hon. Minister of Women Affairs and Social Development, Hajiya Zainab Maina. The President underscored his administration’s support for promoting the empowerment of women and girls and ensuring that policies are put in place for sustainability of such initiatives. The Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Maryam Aloma Muktar was represented by Justice Mary Odili who advised women leaders to build on the work of their predecessors and embark on laudable projects that will continue to benefit women. The First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan in her speech renewed her commitment to the advancement of women and mentioned several supportive policies that the Jonathan administration had implemented for women and girls. Among them was earmarking of 60% of Central Bank loans for the economic empowerment of women. She also declared the Summit open.
The Summit featured several plenary sessions where representatives of Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, Executive Director UNFPA, Ms Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, UN Women Executive Director made presentations.  There were also goodwill messages from representatives of the Summit’s technical partners – UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA etc. Experts from relevant fields featured in panel discussions with contributions from participants. Hafsat Abiola Costello of KIND and my humble self facilitated a session where girl children spoke and made recommendations to the Summit for implementation. Participants were divided into interactive breakout sessions on Health, Education, Capacity Building, Advocacy and Economic Empowerment. Dr Akudo Anyanwu the Chief Executive Officer, Friends Africa delivered the vote of thanks.