Today is the International Day of the Girl Child. A day set aside by the United Nations General Assembly to celebrate the girl child, who often is left behind in development. This year’s theme is With Her: A Skilled Girl Force. As the Graça Machel Trust, this day is very special for us as we celebrate all the young girls and women in the Mara region of Tanzania where we are implementing a program to get children back into school.
The Mara region has high teenage pregnancy rates, child marriages and female genital mutilation (FGM) which negatively affects girls and denies them access to education. It was therefore out of our work on ending child marriage and reducing teenage pregnancies that the Trust and local NGOs realized the need to keep girls in school as the best chance they had to overcome poverty, improve the economic prospects of their families and achieve their dreams. This led to the establishment of the Mara-Out-Of-School Children project (MOOSC) which is funded by Educate Above All (@EAA) and is being implemented by the Trust in partnership with the Republic of Tanzania Ministry of Regional Administration, the Local Government and the Mara Alliance.
These girls to the Trust are not just number but they are human beings with faces, voices, hopes and dreams. Which is why we celebrate young girls like 15-year-old Daines Nyamagako from Bigutu Primary School who dropped out of school due to conflicts in the family and 16-year-old Deborah Kenganya from Keisangura Primary School in Tarime District who was at high risk of being forced into marriage.
Our goal for the project is to use access to quality education as a medium to nurture and equip girls and young women such as Deborah and Daines with the necessary skills to ensure they are employable on completion of their education.
So, on this day, together with our partners in Mara, we pledge to continue working towards ensuring girls are at the center of #SDG5 (Gender equality) and #SDG4 (Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all) to ensure we do not leave any girl behind in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals 2030.
Read more on our children’s rights programme here
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.