The Adolescent Movement, an initiative of the Graça Machel Trust, is impacting the advocacy agenda for African young girls. With a focus on sexual reproductive health, leadership, mentoring and confidence development, the Movement is bringing together generations to bridge the gap. In February 2023, the Movement hosted its SHE SPEAKS Meeting, a hybrid event to empower adolescent girls to speak up collectively and powerfully to make well-informed decisions. Over fifty adolescent girls attended in person, while ten participated online. The She Speaks Meeting provided a platform for girls to gain the knowledge, confidence, and skills needed to contribute positively to their community’s development. In addition, it was a unique opportunity to bridge the intergenerational gap and encourage collaboration between stakeholders and generations. The Adolescent Movement is committed to creating a better future for girls and young women in Southern Africa. The SHE SPEAKS Meeting was an essential step in this journey, and the Movement looks forward to supporting young women and girls in their pursuit of a better future.
Panel discussion with the young female leaders
Joining the meeting virtually, Mrs Graça Machel provided a keynote address and encouraged young women to speak up for themselves powerfully and collectively. She said, “we want them to be able to make well-informed decisions, as well as teach and learn effectively about the most important issues surrounding sexual reproductive rights, as well as health, education, leadership, and mentorship.
The Trust’s mission is to bridge the gap between the generations and to foster mutual empowerment. We have gathered here to strengthen one another and find agreement areas.Â
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The Trust launched this pan-African innovation Adolescent Movement in Africa in 2021, drawing from consultations with over 900 adolescents from 27 African nations. The design strategy was influenced by collaborating with partners such as UNICEF, UN Foundation, Children Believe, The Amazon Leadership Initiative (The ALI) and Womandla Foundation.Â
The Trust’s Chief Executive Officer, Ms Melizsa Mugyenyi was also present at this auspicious event, warmly welcomed and reminded the participating girls that the Movement is created for them, “We are here to listen. We are here to learn, and we are here to be more responsive to your needs”. She continued to highlight that, through these platforms, 97% of adolescent girls have been reached, and a virtual regional gathering of adolescent girls from across Southern Africa was held at the end of last year, bringing together this community of almost 100 girls, partners, donors, advocates, and allies from across the region. These initiatives aimed to assist in structuring and organising voices and perspectives that will allow adolescent girls to thrive. Â
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Part of the adolescent girls participants from The ALI
Ms. Mary Izobo, Founder and Executive Director of The ALI, which works with over 3,000 young females across Africa, shared how her organisation shared a common goal with the Trust of preparing and mentoring young leaders on how to lead and guide them to the future. “The ALI empowers women and girls to foster inclusivity in leadership roles and provides mentorship, career guidance, education, and capacity development to alleviate gender inequality in line with the aspiration of the African Union Agenda and goal five of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals”, she said.
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Ms. Muriel Mafico, UNICEF
The Deputy Representative from UNICEF, Ms. Muriel Mafico, shared that there are almost 600 million girls of the same age group across the globe. The young adolescent girls are part of a powerful group of people, all with aspirations, and as an organisation, they are investing in a collective future. “We know that by investing in young girls like yourselves, we are unlocking talents. We are unlocking skills; we are unlocking potential. But we cannot reach our goals unless we bring everyone along, which means bringing adolescent girls along. So, you are valid, and your role and your importance cannot be questioned”.Â
During a motivational speech, a 15-year-old poet and motivational speaker from Academic High Achieva described herself as a remarkable young woman fully prepared to face any challenge society may throw at her. She emphasised that she aspires to inspire people by setting a positive example and representing the opinions of millions of other young ladies. Her poem, ‘Dear Black Girl,’ was about not being frightened to go beyond the boundary of the sky but instead seeking knowledge from the diamonds in the African sky. A panel discussion was presided over by another high school senior and a promising young woman leader who aspires to become a nuclear physicist.Â
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Identified ChallengesÂ
The Commission for Gender Equality’s Thembelihle Mbongwama highlighted statistics published in 2017 by the Mail and Guardian of a report on pregnant learners who were still in school between the ages of 13 and 14. In addition, the IOL reported that at one school in the Northern Cape during the same year, teachers were involved in 30 pregnancies. “At the moment, these are the difficulties experienced in Northern Cape. The prevalence of learner pregnancy in South Africa has been brought to light due to increased reporting by the Department of Basic Education, and the vast majority of this can be ascribed to socioeconomic situations,” she noted.Â
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The Commission has repeatedly called for the law to be applied to curb the growing scourge of statutory rape in South Africa, which has seen thousands of underage girls drop out of school due to early pregnancy. In addition, the Commission continues to call for all families, parents, and communities to report any incidences of abuse to the nearest police station.Â
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SolutionsÂ
- The importance of mentees: the most fundamental element is to build the confidence of young females, to be able to go out of there and make sure that they kick doors that are closed and they can achieve their goals.Â
- Local councillors: need to ensure that the law is working. Â
- Arts: can also be used as a modem for calling each other out. The young poet used spoken words to speak out. Â
- The power of social media: Publishing material that calls for justice, following up, and mobilising various communities. Social media have influenced some venues. The same may be said about adolescent pregnancies.Â
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The Pan-African adolescent girls’ Movement is a game changer, where the seeds of leadership are being sown. there is a need for innovation and fresh ideas to deal with the world’s development issues.
Today, May 30, 2023, the Trust convenes a strategy meeting with a “She Speasks” Reference Group comprising adolescent girls, advocates, and organisational members to provide points of comparison to evaluate their key learnings from existing programs and value add for their wealth of experience gained over the years.
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting childrenâs 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 Childrenâs Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescentsâ 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.
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