"The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030"

Happy International Day of the Girl! Another year has quickly come and gone, yet the work to advance women and girls in the global arena has not waned. The establishment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has driven gender equality to the forefront of desirable goals as world leaders have begun to recognize that it is the untapped potential of women and girls that may very well be the key to solving the world’s most persistent problems; among them, poverty and hunger. According to the United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) Former Executive Director, Babatunde Osotimehin,“What the world looks like in 2030 depends on doing everything we can to ignite the potential of 10-year-old girls today”.

Historically, discrimination and violence against women and girls has limited the achievement of higher education, access to adequate basic and sexual and reproductive health care, attainment of community leadership positions, and has stifled the personal agency of girls and women. Igniting the potential of girls calls on the global community to support the end to violence against women and girls, to invest in their health care, and to promote education for girls beyond their primary years. In concert, these activities empower women and girls to live longer, live stronger, and to contribute to the global community in a way that women have not before. 

This year's IDG theme is "The Power of the Adolescent Girl: Vision for 2030". What, exactly, do we envision for 2030? A world in which women and girls regularly achieve higher levels of education in numbers equal to that of males. Societies in which cultural norms support the delay of marriage and motherhood according to a woman's desires, effectively improving maternal and infant mortality rates. We hope for health care systems that recognize the unique challenges in women's health and invest in promotion, making services more accessible to women and girls. Finally, we hope for a workforce that welcomes women and girls, recognizing that economies are stronger and more stable when women participate in them. Our vision for 2030 is of girls that are healthier and more empowered, operating in a more robust global community. 

In support of the IDG theme, CSI's Girl Talk, Girl Power program works to educate girls on a variety of topics. Over 1,000 girls in Tanzania and Uganda have benefited from the program thus far, learning about topics such as the importance of delaying marriage, ending harmful cultural practices like female genital mutilation (FGM), HIV/STI prevention, and the proper use of feminine hygiene products. This year, recognizing that menstruation and lack of feminine products present a great barrier to regular school attendance, CSI secured resources to ensure girls have the supplies they need to continue to attend school while menstruating. Today, and in the year ahead, CSI will continue its work to ignite and unleash the potential of women and girls in Baltimore and abroad.

US-based CSI Cofounder and CEO spoke about International Day of the Girl Child on TV and radio at Voice of America in Washington, DC. She highlighted CSI's Girl Talk, Girl Power program, the need to start at the household level to enroll more girls in school, and for increased collaboration among parties.
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​By Kimberly Sarvis, CSI Blog Writer

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