International Day of the Girl Child: Conversation Café Drives Engagements With #DearTeenageGirl

As the global community marks International Day of the Girl Child, the Conversation Café has launched #DearTeenageGirl to highlight and address the needs and challenges girls’ face, while promoting girls’ empowerment and fulfilment of their human rights.

Declared by the United Nations in 2011, the International Day of the Girl Child is commemorated once a year on October 11 to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges they face around the world.

This year’s theme “GirlForce: Unscripted and unstoppable” focuses on girls breaking boundaries and barriers posed by stereotypes and exclusion.

In the last two decades, more girls have transited from dreaming to achieving. More girls today are attending and completing school, fewer are getting married or becoming mothers in their childhood and more are gaining the skills they need to excel in the future world of work.

Every year, the Conversation Café holds a discussion on the Girl Child. This year’s edition is third in the series.

The Conversation Café has published “Her”, a 30-minute film focused on the issue of ‘period poverty’ and other real-life societal stories and issues young girls and women face in economically disadvantaged/poor communities in Africa.

The Conversation Café team, alongside stakeholders and guest panellists will visit 3 schools in Lagos to screen the movie on the globally-recognized day.

The benefiting schools include Holy Child School, Fountain Heights Secondary School and Queensland Academy.

Beyond the Day of the Girl Child, the screening of the movie will continue in the days leading to the adoption of this new theme to celebrate the Girl Child and drive the initiative’s goal of reaching millions of girls.

Today, and every day, girls should be listened to and empowered with the individual abilities, social support and the resources they need to survive, thrive and transform their communities, even in the most difficult of circumstances.