International Day of the Girl Child 2022: Empowering Our Leaders of Tomorrow

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) commemorates the 10th anniversary of the International Day of the Girl Child

By Education Cannot Wait

October 11^th, 2022

Girls are strong. They are leaders. They are thinkers. They are politicians, writers, lawmakers and doctors.

Every October 11, we celebrate the International Day of the Girl Child, recognizing that girls are just as critical to economic growth as boys and understanding that the barriers girls face to an education are often multiplied in emergency and crisis situations. Today, we call on governments, public and private donors, UN agencies, civil society organizations, and other humanitarian and development aid actors to prioritize girls’ right to an education.

In 2022, we commemorate the 10th anniversary of the International Day of the Girl by highlighting inspiring voices of girls from Ecuador, Ethiopia and Syria. Currently, 222 million children and adolescents live in crisis contexts. Of this number, 78 million are out of school and over half are girls. Their education cannot wait, #222MillionDreams✨📚 cannot wait.

Empowering girls in their education is the first step to building our leaders of tomorrow. ECW and its strategic partners have reached 3.3 million girls since the Fund’s inception in 2016. To fulfill its commitments on gender and inclusive education, the Fund has set the ambitious target of reaching 60% of girls in all its investments. ECW’s new 2023-2026 Strategic Plan also increases the focus on the participation of local women organizations and girls to ensure interventions are designed to be gender-transformative.

International Day of the Girl Child 2022: Empowering Our Leaders of Tomorrow

MELANIE - ECUADOR

Melanie dreams of one day becoming a doctor.

She's a 14-year-old girl from a refugee hosting community in Cuenca, Ecuador.

She is curious to learn about the human body, as she hopes it will lead her to a career as a general practitioner. Her favorite subject is natural sciences, a field typically dominated by men. But this doesn’t stop her from dreaming, encouraged by her dad who knows how hard-working she is.

Melanie has a learning disability that makes schooling difficult. Her dad, however, always tells her that she is fully capable of continuing to push herself to learn, even if it’s hard. She is proud of the fact that her grades aren’t affected by her learning challenges. She strives to be very disciplined — staying on top of her deadlines and homework assignments.

“I love this career path but it isn’t an easy one. But like my dad always says, everything in this life is possible with hard work.” ~ Melanie

After COVID-19 halted her education, she thought she might not return to school. But with the encouragement of her father and the help of an ECW-funded programme, she’s been able to go back again. Since returning, Melanie has been happy to see her friends and teachers for the first time in many months.

ECW is committed to empowering girls like Melanie through targeted gender and disability responsive investments informed by local needs.

ECW’s Multi-Year Resilience Program (MYRP) in Ecuador has already reached 87,000 children like Melanie, including 14,000 refugees. The signature “La Educación es el Camino” (Education is the Path/Way in English) programme is being implemented by UNESCO along with UNHCR, UNICEF Ecuador, Instituto Iberoamericano de Patrimonio Natural y Cultural, in collaboration with Ecuador’s Ministry of Education.

Roho in front of her community’s school. Photo © UNICEF Ethiopia/2021/Eyerusalem Yitna Tekaligne

ROHO - ETHIOPIA

Roho dreams of becoming an engineer.

But she’s faced insurmountable obstacles to an education. She and her eight siblings were forcibly displaced from their home in Ethiopia when she was young. Though they’ve since returned, they’ve struggled financially.

After her father abandoned the family, her mother became the sole breadwinner — but she was unable to cover education-related expenses for Roho and her siblings. To support her family, Roho dropped out of school to help with chores around the house and in the field.

Thanks to ECW-funded interventions led by UNICEF and implemented by Imagine One Day and Geneva Global Ethiopia, Roho is now enrolled in a Speed School Programme at the Ifaa Primary School. The programme provides accelerated learning support for out-of-school children ages 9-14. In just ten months, students cover the first three years of the Ethiopian government’s primary school curriculum.

“My writing, reading and mathematics have highly improved. I attentively follow my teacher’s advice and instructions. I regularly do my classwork and assignments, and I read textbooks and supplementary reading materials.” ~ Roho

Roho’s activities are funded by ECW as part of the Fund’s Multi-Year Resilience Programme in Ethiopia, which began in 2020 and expanded off the Fund’s Initial Investment in the country. In addition to providing the accelerated learning programmes, the programme contributes to the construction of temporary learning spaces and new schools, along with water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) stations. It funds teacher training, school feeding programmes and the distribution of menstrual hygiene management kits. ECW’s investments in Ethiopia have reached over a quarter of a million children, including 137,000 refugees.

Kathwar, 13, poses inside a UNICEF-supported self-learning centre in Al-Hasakeh, northeast Syria. Photo © UNICEF/Syria 2020/Delil Souleiman

KATHWAR - SYRIA

Kathwar dreams of becoming a fashion designer.

Until recently, this dream seemed out of reach for the 13 year old due to multiple barriers to her education. Originally from Al-Hasakeh city, Syria, she and her family were displaced five times due to violence. But her education was also impaired by a physical disability.

Kathwar suffers from stunting, a physical impairment that affects her growth and her ability to walk to school. Her school is 30 kilometers away from her house, and her family couldn’t afford to pay for transportation.

After not attending school for six years, the Back to Learning programme, an ECW-funded self-learning programme delivered by UNICEF, changed Kathwar’s reality. The programme helps children and adolescents who have missed years of school catch up to their peers. With ECW funding, UNICEF provided transportation from her neighborhood to school.

Kathwar remembers when she first heard that she could go to school. She was 13 years old when she first stepped inside a classroom.

“I could not stop smiling. I knew then that my dream could become a reality.”

ECW investments in Syria have reached over 369,000 children.

Emebet Getasew, a 17-year-old student who attended Guntir Primary School in Ethiopia. Photo © UNICEF Ethiopia/2021/Nahom Tesfaye

LEAVING NO GIRL BEHIND

ECW recognizes the importance of equitable education alternatives on the frontlines of emergencies and protracted crises.

The Fund’s holistic approach helps girls like Melanie, Roho and Kathwar to succeed, stay in school and achieve their #222MillionDreams✨📚.

On this International Day of the Girl Child, we celebrate the achievements and resilience of girls in crisis-affected countries. Girls today face enormous challenges. They may have had their education halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, like Melanie. They may have been forced out of their homes due to conflict like Roho, or kept out of school due to physical impairments like Kathwar.

When girls like Melanie, Roho and Kathwar are educated, they are more likely to lead healthy and productive lives, to understand their right to live without violence and to have more autonomy and self-confidence. It is time to help girls receive an education — to not only reach their own potential, but create a better world for themselves, their communities and societies.

It is time to make their dreams a reality.

Girls gather around Yasmine Sherif, Director of Education Cannot Wait, during the first all-women mission in Afghanistan. Photo © ECW

Access high-resolution photos from this story and our full media library on ECW’sFLICKR

Button Label