IDG Support Team Sep 19 The 2023 Girls Speak Out will draw upon the IDG theme of “Invest in Girls’ Rights: Our Leadership & Wellbeing” focusing on action for girls’ rights. This begins with fulfilling, protecting, and respecting girls’ rights. It demands trusting girls’ leadership as equal partners, ensuring there is space for girls to be heard, to participate and co-lead, and respecting their voices, perspectives, and lived realities as decision-makers and as the leaders of today. This also requires investing in and supporting girls’ health and well-being as well as their education and including girls in determining what their needs are while working in an intergenerational effort to meet those specific needs. In listening to Girl Advocates’ perspectives and Girl Activists who are already making change, the overarching questions at this year’s Girls’ Speak Out will be: How are you taking action for girls’ rights? How are you investing in, supporting, and working towards the realization of girls’ rights? Register Here In-person Registration:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/717402930477?aff=oddtdtcreator Virtual Registration:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/717421947357?aff=oddtdtcreator
In collaboration with the Working Group on Girls, the GSIJP Office is cosponsoring with Istituto Internazionale Maria Ausiliatrice (IIMA) Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco an IDG Sponsorship Day on October 7 ‘Investing in Girls’ Leadership and Power.’ This is an X/Twitter Storm starting at 11.00 a.m. EST. Follow social media for more details.
Join girls from Asia Pacific on October 7 from 10.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. Malaysian time in their celebration. LINK TO REGISTER
Today the GFA Adolescent Girl Leadership Town Hall gave girls the opportunity to come together with a shared purpose: to reaffirm the power and leadership of girls worldwide. Throughout the town hall, girls engaged in vital conversations with key stakeholders: member states, UN agencies, philanthropies, and civil society organizations. Girls’ recommendations revolved around the five domains of adolescent well-being: good health and optimum nutrition, connectedness, positive values, and contribution to society, safety and a supportive environment, learning, competence, education, skills, and employability, and agency and resilience.
We are proud to report that a Good Shepherd student from India named Sugandha was able to give her recommendations where she called upon the Member States to engage as active participants with girls to empower adolescent girls worldwide. She shed light on the burden of responsibility that rests upon Member States’ shoulders to guarantee the safety and welfare of adolescent girls. She urged Member States to actively implement policies to combat gender-based violence, to focus on adolescent health, and to ensure quality education – so that Member States can shape a brighter future for adolescent girls.
Mr. Fred Simwaka, the Deputy Director for Gender Affairs responsible for Women Empowerment in the Ministry of Gender Children Disability and Social Welfare from Malawi responded to Suganda’s recommendations and seemed to agree with many if not all her recommendations, which is promising. It is through the commitment and support of Member States that meaningful change can be achieved.
During the UN agencies segment, Ms. Begona Lasagabaster, Director for Gender Equality at UNESCO and Sarah Hendriks, Deputy Executive Director for Policy, Programme, Civil Society and Intergovernmental Support ad interim from UN Women responded to girl recommendations and again agreed with many of the recommendations given by the girl advocates. UN Agencies bring specialized knowledge, resources, and networks to address the challenges faced by adolescents, making their contributions invaluable.
During the Philanthropies segment, we had the pleasure of hearing responses from Ms. Lisa Bohmer as the Global Lead for Early Childhood Development initiative at Hilton Foundation and Ms. Aminata Kamara, as the Acting Co-Lead, Resourcing Resistance at Purposeful. Philanthropies play an important role in influencing the flow of resources, particularly financial support, for the well-being of adolescent girls so their input is important for this type of conversation.
During the Civil Society segment, the importance of Civil society organizations serving as vital partners in driving transformative change, advocating for policies, and amplifying the voices of girls was demonstrated. We had the honor of having Christle, a Good Shepherd student from Sri Lanka address civil society as an ally. She demanded necessary space, support, and opportunities to drive girls’ development agenda. Christle also urged Civil Society to actively engage girls in policy creation, programming, and research. She called for Civil Society to empower girls to thrive and reach their full potential. Adolescent girls are not just the leaders of tomorrow, but they are leaders today.
Ms. Divya Srinivasan, Global Lead of the Ending Harmful Practices program, Equality Now and Ms Kathleen Sherwin as the Chief Strategy and Engagement Officer at Plan International responded to Christle’s recommendations and shared their reflections where in general they also accepted and complimented her recommendations.
It was clear that the girls appreciated the stakeholders’ willingness to engage and listen to them as equal partners. However more is needed from them – a guarantee that girls’ voices were heard and that their wellbeing is ensured.
3 girls from Latin America – Andrea, (Bolivia) Genesis, (Equidor) and Keiry (El Salvador), 2 from Africa Athible, South Africa, and Rose from Senegal together with Jasmine (India) were participants in the session. Isabel and Jasmine were members of the planning team but not selected as speakers.
Read more HERE about the 1.8 billion young people for change and the Global Forum for Adolescent ’23. October 11 and 12th are the big days. Join the world’s largest-ever gathering for adolescent well-being! The Forum will be a key milestone for the 1.8 Billion Young People for Change campaign, bringing together youth and adolescents, advocates and global decision-makers. Through national events and a two-day virtual mainstage, the Forum will promote political and financial commitments toward improved adolescent health and well-being.
Happy International Day of the Girl! We at the Good Shepherd International Justice Peace Office are privileged to present here a round up of activities taking place this week-end in the lead up to the day. The celebrations start in Asia Pacific on Saturday afternoon live on zoom at 2.00 p.m Malaysian ( 2.00 am EST). You can view live or watch later at GSIF Asia Pacific YouTube Channel. It promises to be an exciting fun packed afternoon with engaging conversations on girls rights, featuring girls from countries all around Asia inspiring change for a better world of all.
This is followed by a live zoom from Madagascar networking Africa girls celebrating International Day of the Girl. The session commences at 1.00 p.m. Rome Time (7.00 am EST) and has french interpretation. CLICK HERE TO JOIN See meeting ID etc in the poster
On Sunday 9th October at 11.00 am EST, the GSIJP Office sponsorship event with the Working Group on Girls will be live streamed to Facebook and later uploaded to YouTube. This is a 30 min programme features girl activists Isabel, (Moderator, Philippines), Athabile (South Africa), Gayathri, (Malaysia) Susan, (India) and Christle (Sri Lanka). The theme for the day is ‘policy decision-making in order to produce girl-specific solutions.’ To view our live panel please visit https://www.facebook.com/DayoftheGirlSummit
Athabile had her poem published on Day of the Girl Summit on October 1st together with two other submission that were made from South Africa, one from Uyathandwa and the second from Kiara. You can access by visiting Day of the Girl Summit webpage. Then click on South Africa and the girls names will appear. Then click on the name and their submission will appear. Well done girls in South Africa!
There were other submission uploaded including Shreya (India); Jasmine (India) As other become available I will upload them. Some may be used for the UN Session in the video compilation that will be shown on Tuesday October 11. This bring me to the big day itself. A hybrid event with some girls present in the United Nations and other on line. Good Shepherd have one girl from Latin America who will be presenting by video. Her name is Vivian. The event will be live from the United Nations at 3.00 p.m. EST on UN Web TV and the recording will be available following the event. Misean Cara Ireland wrote to me today to inform me that “Vivian, a young women from Ecuador will participate, through her involvement with your good selves in the RGS “Girls Rights for an Equal Future: Girls-for-girls clubs in Ecuador and Brazil, promoting safe and inclusive education” under our Innovation Funding scheme.”
We in the GSIJP office are very proud our our many girl activists around the world participating in local, regional, and global events on the occasion of the 10th Anniversary of the International Day of the Girl and their many mentors and Unit Leaders who make every provision for such participation.
The process reviewing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) each year is called the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). This year the HLPF starts on July 5th and ends on July 15th. Four days are given to thematic review of specific SDGs and three days to country reports – Voluntary National Reviews (VNR). A new website has been launched and it is user friendly. Unfortunately it is only in English. Website it is easy to navigate. These are the pages for the HLPF 2022; The Program; and Details of each day. Five SDGs are being reviewed this year
o Partnerships (SDG 17SDG 4, 5, 12, 14 and 15.) 5 July 3.00 PM – 6.00 PM, EDT o Quality education (SDG 4) 6 July 9.00 AM – 12.00 PM, EDT o Gender equality (SDG 5) 7 July 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM,EDT o Life below water (SDG 14) 7 July 3.00 PM – 6.00 PM, EDT o Life on land (SDG 15) 11, July 9.00 AM – 12.00 PM, EDT
For questions that will provide a panel focus on each SDG See. All sessions will be webcast live on UN Web TV.
The VNRs commence on Monday July 13th. 45 Countries will provide country reports. The list of countries as in the letter of the President of ECOSOC in October 2021 is as follows: Andorra*, Argentina**, Belarus*, Botswana*, Cameroon*, Comoros*, Côte d’Ivoire*, Djibouti, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, El Salvador*, Eritrea, Eswatini*, Ethiopia*, Gabon, Gambia*, Ghana*, Greece*, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Italy*, Jamaica*, Jordan*, Kazakhstan*, Latvia*, Lesotho*, Liberia*, Luxembourg*, Malawi*, Mali*, Montenegro*, the Netherlands*, Pakistan*, the Philippines**, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal*, Somalia, Sri Lanka*, Sudan*, Suriname, Switzerland**, Togo***, Tuvalu, United Arab Emirates*, Uruguay*** (Note: Countries with one asterisk * are second timers, those with two asterisks ** are third timers, those with three asterisks *** are presenting for the fourth time, while those without asterisks are presenting for the first time).
Countries were Good Shepherd are present are Argentina, El Salvador, and Uruguay in ECLAC; Italy, and The Netherlands in ECE; Pakistan, The Philippines, and Sri Lanka, in ESCAP and Senegal and Sudan in ECA. By clicking on the link below your country flag you can see the messages and reports that have been prepared and uploaded
The Report of the Secretary General on the Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals has been prepared and posted. This reports contains an analysis of each of the 17 SDGs. Another report was launched on 2 June entitled Sustainable Development Report 2022: A Global Plan to Finance the Sustainable Development Goals. A dashboard with country ranking has been prepared. Find your country ranking and an interactive map The key findings presented at the launch of the report were 1. Peace, diplomacy, and international cooperation are fundamental conditions for the world to progress on the SDGs towards 2030 and beyond. 2. For the second year in a row, the world is no longer making progress on the SDGs. A global plan to finance the SDGs is urgently needed. 3. At mid-point on the way to 2030, policy efforts and commitments supporting the SDGs vary significantly across countries, including among G20 countries. • 2023 Heads of States SDG Summit should be an opportunity to re-commit to this Agenda. 4. Rich countries generate negative international spillovers notably through unsustainable consumption; Europe is taking actions. 5. The COVID-19 pandemic forced data providers to innovate and build new forms of partnerships; these should be leveraged and scaled up to promote SDG impacts by 2030 and beyond. • Science, technological innovations, and data systems can help identify solutions in times of crises and can provide decisive contributions to address the major challenges of our times. These require increased and prolonged investments in statistical capacities, R&D, and education and skills.
The recording of the launch is available on the UNSDSN YouTube channel. There were two international panelists in conversation with the moderator – Ms. Susanna Moorehead, DAC Chair of the OECD and Prof. Jeffrey D. Sachs, President of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). This was followed by the launch of the report with a PowerPoint presentation. In the last segment Arsène Dansou, Director General of the Debt Management Office, Ministry of Economy and Finance of Bénin and Dr. Simona Marinescu, UN Resident Coordinator Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau shared on promising national experiences.
During the HLPF there will be a number of VNR Labs and Side Event -to date a scheduling of these events has not been posted. You can watch for postings at https://hlpf.un.org/2022
The HLPF will end with a ministerial declaration. This declaration is currently being negotiated. Draft two is available HERE Paragraph 13 reads “We take note with appreciation of the Secretary-General’s report on Progress towards the SDGs. In particular, we note with alarm that years, or even decades, of development progress have been haltered or reversed, due to multiple and widespread impacts of COVID- 19, conflicts and climate change. We are particularly concerned by the rise in extreme poverty, hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity, inequalities, education disruptions, violence against women, unemployment, additional social and economic vulnerabilities affecting in particular those already in the most vulnerable situations, in addition to the increased challenges posed by climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution . We recognize that the multiple and interlinked global crises we are facing are putting the SDGs at great risk and jeopardize the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. We commit to mobilize and accelerate actions for rescuing the SDGs and leave no one behind by to adopting resilient, sustainable, inclusive and low-carbon development pathways for the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda.” The bold print is mine.
UN Women has published “Progress on the Sustainable Development Goals: The Gender Snapshot 2021” This 30 page book provides a good snapshot of the current situation of Gender Equality in relation to each of the SDGs. If you like visuals then you will appreciate the charts and graphs. One interesting one comparing the target with the reality is below. One of our strong advocacy points over the years has been for implementation of Social Protection Floors in line with ILO Recommendation 202. See Article 5 for a definition of Social Protection Floors.
A new publication entitled ‘A Good Shepherd Practitioners Understanding of Girls Rights’ Attainment – A Review of Rights Realization by Girls in Asia Pacific‘ is now available in French and Spanish. We acknowledge the work of the various provinces in Good Shepherd Asia Pacific who contributed to this report and to Australia New Zealand for facilitating the research. We are ever grateful to the translators at the GSIJP Office who ensured that we now have it in French and Spanish.
The English publication was launched on July 31, 2021. The Launch was recorded on YouTube How fascinating to have girls presenting the research and interviewing the researcher! Truly, girls are our partners-in-mission advocating for their rights at all levels. On the International Day of the Girl – October 11, Fatema the hostess of July 31st, also facilitated the ‘Girls Speak Out’ on UN Web TV modeling girls rights’ attainment.
Day of the Girl 
