How it Started
The International Day of the Girl Child is an initiative of the United Nations. In 1995 at the World Conference on Women in Beijing, countries unanimously adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. This declaration is the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing the rights of not only women but girls.
Declaration of the Day
On December 19, 2011, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.
Theme for this Year
The theme for this year, which is ‘Girls’ Vision for the Future’, conveys both the need for urgent action and persistent hope, driven by the power of girls’ voices and vision for the future.
Reason for the Theme
Today’s generation of girls is disproportionately affected by global crises of climate, conflict, poverty and pushback on hard won gains for human rights and gender equality. Too many girls are still denied their rights, restricting their choices and limiting their futures.
How Paritie Observed the Day
As part of its own way of observing the day and its support for the growth and empowerment of young women and girls, Paritie Innovation Hub brought together girls from six (6) secondary schools in Minna, Niger State on the 11th of October, 2024 to sensitize these young girls on the need to envision themselves as leaders and to also consider acquiring a tech skill.
The event had two speakers who gave presentations that covered the topics below:
- Girls and LEadership – Sylvia Shiminenge Mkar (Content Creation Lead, Paritie Innovation Hub).
- Girls and ICT Skills – Paul Onokoka (Community Manager, Paritie Innovation Hub).
The event was insightfully moderated by Syed Abdullahi, the Human Resource Manager of Paritie Innovation Hub. While moderating, he encouraged the girls not to look down on themselves because of their gender as they can achieve what they want to achieve and even find themselves in leadership positions.
Faith Boluwatife, a cybersecurity intern at Paritie, talked to the participants about Paritie, while Jennifer Nalimi, a brand/graphics design intern at Paritie, gave a brief on what the IDGC is all about.
Highlights of the event was the reading of the ‘Declaration’ by all participants at the event and remarks by two of the teachers about the event.
The event came to an end after Sylvia Mkar gave words of appreciation and urged the participants to aim for greatness regardless of the challenges. It was indeed an interesting outing for the girls going by the feedback about the event.
Paritie has organised similar events in the past, some of them are; International Girls in ICT Day, 2019, Tech Drive Advocacy for young girls in partnership with Technology for Social Change and Development (tech4dev), 2023 and Paritie SheTech Bootcamp, 2024.
We look forward to organising more events that will inspire, motivate and empower young women and girls to take positive action towards making themselves and their future better.