UN Women Mozambique, in partnership with Plan International, hosted a dialogue with ten adolescent girls from the Inhambane, Nampula, and Cabo Delgado Provinces in its Maputo office as part of Plan International Mozambique’s “Eu Amanhã” (Me, Tomorrow) campaign.
This is a program inspired by the global campaign Girls for Equality, which aims to create a space where girls can amplify their voices and improve knowledge in various areas as well as learn from people who inspire them.
The overall objective of the campaign is to ensure every girl and young woman has power over her own life and can shape the world around her. A world free from discrimination, harassment, and violence.
In Mozambique, it is engaging adolescent girls aged 15 to 17, enrolled in middle and senior secondary school, in a series of activities, including high-level meetings and visits to key institutions where girls can voice their concerns, and aspirations for their future.
The adolescent girls came from different provinces in the country, notably Nampula and Cabo Delgado, the country's northern region and Inhambane that has been faced with an unprecedented political crisis affecting the country's entire economy, peace, and stability.
Thousands of women and girls are affected by the ongoing crises, which have only exacerbated gender-related barriers such as gender-based violence and discrimination, restrictions on education, limited livelihood choices, and exclusion from participation in public life, including school abandonment for adolescent girls.
UN Women's main intentions and investments in northern Mozambique are centered around engendering the humanitarian response to meet the needs of the most vulnerable women and girls.
The dialogue took place at a crucial time when intergenerational solidarity and the need for collective efforts across all generations to achieve the SDGs is necessary to leave no one behind.
Participants posed questions and expressed their aspirations for their future, highlighting the challenges that women and girls continue to face when it comes to access to education and economic freedom.
As a result of the dialogue and lessons shared by UN Women and its mandate, the girls are better equipped to exercise with confidence their own human rights and those of others in their function as young role models in their communities.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of UN Women – Africa.
