Kathmandu, 11 Oct 2023:In a unified commitment to uplift and safeguard the rights and future of adolescent girls in South Asia, over 60 individuals – including government officials, parliament members, and representatives from girl-led civil society organizations – from eight countries devised a strategic plan focused on girl-centric policies, actionable items, and resource allocation. The commitment, consolidated during a UNICEF-organized regional consultation in Kathmandu on 9-10 October, aims to tap into the immense yet largely unharnessed potential of millions of adolescent girls in the region, confronting the staggering statistics of undernourishment, anemia, limited education, and child marriage that plague their demographic.
Participants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka gathered to manifest this commitment in response to the urgent calls for change emanating from the young girls of their nations. The deliberations centered upon the grave realities confronting girls in South Asia, such as forced marriages, school dropouts, and abuse, despite their clearly exhibited resilience, skills, and solution-oriented capabilities, as highlighted by Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia. The region, hosting 170 million of the world’s 600 million adolescent girls, remains challenged by unexploited potential and unaddressed rights due to numerous socio-economic and cultural factors.
Contributing to the complexity of the scenario, South Asia witnesses nearly half of the world’s child bride cases and approximately one-third of its adolescent girls are neither being educated nor employed nor trained. Low investment in these young individuals, coupled with the prevailing challenges of climate change and conflicts, amplify the impediments towards achieving basic rights for every child as delineated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Numerous initiatives across various countries were outlined, indicative of the strategies being employed to enhance the condition and future prospects of adolescent girls:
Bangladesh: Investment in girls’ education to curb child marriage and maintain educational continuity.
Bhutan: Prioritization of girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and digital skills.
India: Utilization of the Advika model to engage and empower adolescents and communities in preventing child marriage.
Maldives: Fortification of services for girls and women at risk of domestic violence and leadership emergence in climate change combat.
Nepal: Allocation of budget for girls’ flagship programs by the Mayor’s office in Lumbini Cultural Municipality.
Pakistan: The leadership of the Prime Minister’s Office in the Youth Programme Framework focusing on Empowerment, Environment, Education, and Employment.
Striding towards reaching 25 million girls by 2025, UNICEF underscores the need for reinforced commitments from policy makers and partners in South Asia. Participants collectively agreed upon capitalizing on the population numbers, encouraging investments, and ensuring the centralization of girls’ rights in policies and actions from governments, private sector, and philanthropic organizations.
Wijesekera accentuated, “By empowering a girl to take charge of her life, we are not just empowering an individual, but an entire community.”