Our HerStory Director, Jennifer Estrada, on our UN Commission on the Status of Women parallel event (March 14th, 2018) and the Community Action Plans implemented by our international partners in their communities around the world.
The HerStory Campaign is hosting its fourth annual presentation during the UN’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Leaders, mentors and girls from our partnerships—NEWI in Kenya, Rukmini Foundation in Nepal and Project PEARLS in the Philippines will join team members from LitWorld and our HerStory founding partner, Global G.L.O.W., to share the impact of our work with girls around the world.
Every year at the CSW, UN member states and NGO representatives come together to take stock of how far we’ve come and how far we have to go to reach global gender equality. This year’s theme is challenges facing rural women and girls and opportunities for rural women and girls to actively participate in the work toward sustainable development and gender equality in their own communities.
With this theme in mind, our team and our partners are excited to share HerStory’s innovative Community Action Plan (CAP) model and the impact this work is having in three rural communities. At HerStory Summits worldwide, girls and their mentors are invited to think about the challenges they see women and girls facing in their own communities and are given the tools and resources to design and implement CAPs: girl-led, creative solutions to those challenges.
HerStory Director Jennifer Estrada marches with program participants at the conclusion of the National HerStory Summit in Kenya in 2016.
At our Global HerStory Summit in New York last March, HerStory ambassadors from ten countries designed CAPs to positively impact girls across their region. These ambitious, thoughtful projects included programs to combat negative stigmas around reproductive and mental health, workshops providing leadership and entrepreneurial skills, and access to safe space, educational resources and menstrual supplies.
At our CSW presentation this year, our Kenyan, Nepali and Filipina partners will share the purpose, impact and lessons learned on each of their CAPs.
In Kenya, HerStory girls built separate classrooms just for girls to use for studying, to store school supplies and to meet with their mentors. These secure spaces are helping girls successfully complete school, have access to higher education and career guidance, and receive ongoing support after they graduate.
In Nepal, HerStory girls brought together women from different communities to share ideas and plans for how to strengthen their lives and communities. The women formed Moms Clubs that are supporting their own learning lives and giving them tools to advocate for their daughters' education.
In the Philippines, HerStory girls took action to reduce teenage pregnancies and improve sexual health through education. They organized workshops on reproductive and sexual health, ensuring girls have access to the information they need to take care of their bodies, make healthy choices and stay in school.
The CAPs model has made it incredibly clear that when we listen to girls and give them tools and resources to support their ideas, they can have an incredible, sustainable impact on girls in their communities.
We can’t wait to share this exciting work with the UN audience and friends of LitWorld, Global G.L.O.W. and our international partners.
To join us on March 14th, RSVP here!