INTERNATIONAL DAY OF THE GIRL: CYIB-CURIOUS MINDS REFLECTS ON 30 YEARS OF PROGRESS

CYIB- Curious Minds joins the commemoration of day to celebrate girls all over the globe. In 2011, the United Nations General Assembly declared 11 October International Day of the Girl to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world. This year the day is celebrated under the theme “GirlForce – Unscripted and Unstoppable”; this year also marks thirty (30) years of the Convention of the Rights of the Child’s adoption with Ghana as first country in the world to ratify the treaty and committing to adopt it into national law. It also marks twenty-five (25) years of progress for girls since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995, which constitutes the most progressive blueprint for advancing the rights of women. Since our inception we have joined forces with partners and stakeholders at national, regional and international levels to stand up against child labour, child marriage and gender-based violence; CYIB- Curious Minds has also promoted girls’ education and demanded action on climate change through our radio programmes and work with communities across Ghana.

CYIB-Curious Minds is encouraged by the progress made towards the rights of girls, particularly in the area of education. Along with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 which stipulates that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education by 2030 and according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the majority  of girls worldwide complete primary school nowadays.  “Nonetheless, we need all hands on deck to scale our efforts to sustain progress made and continue to support girls because they still face barriers at every stage of their lives. Many girls miss out on the opportunity to actively engage in and benefit from school because they lack proper facilities in schools to help manage menstruation; early pregnancy, early marriage and other cultural barriers such as denial of education due to gender.” says Cecil Ato Kwamena Dadzie, Advocacy and Communications Officer, CYIB- Curious Minds.

As a twenty-three 23 old organisation committed to ensuring that all children and youth are well informed and meaningfully participate in decision-making that affects their lives by advocating, generating knowledge, sharing information, building partnerships and training young activists at local, national and international levels CYIB- Curious Minds continues to equip children and youth particularly girls to freely and actively contribute to the development process.