On Friday this week, I will be participating in the United Nations Foundation's International Day of the Girl social media takeover campaign.

Following the recent Generation Equality Forum in Paris, young feminist leaders are demanding accountability for the promises made and the investments committed to effectively further their own critical activism. "The world has unfinished business when it comes to the rights of girls," notes the UN Foundation. "The Forum, where multi-sector partners committed $40 billion toward gender equality, laid the framework for the world to turn its promises to girls into a reality."

Now is the time for action, especially for girls' rights during the global pandemic.

This year, International #DayOfTheGirl is more important than ever. 

COVID-19 showed the glaring inequities that exist for women and girls and the fragility of the progress that has been made. For girls, we've seen a global rollback of gains in secondary education and child marriage. According to the UN Foundation, girls in marginalized communities have been among the first to abandon their educational pursuits and girls who are forced into marriage are also forced out of school.

Child marriage is still a crisis, with girls as young as 8 becoming brides every 3 seconds. That's why I am joining Vow For Girls to ✋stop the clock. Find out more about how you can join the campaign to help girls.

This year's theme: Empowered girls grow up to be empowered women.

I want to introduce you to Maya G. She is a 14-year-old fearless girl from South Africa whom I admire.

I've known Maya for many years, and I am awed by her creativity, her energy and her bravery in standing up for what she believes in. I got to know Maya through her mother, Kate, who founded the Good Work Foundation (GWF), an education nonprofit that I support that provides digital training to prepare rural youth — and especially girls — for the future with essential computer skills that can transform their lives, turning aspirations into reality.

Maya attends high school in the city and she also teaches courses at GWF. Maya's education and knowledge of computers and technology are skills she doesn't take for granted. "I know that I am lucky to be able to choose to go to school. And I know that not all girls are as lucky as me," she told me. "I believe that girls should have the same chances as boys and that children all over the world should have the same opportunities, so that we can all discover our talents and live the lives we dream of."

In 2018, I had the honor to speak to the graduates of the computer competency course at the GWF Justicia Digital Learning Campus, one of seven in the Kruger Park area where the nearby game preserves and safari camp owners are providing the funding for a complete ecosystem of learning and working that is shaping a new kind of future for individuals, families and communities. Nearly 100 young people (80% of them women) accepted diplomas as their parents, overwhelmed with gratitude that their children would now have opportunities for economically viable work and careers, looked on with great pride. Parents and grandparents danced, sang, and celebrated, and took pictures with me and my grandchildren (pictured below) who loved being a part of this special day.

Maya is lucky to have a teacher for a mother…one who gave her a year of living in different countries as a learning journey…and she’s fortunate to observe the children and young adults who receive education and training at the GWF centers. She has seen the transformational difference that education has made in their lives. 

Maya is working on her posts for Friday's takeover and I am so excited to see what she has to say on my Instagram and Twitter accounts. I hope you will follow, like, and retweet her posts, and help amplify her messages.

Onward!

- Pat