She Speaks Africa Jubilee

27 May 2022 15:00 – 17:00 WAT

By Graça Machel Trust

The Graça Machel Trust (The Trust) was established in 2010 as a Pan-African institution whose mission is to amplify women’s movements, influence governance, promote women’s contributions and leadership in the economic, social, and political development of Africa, and advocate for the protection of children’s rights and dignity. This year, the Trust launched its first pan African Adolescent Girls Movement, which aims at encouraging adolescent girls to vocalize their beliefs and reimagine a world that is inspired by their challenges, hopes and ambitions. The Trust is partnering with The Amazon Leadership Initiative (TheALI), an organization that was established to empower women and girls, provide support networks, mentorship, career guidance, education, and capacity development to alleviate gender inequality and address gender gaps in line with aspiration 6 of the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 and Goal 5 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030. TheALI envisions a world where everyone has equal rights and opportunities. The Trust and TheALI are hosting a virtual event, ‘She Speaks Africa’ for young women and girls to give them the opportunities to share their concerns and challenges primarily to inform and influence the advocacy agenda for young women and girls within the African continent. The overall objectives of the virtual event for young women and girls are:

  • Nurturing adolescent girls aged 15 to 17 years, so that they are equipped with the information, skills, confidence, and agency to affirm their rights and dignity and participate meaningfully in the decision-making processes that affect them. These girls will be supported by their older peers, or ‘big sisters’ who are aged between 18 to 19 years, to acquire agency through learning, the philosophy of adolescent participation, and action.
  • Establishing nurturing environments for adolescents that enable participation and therefore drive progress
  • The successful realisation of this virtual event means that girls and young women are inspired to speak for themselves powerfully and collectively and about themselves, to make well-informed choices, and take actions to allow them to live into their full potential. These girls and young women will chart an agenda that involves informative and transformational activities on areas of relevance to them.

The goal of the ‘She Speaks Africa’ – Southern African Region The goal of the virtual event is to create an interactive platform for girls’ representatives from the Southern African region to highlight the challenges and barriers that prevent them from enjoying and fulfilling their rights as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. Expected Outputs of the ‘She Speaks Africa’ – Southern African Region

  • Advocacy asks for the promotion and protection of the rights and welfare of the girl child using the bottom-up approach to place a girl child at the center (heart) of Africa’s Development Agenda.
  • Establish a network of young female leaders from the Southern African region.

Details of the ‘She Speaks Africa’Theme:  Nothing about us, without usDate:      Friday, 27 May 2022Time:     15:00 – 17:00 SASTVenue:    Zoom Online Platform and Facebook Live Planned Activities The Trust and TheALI will host a two-hour virtual event for young women and girls between 15 to 19 years from Southern Africa with the aim to establish a nurturing community of peer learning as part of their journey to affirm their rights and dignity and participate meaningfully in the decision-making processes that affect them. Discussions will productively identify the challenges diverse girls face, find out possible solutions and device a call to action on the same.