Empowering Women and Girls [video]
What if you’d been denied the opportunity to go to school just because you were a girl? That’s how it is for more than 36 million girls worldwide. They’re forced to stay home, do chores, care for younger siblings. Young girls are also often forced into early marriages.
The theme of International Development Week 2012 (Feb 5 – 11) is Empowering Women and Girls. The video below is about Sylvie, a Ugandan teen given the gift of education – a teen who knows where she wants to go.
Sylvie is one of three girls in her family, but the only one that has gone to school thanks to the kindness of a family she once worked for as a baby sitter.
Education is considered a powerful tool in community development in Uganda. Many see the pen as a symbol of prosperity and advocating for educating girls is a key initiative focused on by local leaders with partners like World Vision.
Educating the community, especially the girls, is described as the only way to fight ignorance, poverty and the diseases haunting the communities.
Click here to view more videos from the “Am I Beautiful” series.
What you can do
- Be Education in this year’s 30 Hour Famine. By dedicating your Famine to Education you will help give a quality education to thousands of children.
- Educate a girl in need through the World Vision Gift Catalogue. Instead of asking for a birthday gift for yourself this year, why not provide a ticket to a better future and help a girl’s dreams come true!
- Learn more. Check out our Education section for more stats, stories and information about this issue.
- Share your thoughts. Do you think education is considered as important by teens here in Canada as it is in Uganda? What can Canadian youth do to make a difference? Share your ideas on the Action Blog!
