Meeting – International Day of the Girl

Location – UNICEF House: Danny Kaye Visitor’s Center

Date/Time – Friday, October 11, 2013, 9:45 to 11:30am

Speakers – Mr. David Muir, TV Journalist; Frieda Pinto, International Actress, Global Ambassador, Plan International; Nicholas Alipui, Director of Programmes, UNICEF; Vibeke Jensen, Director, Global Education First Initiative Secretariat; Nigel Chapman, CEO, Plan International; Tulsi Thappa, Global Youth Ambassador, Because I am a Girl (BIAAG); Reshma Saujani, Founder, Girls Who Code; Corrine Lewin, Strategic Partnerships and Marketing Director, Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE); Lisa Russel, Director, PODER, Let Girls Lead; World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts; Agatha Bacelar and Stuart Campo, Intel/Stanford University; Marni Sommer, Columbia University.

Attended by: Modou Cham

Summary by: Modou ChamInternational Day of the Girl

On Friday, October 11, 2013, The Empire State Building was lit up in pink. It was not because of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but because it was the International Day of the Girl. UNICEF held an event at David Kaye visitor’s center. The event’s chair was Mr. David Muir of ABC news, he praised activist of girl’s education such as Malala Yousafzia, a young Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban for speaking out for girls’ education. Malala was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize but unfortunately, she did not win.

International film star and Global Ambassador for UNICEF, Ms. Frida Pinto, also praised Malala. She remembers growing up in India and seeing girls beg for money. She thanked her mother for breaking barriers and pushing her to get an education. She asked the panel and audience to fight for the 66 million girls that do not have access to a proper education.

The Director of Programmes at UNICEF, Mr. Nicholas Alipui, explained that girls’ education is a Human Rights issue. He added that education for girl’s means, better wages. In the same token, Mr. Nigel Chapman, CEO of Plan International explained that education gives girls a future, freedom, and hope. Mrs. Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code pushed for girls’ education in the Computer and Science fields. Mrs. Corrine Lewin, Marketing Director of Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE), advocated for teenage girls’ health education.

She elucidated that millions of girls miss school every day because they do not have access to sanitary pads during menstruating. SHE creates environmentally friendly pads from banana fiber that absorb twice as much as the regular store bought pads. They work with schools in Rwanda to educate girls, teachers, and communities about sanitary. UNICEF works in all 193 UN member states, both developed and developing.