In Dakar, Senegal, over 100 girls from West and Central Africa gathered for the West and Central Africa Girls’ Summit, coinciding with the International Day of the Girl. The summit provided a platform for the girls to express their concerns and demands to presidents, policymakers, and the global community. According to Isabel from Equatorial Guinea, “We want to be taken into account when our history is written because our voices are important.”
Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration on Women’s Rights, the girls emphasized that progress has been slow and promises have been broken. They called for urgent measures to end discrimination and violence, and to secure their rights to education, health, protection, and participation. The girls identified key areas for priority acceleration, including making schools just and inclusive, providing access to quality health services, protecting the planet, stopping child marriage and female genital mutilation, and preventing gender-based violence.
The girls also stressed the importance of including girls with disabilities in all plans, programs, and decisions. During the two-day summit, they worked together to develop a declaration calling on governments, regional bodies, and international partners to prioritize girls’ voices in decision-making. They demanded the creation of safe spaces for free expression, training for professionals to respond to girls’ realities, and monitoring of laws and programs to ensure that rights are implemented.
The West and Central Africa Girls Summit marks a significant turning point, as adolescent girls from across the region have set their own agenda for change and are demanding that leaders listen and keep their promises. The girls emphasized that they want to be present when decisions affecting them are made and that they are best placed to speak about their own realities.
The summit’s outcome is expected to have a lasting impact, with the girls’ declaration serving as a call to action for governments and partners to prioritize their needs and concerns. As Isabel concluded, “I imagine a place where girls can be who they are, where every girl can be respected and loved.” The summit’s organizers, including UNICEF, will continue to support the girls’ efforts to bring about change and ensure that their voices are heard.
