WAGGGS recognized on 'Women Deliver 50' list of projects improving girls' lives

WAGGGS' Stop the Violence campaign has been voted one of the 50 most inspiring ideas and solutions for girls and women across the globe in the Women Deliver 50 contest.

Women Deliver, a global advocacy organization, today announced the “Women Deliver 50”, a compilation of the 50 most inspiring ideas and solutions that are delivering for girls and women across the globe. After receiving hundreds of online nominations from 103 countries, a selection committee chose 125 finalists to be voted on by the public for inclusion in the final list of 50.

Leaders of change

“The selection of the World Association’s campaign to stop violence against girls and young women in the top 50 acknowledges the crucial role girls and young women play as leaders of change on such challenging issues as gender based violence and ultimately in determining just and equal societies," said WAGGGS chief executive Mary McPhail. "Only through empowering girls themselves can we overcome what sometimes seem like such intractable issues."

Stop the Violence was nominated because of the impact that it has had on girls and women in 145 countries around the world. A key element of the campaign, a non-formal education programme on girls’ rights, will initially be piloted in 20 countries in 2012. 

Girls claim their rights

By 2017 over five million young people will have taken part in the programme, learning about their rights, developing the skills to claim those rights for themselves and others, and better understanding the root causes of violence against girls and women.

Other inspirational solutions featured in the Women Deliver 50 include Aawaaj, an organization in Nepal that works to break the silence around sexual violence, Backpack Farm’s project in Kenya and South Sudan to build the capacity of female farmers, and the newly launched campaign “Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage.”

View the entire Women Deliver 50 list at www.womendeliver.org.