Blog of SI Representative at UNESCO, Marie-Christine Gries.
Creating a coalition of international and grassroots NGOs
In November 2023, our representative at UNESCO, Marie-Christine Gries, had the honour of leading one of the three special sessions during the General Conference of Member States, to present the success stories of the collective work of UNESCO’s NGO partners, actions supported by the NGO Liaison Committee, based on UNESCO’s programmes and priorities, and presenting a model of action that can be reproduced.
Which project
In 2015, a group was set up at the initiative of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) and Soroptimist International (SI) to work improving on the status of girls in the world. The group is focused primarily on Sustainable Development Goal’s 4 and 5 (education for all and the advancement of women and gender equality, respectively). In 2018, the group organised a celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child at UNESCO. The themes of which were based on testimonies collected from six hundred girls, who spoke of their hopes for the future which are often far from the possible, in the face of their real lives.
The aim of celebrating the Girl’s Child Day, decreed by the UN in 2011, is to raise public awareness (among families, teachers, the medical profession, local authorities, etc.) of the specific problems and obstacles that girls and teenagers face in becoming healthy, educated, and empowered women, empowered to fulfil their own responsibilities, and providing their countries a significant contribution to development.
The replication of the event at UNESCO after 2018 was postponed because of COVID, but the group continued its work, calling itself “Voix des Filles” (Girls’ Voices (as the speech by António Guterres, UN Secretary-General, announcing the institution of the special Day in 2011: “Let’s make girls’ voices heard”).
The post-COVID assessment of the status of girls in 2021 is disastrous at global level: Ms. Audrey Azoulay, UNESCO Director-General, has estimated that we are still 10 years away from achieving the 2030 Education and Gender Equality SDGs.
The urgency could not be ignored by the “Voix des Filles” group.
Voix des Filles at UNESCO: an innovative strategic choice and a replicable approach
In a bid to cooperate with UNESCO, which is seeking the involvement of partners NGOs outside its Paris headquarters and to broaden its partnerships, the Voix des Filles group at UNESCO has decided to “delocalise its advocacy”, addressing the local branches or antennae of its organisations and inviting them to set up a group, including national or local NGOs, to promote the Girls’ Child Day. This process also opens the way to changing mentalities on diversity, by encouraging reflection initiated in a non-Western cultural context.
In line with UNESCO’s Africa priorites, the first contact was made in Côte d’Ivoire, an easier choice because a network of NGOs and contacts at the highest institutional level had already been established for the 2013 NGO-UNESCO Forum “Water for All in Africa”. Exchanges and videoconferences, followed by visits by Ms. Lévy (WAGGGS) and Marie-Christine Gries (SI), helped launch a “Voix des Filles Côte d’Ivoire” group based on the local branches of UNESCO’s partner NGOs. Soroptimist clubs in Abidjan are very active in the project.
The Group has since integrated several local NGOs, including that of the Group’s President, who was the leader in 2013 in the local preparation of the water forum. Local NGOs enjoy the trust of communities and their traditional authorities. They are obviously on the front line when it comes to people’s problems. They know the obstacles to be overcome if a project is to succeed.
The officially recognised coalition of Ivorian NGOs has obtained institutional support from UNESCO (the presence among the group of official UNESCO partner NGOs is essential for this support), the Ivorian National Commission for UNESCO and the Ivorian Ministry for the Family, Women and Children.
The presentation session at UNESCO’s General Conference reported on the event organised in Côte d’Ivoire, in Agboville, on 26 October 2023, a celebration presided over by the Ivorian Minister for the Family, Women and Children. The aim was to launch the regular celebration of the International Day of the Girl-Child in this country.
The presentation at UNESCO attracted the attention of a varied international audience, in the presence of the Ambassador, Head of the Permanent Delegation of Côte d’Ivoire to UNESCO, who spoke, and the representative of the Ivorian National Commission for UNESCO. The NGOs operating at UNESCO headquarters were presented.
International Day of the Girl Child 2024
The preparations for celebration of Girls’ Child Day in Côte d’Ivoire in 2024 is well underway, and the programme should include the participation of the relevant ministry and UNESCO experts. The group is also embarking on several concrete projects, including the issue of menstrual hygiene and the creation of listening centers to help teenagers speak out. The coalition now includes some thirty local and international NGOs.
At UNESCO, the Voix des Filles group of UNESCO’s partner NGOs is preparing to roll out its strategy in other African countries (Senegal is in the process of being launched). The launch of projects in these countries depends on the existence of possible contacts with local representatives of UNESCO’s partner NGOs. The members of the group hope that their organisations will encourage this participation. There is cause for optimism, as Voix des Filles has the support of UNESCO’s Deputy Director-General for Priority Africa and several permanent African delegations to UNESCO. The local branches of UNESCO’s international NGO partners involved in this project will be put in touch with regional UNESCO offices and the National Commission for UNESCO, contacts that will also be invaluable for their other own actions.