Adolescent Girls' Movement expands across Africa
Our Pan-African Girls Movement, a pioneering initiative led by African adolescent girls, continues to grow. In Kenya, the Movement has partnered with the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) to create three "Nests" in Kiambu, Marakwet, and Narok counties, reaching over 500 adolescent girls. Similarly, in South Africa, collaboration with Future Lift and Khulisani's Campaign for Girls resulted in two Nests comprising 207 girls. In Zimbabwe, the Womandla Foundation facilitated the setup of another Nest, which has supported more than 100 girls since March 2024.
July 2024 marked another expansion into Ethiopia, where a new Nest was launched in Addis Ababa in collaboration with the Model Africa Union. Sixty girls participated in piloting the curriculum, programme facilitators were trained, and a steering committee w was established, integrating participants into the broader regional network.
The Movement's custom, rights-based curriculum, co-created with the adolescent girls themselves, supports them in reflecting on their challenges, proposing solutions, and actively engaging with their communities and decision-makers.
The Trust advocates for adolescent girls at GIMAC youth conference
At the recent Gender Is My Agenda Campaign (GIMAC) Youth Conference on 14 July 2024 in Accra, Ghana, Juliet Kimotho, the Graça Machel Trust's Advocacy Manager, reaffirmed the Trust's dedication to ensuring that adolescent girls' challenges and successes are recognised and addressed. This event offered a crucial platform for the Trust to engage strategically with youth across Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and the African Union, reinforcing the importance of their involvement in programme implementation. As a partner in the Sixth GIMAC Network, the Trust advocates for girls' rights and broader gender issues at influential continental bodies like the African Union. The 6th GIMAC Youth Experience brought together young women from various backgrounds, fostering connections and strengthening bonds of sisterhood. The Trust's participation in GIMAC is crucial for amplifying these voices, with the hope that the insights gained during the summit will help leaders make informed decisions on the challenges faced by young women across Africa. Read the report here.
The Trust collaborates with organisations like the GIMAC Network to continuously advocate for the rights of women and adolescent girls. Our Pan African Adolescent Girls' Movement and Fair4All project teams contributed to developing the GIMAC Pre-Summit CSOs Consultative meeting outcome statement for the African Union. The pre-summit consultation brings together civil societies from across the continent to address ground-level issues constructively. Learn more about GIMAC here.
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Joining hands across borders - the annual jubilee
In March this year the Graça Machel Trust's Adolescent Girls' Movement held its 3rd annual jubilee. The hybrid event connected over 250 young women aged 10 to 20 from five African countries to address critical issues facing teenage girls in Africa. This year's theme, "Promoting quality education to transform the holistic development of African Adolescent Girls," focused on the challenges of high adolescent birth rates and low female education retention. Changemakers, stakeholders, and partner organisations joined to discuss and develop collaborative solutions. The Jubilee underscored the need for adolescent participation in addressing educational barriers. It provided a platform for girls to share their challenges in staying in school and highlighted the importance of the Pan African Adolescent Girls Movement. This event marked progress in expanding the movement's reach and tackling the education challenges of the 21st century, to build resilient education systems across the continent. Watch Jubilee highlights video here.
