INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Every girl should have a bright future. An education that empowers her is the start of that future. But around the world, girls are facing tough challenges to claiming the futures they deserve.

Classrooms around the world are slowly reopening from the pandemic, but when they do, girls are missing. Even before the pandemic, 132 million girls were out of school, and COVID-19 is making it harder than ever for girls who dropped out while schools were closed to go back. The length of school closures over the past two years – 41 weeks in Rwanda, 61 weeks in Pakistan, 83 weeks in Uganda – cuts girls off from resources and experiences that build their resilience and help them hold onto their hope.

The pandemic is adding onto the effects of wars, disasters, gender-based violence, poverty, and unfair stereotypes to roll back decades of progress on girls’ rights and their well-being.

GIRLS DESERVE THE CHANCE TO LEARN

What the world’s most vulnerable girls need is an opportunity, the opportunity to keep on learning. Given the chance, they will overcome the obstacles that stand in their way and go back to school to learn the skills and knowledge that will equip them for success in the rest of their lives.

Since the start of the pandemic, Right To Play has been empowering girls to keep learning even while schools are closed, through tele-learning and at-home lessons, so that they are ready when schools reopen. We’ve been supporting activists in local communities who challenge harmful practices that pull girls into child labour and child marriage. We’ve been educating girls about their rights, their bodies, and their futures so they can stand up and claim them.

This International Women’s Day, we are inviting you to learn about and celebrate some of the young women Right To Play has supported as they overcame incredible challenges to claim a brighter future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

ANITHA, RWANDA

Poverty forced Anitha to drop out to haul water for pennies a day. With the help of a child rights’ club, she found her way back to school where she became a star pupil.

Find out how Anitha is claiming her future

BALLA, MALI

Balla’s mother pulled her out of school to work in a gold mine. Thanks to a volunteer campaign in her village, Balla was able to leave the mine and go back to school where she is flourishing.

Find out how Balla is claiming her future