Welcome to the second installment of AGALI's quarterly newsletter!
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Happy spring! |
We have lots of media and grantmaking news to share with you this month as well as an update on our upcoming trip to Liberia.
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Catherine Kauka, Malawi 2011 |
Malawi Film Premiere
In celebration of International Women's Day on March 8th, AGALI premiered the short film
Lifting Our Voices: Ending Child Marriage in Malawi at PHI's offices in Oakland, CA. The film tells the story of Catherine, a young woman living in northern Malawi who was abducted and held against her will in an attempt to force her into marriage. Commentary from AGALI-affiliated experts provides context for Catherine's story
and discusses the advocacy and programming solutions needed to help end child marriage in Malawi. To watch the film and learn more about this critical issue, please visit the AGALI website.
AGALI in Washington, D.C.
On February 2nd, Denise presented in Washington, D.C. at the Woodrow Wilson Center as part of their "Addressing Social Constructs to Improve Adolescent Health" event. Denise highlighted the need to deepen investment in adolescent girls, and shared examples of strategies that AGALI uses to strengthen advocacy efforts on behalf of girls in Central America and Africa. A webcast of the event and a link to Denise's presentation are on the Wilson Center website, and more information about the panel can be found here.
Huffington Post Blog Project
In collaboration with the UN Foundation, AGALI staff worked with three generations of Fellows - Dora Alonzo from Guatemala, Esther Munthali from Malawi, and Aisha Cooper Bruce from Liberia - to develop blogs highlighting the challenges and successes of their own personal stories and their work to empower girls and young women. The AGALI blog series, along with an introductory piece written by UN Foundation CEO Kathy Calvin, appeared on the Huffington Post website in early March as part of the global celebration of International Women's Day. Follow the links below to read the blogs.
by Kathy Calvin, CEO of the UN Foundation, introduces the series of blogs by participants in PHI's Adolescent Girls' Advocacy and Leadership Initiative
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AGALI 2009 Fellow, Veronica Buch
FESIRGUA |
Grantmaking
Between December and March, AGALI awarded $55,000 in seed grants to partner organizations in Guatemala, Honduras, and Malawi. In Honduras, AGALI is supporting the Advocacy Coalition for Adolescent and Youth Sexual and Reproductive Rights to improve girl-friendly implementation of the regional Ministerial Declaration "Prevention through Education" through a grant to IPPF-affiliate ASHONPLAFA. In Guatemala, AGALI grants are sustaining grantees CONACMI and FESRIGUA for a third year of advocacy work on behalf of adolescent girls. CONACMI's work focuses on assuring the full implementation of the protocol addressing treatment for adolescent girl survivors of sexual violence, and FESIRGUA's advocacy works to empower indigenous girls to advocate with local authorities for improved sexual and reproductive health policies.
In March, AGALI also helped launch the Adolescent Girls' Advocacy Network (AGANET) in Malawi, a new initiative developed by AGALI Fellows as a result of their participation in the 2010 workshop. AGALI support will allow AGANET to formally register with the government, undertake nationwide advocacy on a variety of critical issues for girls, and build the capacity of adolescent girls to actively participate in advocacy campaigns for girls' rights.
Liberia Training Preparation
We are busy preparing for our upcoming capacity building workshop in Liberia, scheduled for May 5th-11th in Monrovia. Please stay tuned for an update about the training in our summer newsletter.
