|
|
FALL 2012 |
Happy fall from all of us at AGALI!
In this edition of our quarterly newsletter, we will be sharing updates from our programs around the world. And, starting this month with our profile of GENET in Malawi, we will be featuring the exciting work of one of
our grantee organizations in each newsletter.
Liberia Children's Act Case Study Video
AGALI staff produced a short video case study documenting our Fellows' success in advocating for the passage of the national Children's Act in Liberia. The Children's Act was a low priority in the Liberian Senate when AGALI Fellows from HOPE and THINK developed a joint strategy to advocate for the Act's passage during the 2010 AGALI workshop. With AGALI funding, HOPE and THINK trained the Liberian Children's Parliament and local girls' clubs to advocate for themselves, partnered with national child rights coalitions, and built public and policymaker support for the Children's Act. The Liberian Senate passed the Children's Act on the final day of their 2011 session, thanks to the tireless advocacy of HOPE, THINK, and their partners. Girls in Liberia now enjoy comprehensive legal protections, including access to education and protection from early marriage and harmful traditional practices. In 2012, AGALI awarded HOPE and THINK additional funding to ensure girl-friendly implementation of the new Children's Law.
The video will be used for media advocacy and as a training tool for organizations working in girls' empowerment, and can be viewed on the AGALI website.
We also invite you to watch it here:
|
| |
The Liberian Children's Act - AGALI.mov |
AGALI at the AIDS 2012 Conference
Denise Dunning, AGALI's Director, presented the program's achievements during the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC. Highlighting how AGALI's work improves adolescent girls' access to HIV information and services, Denise joined thousands of experts, advocates, and policymakers to share promising practices in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention for girls.
 | | Program Director Denise Dunning presenting AGALI's results |
While attending the Conference, Denise also met with AGALI Fellows and staff from Liberia, Malawi, and Ethiopia who traveled to Washington to present their path-breaking work in the field of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment for adolescent girls.
Liberia 2010 Fellow Aisha Cooper-Bruce also attended the AIDS Conference, in partnership with the UN Foundation's Girl Up program. During the Conference, Aisha met with UNF partners, blogged, and participated in interviews, including a Q&A that has been featured on Girl Up's website.
Grantmaking in Liberia and Guatemala
This summer, AGALI awarded seed grants to four new partner organizations in Liberia, and renewed funding for three 2011 grantees in Guatemala. In Liberia, AGALI is now supporting the advocacy work of the Center for Justice and Peace Studies (CJPS), ADWANGA, Community Empowerment and Sustainable Program (CESP), and SaveLives Liberia. These organizations will be advocating on a variety of policies critical to adolescent girls, including child marriage, access to education, and sexual and reproductive health. In Guatemala, a second year of AGALI funding will sustain 2011 grantees CEIPA, CONACMI, and Asociación Generando to continue their advocacy to improve the sexual and reproductive health of adolescent girl factory workers, and expand domestic violence prevention and treatment services for young women. For more on AGALI's newest grantees, please visit our grantee profiles on our website!
AGALI at the Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference
On September 12th, Program Manager Emily Teitsworth presented the work of AGALI at the Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference in Washington, DC. Emily led a group of practitioners, researchers, and students through a participatory session focused on the role of advocacy in promoting girls' economic empowerment. Highlighting the promising practices implemented by AGALI grantee organizations, Emily discussed the ways in which lessons from their advocacy work can be applied to improve adolescent girls' economic opportunities.
 | |
Program Manager Emily Teitsworth presenting AGALI's work at the
2012 Global Youth Economic Opportunities Conference |
AGALI Impacts
The AGALI team recently hired a consultant to do a preliminary program
evaluation and is excited to share our results. We have been thrilled by
the program's impacts, policy wins, and direct impacts on girls. To date, our Fellows have successfully advocated for numerous national and local laws and policies, reached more than 40,000 girls with direct programs and services, and created two new national advocacy networks for girls.
To learn more, check out our AGALI Impacts on our Resources Page. |
|
AGALI Grantee Profile
GENET Malawi
The Girls Empowerment Network (GENET Malawi) is a non-profit organization based in Blantyre, Malawi that has been a part of the AGALI program since 2009. GENET was founded in 2008 by a group of young women who saw the need to empower marginalized adolescent girls, and GENET's Communications Director Joyce Chikakuda became an AGALI Fellow in 2010. Recognizing the potential to further strengthen GENET's capacity to advocate with and for adolescent girls, AGALI selected the organization's Executive Director, Faith Phiri, to participate in AGALI's 2011 cohort. AGALI then awarded GENET funding to implement an advocacy strategy to reduce child marriage by targeting village chiefs and other traditional authorities in participating communities in Southern Malawi.
At the beginning of the project, GENET produced a short video called The Story of Florence and Harmful Traditional Practices, which they used to sensitize traditional authorities and community groups on the impact of child marriage and other harmful traditional practices on girls' lives. By collaborating with girl advocates and employing innovative media outreach strategies, GENET has convinced chiefs and other traditional leaders to implement strict bylaws prohibiting child marriage. This exciting pilot project has received extensive press coverage in the local and national news, including these articles in the Malawi Voice:
No Land to be Given to Architects of Child Marriage
Girls Network Challenges Chiradzulu Chiefs on Harmful Cultural Practices
While advocating to eliminate child marriage at the local level, GENET has also been instrumental in developing and launching the Malawi Adolescent Girls Advocacy Network (AGANET), a nationwide coalition of civil society institutions collaborating to advocate for girls' rights. AGANET's first annual Summit is taking place later this month and will be highlighted in AGALI's winter newsletter. |
|
We will return in December with more updates on our work.
Until then, you can find us at www.agaliprogram.org.
Best wishes for a happy and healthy rest of the year!
-The AGALI Team |
|
The Adolescent Girls' Advocacy & Leadership Initiative (AGALI) promotes global health and development by enhancing the capacity of Latin American and African leaders to improve the health, education, and livelihoods of adolescent girls and young women.
Implemented by the Public Health Institute (PHI), AGALI strengthens the ability of senior leaders to improve adolescent girls' human rights, health, and socio-economic well-being, while simultaneously empowering young women to develop their own solutions to the obstacles they face.
For more information on AGALI please visit: www.agaliprogram.org or please contact Emily Teitsworth at: eteitsworth@phi.org
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
