Visions for the future: Celebrating girls’ empowerment

“Every day something changes in me,” says shy 16-year-old, Shehab: “My knowledge is increas-ing, and I'm keeping something to help others.” It’s a bold and inspiring statement, especially when you consider everything Shehab has been through. A gentle spirit who loves to draw anime and design clothes, Shehab was born with a disability and arrived at Zaatari Refugee Camp when she was four years old after escaping the Syrian conflict with her family. Shehab loves school, but was bullied so ferociously that she eventually dropped out. This experience shattered her confidence and she was in a dark place when Save the Children outreach staff found her. They introduced her to the Adolescent Girls Empowerment Centre, which was opened by Save the Children in 2022 and is run by and for young women and girls. Older girls act as mentors and eve-ryone has a say in the programme of activities. There’s something for everyone, from art therapy, self-defence and language lessons to yoga and advocacy workshops. For girls like Shehab who’ve missed out on school, there are classes to help them catch up and re-gain their confidence, there’s a library, a nursery so that children with caring responsibilities can bring their siblings to be looked after while they learn and play. The vibe in the centre is joyful and loud, with multiple activities taking place at the same time. Men-tors, staff and girls all interact together and know each other well. Some girls just hang and play games, others read, there’s music playing in the background and it’s obvious that this is a place where girls can relax, remove their head coverings if they want to, and be – or discover – them-selves. Shehab had planned to quietly blend into the background and protect herself from more bullying, but slowly started to trust that the centre was special. She made friends, gained confidence, and attended workshops on bullying, learning that it was the bullies who had the problem, not her. With the support and encouragement of the women and girls at the centre, Shehab re-enrolled in school and is has started to come out of her shell. She reaches out to other children affected by bullying and shares what she’s learned about child rights with her community. Her goal is to stay in education and eventually train to become a human rights lawyer.

Justina, 16, lives with her family in Lusaka, Zambia. She’s a climate change activist who has seen weather patterns changing rapidly in her community recently. Over the last few years, for example, her community has been experiencing extreme heat throughout the summer months. It’s so hot that food goes bad and, because people can’t afford to buy refrigerators, many community members get sick. In addition, students at school have been fainting due to the extreme heat – including Justina. After fainting, Justina missed three days of school for health checkups. Due to this extreme heat, people pray for rain as a reprieve. Over the last few years, however, rain has become synonymous with flooding and, as a result, children can’t go to school without passing through dirty water. Students must make the decision to risk getting sick from dirty water or to miss school altogether. Justina believes that a united community will help in the fight against climate change. Because of this belief, Justina leads by example raising environmental awareness by bringing together groups of people in her community to tell them about climate change. In addition, Justina loves writing, so – to raise further awareness – she wrote a poem about climate change that was published in a climate crisis report by Save the Children a couple of years ago. In addition, because she loves music, Justina wrote a song that she performs within her community to groups of children. Looking forward, Justina is worried that climate change will hinder the futures of children around the world. She’s hopeful that by raising awareness in her community people will be encouraged to plant trees, take public transportation, and much more. In the future, Justina dreams of becoming a therapist too. Save the Children has helped Justina via a partner organisation called Caritas Zambia. Save the Children supports Caritas Zambia financially to implement programmes with a focus on child protection and climate change in various communities across Zambia – including Justina’s community. Specifically, by way of Caritas Zambia, Justina was helped through a child support group in which the now 16-year-old girl was paired up with an older teenager to share challenges, if needed, that she was experiencing while growing up in her community. In addition, this partner organisation helped Justina and her brother by paying part of their school fees as well. Moreover, Save the Children featured a poem written by Justina in its climate crisis report titled Born into the Climate Crisis in 2021.

Munni 18, is a trailblazer in her community, becoming the first girl to try her hand at fish farming. She lives with her mum, dad, brother, and her sister Tanni, 12. Munni and Tanni do everything together “wherever I go, I take her along. I like it. I’m lucky to have a younger sister.” Tanni learns a lot from Munni and Munni hopes to lead by setting a good example for Tanni. Munni and her family felt the impact of climate change first-hand when their home was destroyed during the seasonal floods. “Half of our house was sunk in the mud. And my father repaired it himself. We’ve [been] through a lot here. It’s been painful”. Munni has taken part in training we’ve run in her community, as part of the Suchana Programme which is supporting communities to increase sustainable food production, treat malnutrition, educate women and girls on issues such as child marriage and build climate resilient practice to protect communities against flooding. Munni has learnt a lot as part of the training provided. Munni was given ducks so that she could sell the eggs for an income. Munni has also been shown how to fish farm in her small pond susceptible to floods and we provided her with all the equipment. She has been teaching other people in the community how to fish farm, particularly climate resilient practices, so that livelihoods are not destroyed during flooding. “Everyone praises that I am doing fish farming”. Munni is also a peer leader at one of the girls groups. “I love the meetings. I learned many new things”. Munni has become an advocate on subjects such as child marriage, health and nutrition. Munni is really passionate about these issues and teaches people in her community – “Even if they are not members of the girls group, even they are aware and understand. We teach them what we learn”.