“Girls’ Rights Cannot Wait” - West and Central Africa’s Girls Demand Action from Leaders

Dakar, Senegal, 10 October 2025 - To mark the International Day of the Girl, over 100 girls from West and Central Africa came together in Dakar for the West and Central Africa Girls’ Summit. Their message to presidents, policymakers, and the rest of the world is clear:

Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration on Women's Rights, girls from the region declared that progress had been too slow and that promises had been broken. They called for urgent measures to end discrimination and violence, and to secure their rights to education, health, protection and participation.

Coming out of national consultations held in 24 countries in West and Central Africa, girls decisively identified the following areas for priority acceleration:

• Make school just and inclusive for all. Every girl should have the right to learn. Give scholarships to those who need them most. Give us teachers who care, classes where we can learn, and skills that prepare us for life.
• Access to quality health services, and health services which are confidential and accessible.
• Protect our planet, protect our future. Climate change is real, and it’s putting girls’ lives at risk - act now for our communities.
• Stop child marriage and FGM. Ensuring girls remain in school and have access to adolescent-friendly and high-quality health services is key to preventing harmful practices.
• Say NO to gender-based violence. We need strong rules, real punishments, and justice when girls are hurt.
• Include girls with disabilities everywhere. Every plan, every programme, every decision.

During the two-day Summit, the girls will work together to develop a declaration calling on governments, regional bodies, and international partners to put girls' voices at the centre of decision-making; create safe spaces to break taboos and allow free expression; train professionals to respond to girls' realities; and monitor laws and programmes to ensure that rights move from paper to practice.

Addressing regional leaders, the girls demanded that governments and partners stop marginalising their voices. They emphasised that they want to be present when decisions affecting them are made, and also made it clear that they are best placed to speak about their own realities than others.

The West and Central Africa Girls Summit marks a turning point because, for the first time, adolescent girls from across the region have set their own agenda for change and demand that leaders listen and will keep the promises that they have made in the past.