West and Central Africa Girls Summit
Dakar, 10-11 octobre
75.5 million voices, sparking a movement of Girl Leaders.
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75.5 million voices, sparking a movement of Girl Leaders.
West and Central Africa (WCA) is home to 75.5 million girls aged 10 and 19, representing 11% of the global adolescent girl population. Girls in WCA have ambitions, dreams, and valuable contributions to offer. They have the right to have a say in the decisions that impact their lives and to shape the future of their region. Yet, many barriers prevent adolescent girls from fully enjoying their rights: lack of access to quality education and healthcare, exposure to violence and child marriage, unequal gender norms, and the additional challenges of humanitarian crises.
“I want to become a leader, but people say leadership is not for girls.”
Leveraging the landmark 30th Anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action, UNICEF renews its commitment to adolescent girls and the realization of their rights by organizing a Regional Summit with and for Girls in West and Central Africa.
Girls Deserve Better. Removing Barriers, Creating Opportunities for Girls
The biggest challenge girls face goes beyond immediate crises. Deep-rooted inequalities and social norms continue to limit their opportunities. By placing girls at the center of a multi-sectoral strategy, we can remove these barriers and open pathways to leadership, resources, and decision-making.
Too often, girls’ rights and potential are held back by persistent inequalities. These barriers prevent them from accessing opportunities to lead and thrive. Together, we can shift these patterns and ensure every girl has the chance to shape her own future, access opportunities, and contribute to her full potential.
A Girl-Led roadmap: the Regional Agenda for Girls' Rights
The girls of West and Central Africa are done waiting. They have risen to lead the solution, co-creating a concrete and decisive plan for systemic change: the Agenda for Girls' Rights. This is more than a petition; it is a meticulously crafted, multi-sectoral roadmap focusing on achieving equity in education, health, economic empowerment, and shifting harmful social norms at the community and policy levels. Their Agenda represents their vision for a future where their rights are non-negotiable.
A historical moment for Commitment: The West and Central Girls Summit 2025
The Girls Summit is not just an event; it is the decisive moment to translate ambition into action and our the collective mandate for a generational shift. It is designed to be a safe and welcoming space that will achieve four key outcomes to drive lasting change:
- Create a safe and welcoming space: Provide a nurturing environment for girls from different places to connect, share ideas, grow as leaders, build a powerful girls’ movement, and talk directly with adults who make decisions.
- Share proven successes: share real examples of what’s working in different countries to help others learn from and use these ideas to support girls in their communities.
- Launch the Girl-Led roadmap for change: Formally share the Agenda for Girls' Rights, a plan created with and for girls from across the region that aligns with global goals and aims to push leaders to make better policies and programmes that support girls and protect their rights.
- Secure Concrete Pledges: Get real promises from governments, businesses, community groups, and the United Nations to support the plan and take action where they live and work.