International Day of the Girl

Invest in women and girls

‘In your country, there may be a few families who do not educate their girls. But in my village out of the 3300 families, only five families send their girls to school.’

Amita – Elected Women Leader & Hunger Project Activist

The cycle of malnourishment and inequality continues for many girls. But it doesn’t have to. When a girl has the opportunity to be educated and healthy, not only does she benefit, but society as a whole benefits. Educated girls marry later, have healthier children and take an active role in their communities to ensure the rights of other women are upheld. 

What We Do

• Celebrate and empower girls in Bangladesh. In 2000, The Hunger Project catalysed the formation of a 300-organisation alliance that, each year, honours National Girl Child Day, a day that gathers tens of thousands of people in events focused on eradicating all forms of discrimination against girls. Growing from strength to strength, the National Girl Child Advocacy Forum holds activities throughout the year, with The Hunger Project-Bangladesh overseeing the events.
• Promoting Equal Education for Girls. Animators (training leaders) across our Programme Countries run educational campaigns to promote childhood primary school admission, especially for girls. All children admitted in our epicentre nursery schools in Africa are guaranteed access to a nutritious meal every day they are in attendance.
•  Maternal and childhood health monitoring. Through our programmes, women are able to participate in educational workshops to learn about the importance of maternal health and caring for their children. We train elected women leaders in India to ensure that government-run maternal and child health centres are functioning effectively and reaching the whole community. In Africa, children are weighed and monitored at our epicentre health clinics to monitor their health.
• Ending child marriage, dowry and other harmful cultural practices. Animators throughout our programmes run awareness campaigns to put an end to violence against girls and discriminatory practices like child marriage, dowry and female genital mutilation.

💡 Inspired? Invest in women and girls today!

Rumi’s schoolfriends stood up for her when she was taken out of school to be married. Watch their inspiring video.