DRAFT International day of the child child, 11th October, regional event for eastern and southern
Africa - 20 september
Draft
International Day of Girl Child Celebrations
EAST AND SOUTHERN AFRICA
11th October 2013
Objective:
To host a regional advocacy event that brings together partners to celebrate girls, highlight challenges
they continue to face and advocate for what needs to be done to achieve gender equality. In addition
to celebrating the day, it will also include:


Global theme of innovation and education and how it can make a difference in the lives of
girls.
It will also be venue for regional launch of Plan International's report on Girls in emergencies.
LOCATION:
Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi,
AUDIENCE:
The event aims to bring together all advocates for girls under one umbrella for a joint celebration. IT
will seek to engage with media, embassies, civil society partners, regional organizations and other
partner organizations.
To make sure it reaches a large audience, it will be live streamed and can be used by different
partners in country to highlight the day.
Event outline:
10:00am.
Welcome remarks by UNICEF on behalf of the UN
Why this day is important and how did it come to be and what it means in Eastern
and Southern Africa.
10:10am.
Launch of Plan International’s Global report on Girls in Emergencies.
10:30
Panel discussion by moderator
This debate will focus on why girls and women are still not having the equal changes
they deserve. It will seek to understand why, and what the consequences are for their
development and opportunity. It will lay out how entrenched cultural beliefs, power
and opportunities, often deprive girls the full access to rights that they are entitled. It
will touch on impact of new technology and innovation and give examples of how they
can make a difference. It will highlight the impact of war and humanitarian crisis. It
will provide concrete solutions of how these challenges can be addressed. It will
include dynamic panellists who will debate the issue and be guided by a professional
moderator.
11:45
Announcement of SAFARI COM ROLL OUT OF Girls Song
12:00
Light lunch
MODERATOR Suggestions:
Julie Gichuru is a TV Host with East Africa's leading broadcaster Citizen TV. Her prime time news
and current affairs show Sunday Live with Julie Gichuru airs weekly at 9pm. Julie is currently working
on growing local productions through Arimus Media Limited where she has a number of quality
African shows in the works. Julie has just completed series 1 of the Africa Leadership Dialogues,
airing on Citizen TV, Monday at 9.50pm.
OR
Uduak Amimo is a Kenyan journalist with both Kenyan and Nigerian ancestry.[1] currently working
for Royal Media Services. She currently hosts a weekly talk show Cheche covering Kenyan Political
affairs on Citizen TV. Her parents were from Nigeria and Kenya.
DRAFT International day of the child child, 11th October, regional event for eastern and southern
Africa - 20 september
SUGGESTED PANELISTS: (NEED TO ADD POTENTIAL OTHER SPEAKERS – MALAWI YOUNG
ADVOCATE/ MASSAI DOCTOR
Dr Rose Odhiambo - current CEO of Gender Commission for Kenya. She is also one of the co
founders of the secondary boarding school for disadvantaged girls.
Bience Philomina Gawanas (born 1956) is a Namibian lawyer and was the Commissioner of Social
Affairs on the African Commission. She was a Commissioner on the Public Service Commission in
Namibia from 1991 to 1996, and an Ombudswoman in the Namibian Government from 1996 to 2003.
She has also been a Lecturer in Gender Law at the University of Namibia, Director of the Board of
the Central Bank of Namibia, and involved in many non-governmental organizations including
Secretary-General of the Namibian National Women's Organization and patron of Namibian
Federation of Persons with Disabilities. As Chairperson of the Law Reform Commission she oversaw
the passage of the Married Persons' Equality Act. The commission also did extensive work on Rape
Acts and other important laws that were eventually passed after her time.
ILLWAD ELMAN – Programme Director of Elman Peace and Human Rights Center, Mogadishu,
Somalia
BOB COLLYMORE
Bob Collymore is the current CEO of Safaricom Limited, effective November 1st 2010. Prior to joining
Safaricom, Bob was the Chief Officer for Corporate Affairs in Vodacom Group responsible for the
Group's Corporate Communication, Ethics and Compliance, Legal, External Relationships and
Corporate Social Responsibility. Prior to that, he was Vodafone's Governance Director for Africa
where he was responsible for developing and driving Vodafone's strategy for its investments in Africa
as well as representing Vodafone as a key direct foreign investor in a number of African countries.
Bob has more than 25 years of commercial experience working in the telecommunications sector.
Dr KAKENYA NTAIYA – Founder of Kenya Centre of Excellence
Dr. Kakenya’s life was set to follow the traditional path of all girls born in the small Maasai Village of
Enoosaan in Kenya, she grew up. She was engaged at the age of 5, circumcised by the time she was
a teenager – an event that would mark the end of her education and beginning of her preparations for
marriage. But she had a different plan. First, she negotiated with her father and agreed that she would
willingly agree to be circumcised only if he would allow her to finish high school. He agreed. Few
years later, she negotiated with the village elders to do what no girl had ever done before: leave her
village to go to United States. She promised that she would use her education to benefit the
community. She was allowed and a few years later she came back with a PhD and set up a school
for abused girls.
BUDGET:
Hotel Venue
Lunch
Live Streaming
Moderator
Panellists
PARTNERS:
Plan International and UNICEF will take lead in preparations. The event though will be jointly hosted
with UNFPA, UN WOMEN, Save the Children, World Bank and any other interested partners. The
idea is to have one inclusive event than multiple parallel events.