Oct. 11, 2012 /3BL Media/ - Today marks the International Day of the Girl, an initiative fueled by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on the International Day of the Girl Child, “to help galvanize worldwide enthusiasm for goals to better girls’ lives, providing an opportunity for them to show leadership and reach their full potential.”  This day represents a movement to speak out against gender bias and advocate for girls’ rights everywhere. 

PCI-Media Impact (Media Impact) is thrilled to see the international emphasis that throws a spotlight on girls and girls’ issues globally, as we believe that girls are the change-makers for today and tomorrow.  We profoundly understand the critical need for gender parity around the globe: reduced status for girls has meant limited access to education, resources, fewer opportunities for advancement, socially tolerated violence against girls, child marriages, sexual violence as a weapon of war, and much more.  There is a clear call to address the severe human rights abuses facing girls. Knowing well the critical issues facing girls around the world, and their key for economic growth and the proliferation of human rights advances, Media Impact includes gender equity storylines and issues in every program it produces. 

Media Impact partners with organizations around the world to address these issues.  Thanks to the generous support of our donors and partners, we have worked on a number of programs aimed to empower girls throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia since our inception 27 years ago. 

For example, in the Andean Region, where gender-based violence is a major ongoing problem, Media Impact, Swedish agency Diakonia and local partners in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru are working together to mobilize citizen action, strengthen civil society and influence cultural norms to confront this issue.  Each national coalition is comprised of service providers who attend to victims of violence, media partners, non-governmental and grassroots organizations working to address gender-based violence.  Strong Women-Strong Voices aims to create a long term knowledge-sharing network between these coalitions in the region.  Over the course of several workshops, each coalition wrote and produced 24-episode radio drama and follow-up radio discussion guides designed to empower women and girls, tackle cultural norms surrounding violence against women and girls and promote services that safely protect and aid women and girls.  

In Liberia, Media Impact is working to launch a multi-faceted program addressing sexual violence against women and girls. Here, rape is at epidemic levels: 92% of women and girls have experienced rape, 62% of these are under the age of 12, and many are infants.

In the coming years, Media Impact will work closely with in-country partners to shift cultural values in favor of women and girls, and their rights. It is our wish to see every young girl enjoy the psychological, physical and legal freedoms and comforts of basic safety and humane rights.

The issues facing girls are complex and interconnected; they require a multifaceted approach that treats the causes and does not just center on the symptoms. Media Impact’s methodology, My Community, isn’t bound to a single thematic focus, but allows multiple issues to be addressed within the same program.  It works with a coalition of local leaders to develop their capacity to produce a successful communications-based campaign. By engaging and informing the local community, the program encourages crucial behavioral changes by improving knowledge and attitudes surrounding the issues

October 11 is not just a day, but part of a much larger movement – it is bigger than one issue, one country, one program or even one organization.  The Day of the Girl is about highlighting, celebrating, discussing and advancing girls’ lives and opportunities around the world, today, tomorrow and for years to come.  Media Impact is deeply committed to this indispensable endeavor and with your ongoing support, we can and will do more for girls across the globe.

ABOUT MEDIA IMPACT:

PCI-Media Impact (Media Impact) is a leader in Entertainment-Education and communications for social change. For more than 25 years, we have advanced the well-being of vulnerable populations by improving knowledge, shifting locally-determined attitudes and changing behaviors with regard to critical social issues, allowing millions to live healthier lives, sustainably, and in harmony with their natural world. 

Media Impact creates social change through comprehensive Communications for Behavior Change campaigns, drawing on over 40 years of social science theory and applied practice.  We do so within a capacity-building model through our My Community approach, training and mentoring in-country organizations to lead program implementation.  Media Impact programs leave behind a lasting footprint of local capacity and sustainability.   Together with our partners around the world, Media Impact has produced more than 3,000 episodes of 80 television and radio productions, reaching more than one billion people in over 40 countries.

For more information please contact:  Alex J. Cottin, Communications & Program Manager / PCI Media Impact; Mobile: 1(646-326-8377) / acottin@mediaimpact.org

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