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| (Image Source: Malaya Business Insight/World Vision Philippines) |
Now on its third year, World Vision is once again launching #GirlsCan to support and help vulnerable girls achieve their dreams and potential. Aside from providing long-term and sustainable solutions for life transformation, the campaign aims to promote the significance of empowering girls and women which are key components of World Vision programs and advocacies, especially in the Philippines.
There are various issues surrounding girls in the country and violence against children remains one of the major concerns. In fact, the Department of Justice reported an increase of 264% cases in online sexual exploitation in 2020. “Though this is a huge increase, we know that it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Most cases go undetected, unreported and unresponded. Online sexual exploitation of children or OSEC is a hidden, layered and complex crime that robs Filipina girls off of their childhood,” says World Vision Philippines Child Protection Manager Jezreel Hannah Domingo. “Girls should be empowered through positive life skills and asset building for them to know their rights and build their personal safety. When they are empowered, they learn to speak up, seek help and become positive instruments of change for younger girls,” Domingo added. She also stressed the importance of strengthening the families to nurture and protect their children and reinforcing community-based mechanisms for identifying and protecting child victims of OSEC through stronger detection and investigation procedures.
Meanwhile, in education, over 2 million girls drop out from school while more adolescent girls get pregnant and give birth every day. While poverty remains the leading cause of these alarming problems, there are always ways on how to empower girls to break free. With #GirlsCan, girls are given the opportunity to be empowered through various World Vision programs that address the needs of girls and women like the Savings Groups and Livelihood programs for Women entrepreneurs such as the Sustaining Women’s Economic Empowerment Thrust (SWEET project), Project ACE that combats exploitation of children, Maternal and Child Health Programs, Mother-Baby Friendly Philippines Project and the Menstrual Hygiene Campaign. Over the years, the campaign has successfully supported thousands of young girls. It aims to support a thousand more this year in celebration of the International Day of the Girl on October 11, 2022.
