Editor’s Note: On September 21, 2024, in New York City, more than 50 young women from around the world – including the youngest Nobel Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai – gathered to take United Nations member states to task for failing to prioritize girls and young women in the planning and content of the upcoming Summit of the Future.
At a demonstration in front of the UN, surrounded by life-size cutouts of world leaders dressed ironically as youthful “girl experts”, the activists delivered a strong message: world leaders aren’t the experts on what girls want and need for their futures – girls are.
The group is backed by an informal coalition of girl-centered non-profit organizations, institutions, networks, and funds who worked to synthesize the well-documented policy, programming, and resourcing demands of girls at WhatGirlsWant.com
Joan Kembabazi speaks at the What Girls Want demonstration where more than 50 young women from around the world– including the youngest Nobel Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai (left)–to remind World Leaders that they are not experts on what girls need—girls are!
Joan Kembabazi, a Girl-Centered Incubator Fellow & founder of Gufasha Girls Foundation, spoke at the demonstration:
My message to World leaders is;
Girls want protection from child marriage.
Girls want access to education
Girls want access to SRHR
Girls want to lead conversations on matters affecting their lives.
Girls want to lead decisions,
Girls want to lead solutions
Girls want to lead their own futures.
Let girls lead.
Joan Kembabazi is a 25-year-old feminist activist who champions an end to child marriage and girls' education in Uganda. Joan is the Founder and Team leader of Gufasha Girls Foundation and is currently a fellow in She’s the First’s Girl-Centered Incubator.