On Wednesday 9th October 15 young advocates coming from Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan, Tanzania, Kosovo and various European countries came to the European Parliament to discuss with EU leaders how they can champion girls’ rights. This youth-led event titled “Girls Speak Out in the European Parliament” as part of the European Week of Action for Girls was organised with the support of the S&D Group, EU40, the Greens/ EFA in the European Parliament, the Intergoup on Children's Rights in the European Parliament and the European United Left/Nordic Green Left. More than 10 recently elected Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) such as Iratxe García Pérez, President of the S&D Group in the European Parliament and Evelyn Regner, Chair of the FEMM Committee attended the event and responded to our driven advocates’ questions and demands to put girls at the centre of the EU agenda.

Girls Count: Ideas + Investment = Impact. The European Week of Action for Girls is an annual week-long event which aims to ensure that girls’ empowerment is promoted and their rights are protected and fulfilled in the EU’s external action, through adequate policies, funding and programs.

During the European Week of Action for Girls 2016, girls took over @EuropeAid social media accounts to call for more investments in gender equality.

Goals for Girls Post-2015: Win, lose or draw? The Week of Action is an annual week-long event which aims to ensure that girls’ empowerment is promoted and their rights are protected and fulfilled in the EU’s external action, through adequate policies, funding and programs.

The Girls’ Rights Gazette is a unique publication which makes girls’ rights front page news. It intends to inform readers of the barriers girls still face in the realisation of their rights, while demonstrating the transformative power empowering girls has on poverty reduction worldwide.

Each photograph in the exhibition represents the importance of girls’ equal participation in the context of each of the 17 SDGs

Girls of all ages deserve particular attention in policy and programming. That was the message from panellists at the launch of the European Week of Action for Girls 2014.