‘The Girl I Am, the Change I Lead.

For girls aren’t waiting for a better world, they are building it.

Call to action

On this International Day, stand with girls and support their leadership. Your voice matters too.

• Share girls’ stories. Celebrate their achievements and amplify their voices.
• Advocate for change. Call for policies that protect girls’ rights and enable their leadership—now and in the future.
• Create girl-led spaces. Wherever you have influence, support safe spaces where girls can connect, learn, and get the support they need.
• Lend your voice. Call for dedicated funding and programmes that meet the unique needs of girls in crisis situations—including health, education, mental well-being, and support for adolescent mothers.

When we invest in girls, we create a more equal, just and hopeful world – for everyone.

Girl Goals: What Has Changed for Girls?

Thirty years after the Beijing Platform for Action, girls have made strides in education, health, and rights—but many inequalities remain. Marginalized girls still face barriers that limit their potential. Greater investment, breaking down obstacles, and empowering girls to lead are essential to ensure every girl can thrive.

“Girl goals: What has changed for girls? Adolescent girls’ rights over 30 years”—a report by UNICEF, UN Women, and Plan International—examines progress and ongoing challenges for girls worldwide.

Background

In 1995 at the World Conference on Women in Beijing countries unanimously adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – the most progressive blueprint ever for advancing the rights of not only women but girls. The Beijing Declaration is the first to specifically call out girls’ rights.

On December 19, 2011, United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 66/170 to declare October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child, to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world.

The International Day of the Girl Child focuses attention on the need to address the challenges girls face and to promote girls’ empowerment and the fulfilment of their human rights.

Adolescent girls have the right to a safe, educated, and healthy life, not only during these critical formative years, but also as they mature into women.

If effectively supported during the adolescent years, girls have the potential to change the world – both as the empowered girls of today and as tomorrow’s workers, mothers, entrepreneurs, mentors, household heads, and political leaders.

An investment in realising the power of adolescent girls upholds their rights today and promises a more equitable and prosperous future, one in which half of humanity is an equal partner in solving the problems of climate change, political conflict, economic growth, disease prevention, and global sustainability.

Girls are breaking boundaries and barriers posed by stereotypes and exclusion, including those directed at children with disabilities and those living in marginalized communities.

As entrepreneurs, innovators and initiators of global movements, girls are creating a world that is relevant for them and future generations.

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by world leaders in 2015, embody a roadmap for progress that is sustainable and leaves no one behind.

Achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment is integral to each of the 17 goals. Only by ensuring the rights of women and girls across all the goals will we get to justice and inclusion, economies that work for all, and sustaining our shared environment now and for future generations.

Vanessa Nakate on how the climate crisis impacts girls

Vanessa Nakate, 25, is a Ugandan climate change activist and founder of the Africa-based Rise Up Movement. Nakate speaks out on the climate crisis and its intersection with gender and race, especially in how it disproportionately affects women and girls in Africa.

Source: Girl goals: What has changed for girls? Adolescent girls’ rights over 30 years