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‘My Body My Rights’ program empowers girls [1]

Nuku'alofa, Tonga

Friday, May 15, 2020 - 18:44.  Updated on Friday, May 15, 2020 - 18:46.

Girls from Matahau and Vaotu’u villages at the 'My Body My Rights' program.

A ‘My Body My Rights’ program aimed at empowering girls by increasing their understanding of their rights and control over their bodies and lives began in Tongatapu this week.

The program began last week attended by adolescent girls aged 10-14 years from Matahau and Vaotu’u villages.

Vanessa Heleta, founder of Talitha Project, said it will run every week for four months and is held every Wednesday at Matahau village and every Thursday at Vaotu'u village.

The program aims to increase the empowerment of girls through increased understanding of access to social assets, and build stronger relationships between adolescent girls and their parents and guardians. It will also strengthen access and understanding of financial literacy and management, increase awareness on gender equality and safety, and the importance of eliminating child marriage.

Vanessa said the girls are also learning about the emerging issue of CoViD-19 and what our roles and responsibilities are because it's important for girls to take ownership of every aspect of their realities.

“About 40 girls, 20 girls from each village, are trying to adhere to the CoViD-19 regulations.”

“It's very important to run this program as we don't have any CoViD-19 case yet and also it's a preparation process.”

It is also a way of encouraging girls to have fun and enjoy life at the same time keeping the spirit of resilience, she said.

Helping to deliver the sessions are the Ministry of Health, BSP Bank, John Maxwell alumni Katrina Ma'u, NEMO and other stakeholders. 

‘My Body My Rights’ is under the Pacific Girl Program funded by Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development Program. 

 
'My Body My Rights' program.
My Body My Rights [2]
Tonga [3]
Pacific Girl Program [4]
Pacific Women Shaping Pacific Development Program [5]
gender equality [6]
Women [7]

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Source URL:https://matangitonga.to/2020/05/15/my-body-my-rights-program-empowers-girls

Links
[1] https://matangitonga.to/2020/05/15/my-body-my-rights-program-empowers-girls [2] https://matangitonga.to/tag/my-body-my-rights?page=1 [3] https://matangitonga.to/tag/tonga?page=1 [4] https://matangitonga.to/tag/pacific-girl-program?page=1 [5] https://matangitonga.to/tag/pacific-women-shaping-pacific-development-program?page=1 [6] https://matangitonga.to/tag/gender-equality?page=1 [7] https://matangitonga.to/topic/women?page=1