This year, World Population Day focuses on the theme “Investing in Adolescent Girls.” This call to action echoes Equipop’s advocacy, which promotes an integrated approach to girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in development programs.
Every year on July 11, World Population Day is celebrated, organized by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The 2016 edition reminds us that population issues cannot be considered independently of the promotion of women's and adolescent girls' rights. Equipop firmly believes that investing in the latter is essential. In French-speaking West Africa, where progress in reducing early pregnancy rates has been slowest, Equipop has gradually shifted part of its focus to young girls. Equipop advocates for an approach that is both integrated and specific to their needs, and encourages young girls to speak out so that the difficulties they face are better addressed. Young girls, who suffer from double discrimination based on gender and age, are often neglected by international policies. They have limited access to basic information about their sexual and reproductive rights and health, which often places them in vulnerable situations and makes them prone to exploitation and poverty. However, when adolescent girls gain autonomy and access to appropriate services, they become true agents of change within their families, communities, and, more broadly, society as a whole. That is why, less than a year after the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, Equipop is renewing its call for young girls not to be forgotten and to be given consistent means to advance their sexual and reproductive rights.
