Aydın Doğan Foundation to host UN’s International Day of the Girl Child Conference in Istanbul
ISTANBUL – Doğan News Agency
The “Empowered Girls, Empowered Future: Ending Child Marriage through Inclusive and High Quality Education” conference aims to raise awareness on empowering girls while providing a platform for discussion on preventing child marriage and removing the main obstacles to achieving gender equality in education.
In its second year, the conference will oversee an international platform with the participation of world-renowned figures including British journalist Lesley Abdela, CNN International’s Becky Anderson, former Associate Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Richard Rowe, Monica Singh, a fashion student who survived a brutal acid attack in India, Girl Child Network founder Betty Makoni, U.N. Women Youth Champion Tennille Amorve and UNICEF Turkey Good Will Ambassador Tuba Büyüküstün.
The conference will start with the main panel titled “Looking Ahead to 2030: Sustainable Development Goals and Girls Empowerment” and discuss issues such as child marriage and refugee girl children throughout the day.
The success stories of companies that put their signature to riveting projects on the issue will also be shared in the conference.
Commenting on the conference, Aydın Doğan Foundation President Hanzade Doğan Boyner said educated girl children were the “most significant guarantees of the future.”
“We thrill in every step we take for the education of our girl children. Seeing the success, determination and dreams of girl children, who receive education in 33 girls’ dormitories in 12 villages as a part of our foundation’s ‘Dad, Send Me to School’ campaign, providing fellowship support to 50,000, gives us more hope for the future. We know that educated girls are essential for our bright future and they are the most significant guarantees of it. I hope we will attract more attention to this subject with the help of our conference. I thank all business partners and supporters who make us feel they are with us on this road in every opportunity,” Doğan Boyner said.
U.N. Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Turkey Kamal Malhotra also said the conference marked an opportunity to realize the 2030 development goals and empower girl children.
Mahotra will deliver the opening speech of the conference.
With the advocacy efforts from Turkey, Canada and Peru, the United Nations General Assembly declared Oct. 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child to end discrimination against girls and to fully and effectively ensure the human rights of girls, observed annually since 2012.
In its second year, the conference will oversee an international platform with the participation of world-renowned figures including British journalist Lesley Abdela, CNN International’s Becky Anderson, former Associate Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education Richard Rowe, Monica Singh, a fashion student who survived a brutal acid attack in India, Girl Child Network founder Betty Makoni, U.N. Women Youth Champion Tennille Amorve and UNICEF Turkey Good Will Ambassador Tuba Büyüküstün.
The conference will start with the main panel titled “Looking Ahead to 2030: Sustainable Development Goals and Girls Empowerment” and discuss issues such as child marriage and refugee girl children throughout the day.
The success stories of companies that put their signature to riveting projects on the issue will also be shared in the conference.
Commenting on the conference, Aydın Doğan Foundation President Hanzade Doğan Boyner said educated girl children were the “most significant guarantees of the future.”
“We thrill in every step we take for the education of our girl children. Seeing the success, determination and dreams of girl children, who receive education in 33 girls’ dormitories in 12 villages as a part of our foundation’s ‘Dad, Send Me to School’ campaign, providing fellowship support to 50,000, gives us more hope for the future. We know that educated girls are essential for our bright future and they are the most significant guarantees of it. I hope we will attract more attention to this subject with the help of our conference. I thank all business partners and supporters who make us feel they are with us on this road in every opportunity,” Doğan Boyner said.
U.N. Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Turkey Kamal Malhotra also said the conference marked an opportunity to realize the 2030 development goals and empower girl children.
Mahotra will deliver the opening speech of the conference.
With the advocacy efforts from Turkey, Canada and Peru, the United Nations General Assembly declared Oct. 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child to end discrimination against girls and to fully and effectively ensure the human rights of girls, observed annually since 2012.