Empowering Women and Girls with UNICEF

Dear Friend,

Thank you for your support of UNICEF’s Empowering Women and Girls Project! Due to your generosity, UNICEF was able to implement programs around the world that help vulnerable women and girls. Examples of these UNICEF programs include:

• Enhancing digital skill development for adolescent girls. In some contexts, girls are being left behind in developing digital and technological skills due tolong-standing gender norms. UNICEF is working to bridge this gap.Through networks of Innovation Hubs,UNICEF Tajikistan and UNICEF Jordan offer trainings for adolescent girls to help them acquire 21^st century skills, digital skills, social entrepreneurship skills and access to jobs. In Bolivia, UNICEF continues to support Technovation, a program focused on building digital skills for adolescent girls aged 10-18.

• Supporting the protection of women and girls at risk of or exposed to gender-based violence. Girls have a higher risk of experiencing gender-based violence, especially during humanitarian emergencies. In 2018, nearly 1.3 million women, girls and boys in humanitarian contexts received prevention and response services such as clinical health services, distribution of dignity kits, safe spaces and community safety planning. In non-emergency settings, more than 2 million boys and girls who experienced violence were reached by health, social work or justice and law enforcement services. In Ghana for example, UNICEF supported gender-sensitivity training on sexual violence case management and child-friendly policing for nearly 3,000 social workers and police officers.

• Promoting girls’ health throughout their life cycle. Millions of adolescent girls face unique, gender-specific health vulnerabilities, with lifelong consequences: early pregnancy, higher risks of HIV and cervical cancer, and inadequate nutrition. In addition, studies show that adolescent girls drop out of secondary school partially driven by the lack of understanding about ways to manage menstrual hygiene. As more UNICEF country programs prioritize dignified menstrual health and hygiene results, coverage of facilities and services for girls has expanded, coupled with improved access to water and sanitation facilities at schools for girls and boys. Through UNICEF support, sex-segregated water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities were provided in 7,710 schools in 70 countries in 2018.

We appreciate your continued support of women and girls around the world through UNICEF’s programs. You will continue to receive updates on the progress UNICEF is making to improve the lives and futures of women and girls around the world, learning how you are creating an impact.

Sincerely,

Whitney Simon