Global Dominican Girls Connect

At the UN, one of the programs that NGO’s like ours participates in, is the Working Group on Girls. Each year in October we celebrate the International Day of the Girl.  It is an opportunity to raise the voice and input of girls around the world on various topics e.g. Decision Making, Girls Leadership, Gender equality, Gender violence, and other concerns that girls want to speak to.

In June, I had the privilege of presenting to the Dominican High School Preaching Conference on the Working Group on Girls and the concept of Global Dominican Girls Connect.  The aim is to engage girls from Dominican High Schools in the U.S. and Africa to talk to one another and share their understandings of the various topics that girls are concerned with and affected by. It was a learning for me to hear what girls think as well as what they have experienced on these topics.  I was moved by how quickly the girls began to share their own experience of gender violence, lack of equity, their being left out of decision making on all levels, as well as leadership. Opportunities are minimal for girls in a coed educational environment.  

In late June, I was in Nairobi Kenya for the Dominican Sisters of Africa meeting. They meet every three years but due to Covid they were unable to meet. They are young and full of life.  Many of the Dominicans in Africa have schools. And so they were keen to listen to the new imitative by the Dominican Leadership Conference and to participate in the Global Dominican Girls Connect.

In July, twelve students from Zimbabwe Dominican Schools joined me on a zoom call to talk about this new imitative. They were eager and curious to meet high school girls in the U.S. via zoom, come September.

We will be inviting girls to consider preparing a webinar with two girls in the US and two in Africa on one of the 11 Days of Action. Two girls will be Moderators for the discussion and two will be the respondents. It will be their choice as to how they will execute the webinar. They may even need to do some prepared videos due to the situation in different countries regarding electricity, etc. The 11 Days of Action themes for that week leading up to October 11th are:

11 Days of Action  

  • October 1st:  Investing in Girls Right to Participate in Decision Making
  • October 2nd:  Investing in Girls Right to Quality Education
  • October 3rd:  Investing in Girls to Access Comprehensive Health Care
  • October 4th:  Investing in Girls Right to Live a Life Free of Violence
  • October 5th:  Investing in Girls Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment
  • October 6th:  Investing in Girls Rights to Technology and Science (Internet, STEM)
  • October 7th:  Investing in Girls Leadership and Power
  • October 8th: Investing in Girls Right to Say No to Early Marriage
  • October 9th: Investing in Girls Right to Water, Sanitation and Menstrual Health 
  • October 10th: Investing in Girls Right to a Healthy Economy
  • October 11th: Investing in Girls Rights: Leadership and Well Being

Please keep this initiative in your prayers. It’s a wonderful opportunity for Dominican girls to meet one another around the world. This is one of the purposes of the Dominican Leadership Conference. Connect Dominicans with Dominicans.

Our First Dominican Global Connect will be September 15th.