Opening Remarks 5
Why are we here? 6
Introduction 6
Education for All: will we make it by 2015? 6
South Asia and global trends 7
Who are the 17 million out-of-school children? 8
Why does gender matter? 13
Sex and gender 13
Gender planning 13
Gender roles 14
Gender needs 14
Knowledge 15
Making schooling safe and secure: understanding and reporting abuse 15
Child labour, education and poverty 17
Tasks for Young Champions 18
Water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) 20
WASH and the Millennium Development Goals 21
Other benefits 21
The International Year of Sanitation 22
What can Young Champions do? 22
Substance abuse, HIV and AIDS 23
Situation of children, young people and HIV/AIDS 23
Summary of epidemic in South Asia 24
Why focus on young people? 24
CRC principles and challenges in HIV/AIDS 26
Young Champions and the response to HIV 26
SAARC on drugs 27
Language and context 28
Multilingual construct of South Asia 28
Young Champions moving forward 29
Child trafficking 29
National legislation 30
Policy responses 30
Children in emergencies 31
Tools 35
Understanding the CRC 35
Communicating for change 35
How to build links with the media 35
The art of writing a press release 37
Interviews with the media 37
Meena Manch: a strategy for change 38
Girl Stars as role models 39
Managing stress 41
Stress in children and adolescents 41
How can we respond to stress? 42
Case Studies 45
The Education Journalists group 45
Educational Pages 46
A safer society for girls by Save the Children Norway 49
UNFPA’s Youth Information Centers 50
Panel discussion 51
Young Champions for emergency support 51
Multi-sectoral approaches by Young Champions 52
The ethics of providing HIV services to adolescents 52
Using technology to stay in touch 53
The Training Manual 53
Young Champions in action 54
Afghanistan 54
Bhutan 55
Bangladesh 56
India 56
Nepal 57
Pakistan 57
Workshop Evaluation 58
Annual Work Plan 60
Afghanistan 60
Bangladesh 61
Bhutan 62
India 63
Maldives 64
Nepal 67
Pakistan 68
Participants 69
Meeting Agenda 74
Sabita Bhujel welcomed the Young Champions to Nepal to discuss priorities for promoting girls’ education in South Asia. Ava Deo Awasthi recalled that South Asia, now poverty stricken and disadvantaged, was once a source of wisdom for the rest of the world. “We have to turn the clock around”, he said. The Ministry of Education in Nepal was taking an interest in how the youth could be at the centre of Education for All as well as the Millennium Development Goals. Daniel Toole expressed the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) pride in being part of the UN Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI) partnership, and said he was even more proud to be here with the Young Champions.
Sabita Bhujel hoped that this workshop would help Young Champions do their best to promote girls’ education. Daniel Toole concluded with the words of the famous Indian Mahatma Gandhi: Be the change you want to see. “This is your challenge”, he said, “To be and build that change: a world where all children go to school.”
UNGEI is a partnership of organizations dedicated to promoting girls’ education and gender equality. It is carried forward, among others, by champions who believe in and work toward a vision of "a world where all girls and boys are empowered through quality education to realize their full potential and contribute to transforming societies where gender equality becomes a reality."1