Source: Anadolu \/ Anadolu\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/strong><\/p>\n The Australian federal government is facing calls to significantly increase its investment in the wellbeing of adolescent girls. This comes as ongoing conflicts, particularly the war in the Middle East, continue to severely impact vulnerable communities across the Asia Pacific region.<\/p>\n Despite adolescent girls constituting nine per cent of the global population, experts highlight a stark disparity: less than one per cent of worldwide aid is currently directed towards supporting them.<\/p>\n The urgent need for action was a key theme at the global gender equality conference, Women Deliver, hosted for the first time in the Oceanic Pacific region in Narrm (Melbourne) this week (27\u201330 April).<\/p>\n During the opening ceremony, Australia’s first female former prime minister, Julia Gillard, a prominent speaker at the event, spoke candidly about the alarming rollback of women’s rights globally. She emphasized that this regression is not occurring in secret but is openly championed by key political leaders worldwide.<\/p>\n Ms. Gillard implored gender equality activists to counter these trends with equal ferocity, identifying the wellbeing of adolescent girls as a critical area of concern.<\/p>\n Susanne Legena, CEO at Plan International Australia, underscored the devastating impact of war on women and girls. “You have now two billion people on the planet living in conflict zones. There are more people now living in conflict than there was from the second world war,” she stated. “And those conflicts are really disproportionately affecting women and girls. Their bodies are literally on the line – either in death, harm, or under use of sexual violence as a tactic in war.”<\/p>\n Legena further explained how the ripple effects of the Middle East conflict and fuel shortages across Asia are driving food insecurity and economic instability, with profound consequences for girls in the Asia Pacific.<\/p>\n “Because as families start with cost of living pressure, they start to take their girls out of school, consider child marriage as a way of supporting their families through difficult times. We’re starting to feel that effect on adolescent girls, and you’re starting to see it in small but very significant ways – higher school dropout rates, pressure to marry early, higher rates of reporting on gender based violence.”<\/p>\n Having worked with vulnerable communities for over 50 years, Plan International Australia notes that adolescent girls remain largely invisible in global aid and philanthropy efforts.<\/p>\n “Less than one per cent of aid in the world or philanthropy money flows towards teen girls or adolescent girls, even though they are nine per cent of the population and they grow up to be half of the world that lead,” Legena highlighted. She stressed the transformative power of investing in girls, citing decades of evidence: “when you invest in a girl you don’t just change her life – if you can keep her in school, if you can let her decide when and if she marries, if you can keep her safe from harm. She doesn’t just lift herself up, she also lifts her family, her community and her entire society up.”<\/p>\n Globally, one in five girls still marries before the age of 18, equating to one girl every three seconds. Current gender-focused funding predominantly targets adult women, leaving the distinct and critical needs of adolescent girls unmet during their most formative years.<\/p>\n Ms. Legena firmly believes in the transformative power of investing in adolescent girls, whom she identifies as powerful agents of change. Plan International is urging the Australian government and major donors to commit approximately $50 million in targeted funding and support.<\/p>\n “There are 240 million adolescent girls living in this Asia Pacific region and we’re calling on the Australian government and other philanthropists who have the means to consider that group as not just a vulnerable group but as a group that if you invest in have the power to catalyse change and lift up entire communities in our region.”<\/p>\n Angelica Ojinnaka-Psillakis, Ambassador for Plan International Australia, a global health and social researcher, community advocate, speaker, and youth activist, echoed these sentiments.<\/p>\n As an Australian-born individual who grew up in a low socio-economic area, Ms. Ojinnaka-Psillakis has witnessed firsthand adolescents with dreams and abilities hindered by a lack of funding.<\/p>\n “As a researcher in global health and adolescent health, we constantly see the numbers of the state of affairs to do with health and wellbeing for children and adolescents getting worse and worse. And I don’t want it to be all doom and gloom – there is a great opportunity here for us to really package that effectively, come together with a greater financial investment and move forward with adolescents designing that future too, with philanthropy and aid.”<\/p>\n Her research, which tracks the wellbeing of children, adolescents, and young people across Australia annually, highlights significant data gaps. She emphasizes that strategic investment would yield holistic, long-term societal benefits.<\/p>\n Reflecting on the resources she and her peers lacked, Ms. Ojinnaka-Psillakis shared her vision: “I know even being here at Women Deliver and speaking to adolescent girls as young as 14 who are in attendance, talking about the lives they wish and want to have. But the obstacles that they are facing. I know that if we go full throttle in investing in these areas, they will be able to see the actions that they will be putting forward in Women Deliver that actually come into full effect, and I think that’s a beautiful thing for everyone. That’s a world that I want to live in, a world where I can see adolescent girls thriving alongside adolescent boys, alongside parents and families and broader communities as well. So there’s a huge opportunity here.”<\/p>\n #AdolescentGirls #GirlInvestment #WomenDeliver #GenderEquality #PlanInternational #AustraliaAid #MiddleEastConflict #AsiaPacific #ChildMarriage #YouthAdvocacy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Australia Urged to Boost Investment in Adolescent Girls Amid Middle East Conflict Source: Anadolu \/ Anadolu\/Anadolu via Getty Images The Australian federal government is facing calls to significantly increase its investment in the wellbeing of adolescent girls. This comes as ongoing conflicts, particularly the war in the Middle East, continue to severely impact vulnerable communities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11951\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Global Gender Equality Conference Highlights Urgent Needs<\/h2>\n
War’s Disproportionate Impact on Women and Girls<\/h2>\n
The Invisible Demographic: Adolescent Girls in Aid<\/h2>\n
Call for Targeted Funding and Transformative Change<\/h2>\n
Advocacy from the Ground Up<\/h2>\n