The Girl Child Shield Project in Pakistan: The Right to be Equal

In 1997, after several years of informal co-operation and following the development and testing of a pilot program, the Pakistan Girl Guides Association (PGGA) and UNICEF launched a Girl Child Shield Project. The goal of this project is to improve the status of women and girl children in Pakistan. By May 2001, the project had involved an estimated 100,000 girls in over 800 schools in lower and middle income urban and rural communities, trained them as role models on girl child issues, child rights, affirmative communication and team building. It had also reached an impressive number of peers (1,000,000) and families (100,000).

The overall goal of the project is to improve the status of girls and women in Pakistan. It seeks to increase the Girl Guides' awareness of the problems girls face in their communities, raise their self esteem, confidence, communication skills and increase their ability to engage in community service. The acquisition of new knowledge and skills by girls is intended to demonstrate to peers, families and communities the potential of girls and their abilities to act as role models and change agents, and thus to positively influence attitudes towards girls and reduce gender discrimination.