Roselyn Sidal, Julie-Ann Guivarra and Jacqui Joseph in conversation with Tara Chetty about the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on adolescent girls in the Pacific region. The webinar also included video messages from Natasha Stott-Despoja, Virisila Buadromo, and Yoshiko Capelle plus performance from two young women: Anna Vea and Mia Kami.
This video features girls from Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu highlighting the issues experienced by girls before and after the global pandemic.
Girls also share what they want changed to address the issues faced by themselves and their peers particularly during the COVID-19 response and recovery period.
Pamela, 13, is a dynamic adolescent, head girl and an active participant in one of Equal Playing Field school action groups in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea’s capital.
She was in Fiji; caught in transit between Papua New Guinea and Samoa due to changes in her connecting flight on her way to attend “A dive into the Blue Pacific” side event at the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) earlier this month.
Adolescent girls in the Pacific face challenges because they are girls; and they can also be discriminated against for other reasons, such as having a disability or getting pregnant. In this short video, adolescent girls from the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu talk about the issues that are important to them – such as education and climate change, the challenges they face – such as violence in their homes and cyber bullying, and the strategies they believe will work to empower adolescent girls in the region.