The Girls Opportunity Alliance, a programme of the Obama Foundation, celebrated the power and potential of adolescent girls everywhere at the launch of Get Her There on 25 October 2022 at the Manhattan Center in New York City.
Get Her There, a global call to action to educate and empower adolescent girls around the world to reach their full potential, featured a 90-minute luncheon for about 300 invitees.
Valerie Jarrett, a former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama and CEO of the Obama Foundation, welcomed guests, including Wanjiru Wahome from the Samburu Girls Foundation, the American actress Marsai Martin, American singer and songwriter Sara Bareilles, and numerous supporters, influencers, donors, celebrities and media partners.
Three “girls’ empowerment champions” led the keynote session and announced a collaboration to support adolescent girls and help end child marriage.
The prominent trio included former U.S. First Lady, Michelle Obama, who is also the founder of the Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance; co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda French Gates, and co-founder of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, Amal Clooney.
Featured among the audience was a global cohort of girls and young women who are part of the Girls Opportunity Alliance Network. Their segment of the programme focused on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) initiatives, which can help adolescent girls with disabilities overcome the barriers they face to get in and stay in the classroom.
The World Health Organization, in its first-ever World Report on Disability 2011, suggested that more than one billion people in the world experience disability. It showed that people with disabilities experience worse educational outcomes and children with disabilities tend to have lower school attendance rates than able-bodied individuals.
Additionally, the report indicated that women with disabilities experience the combined disadvantages associated with gender, as well as disability. It affirmed that women and girls with disabilities should not be excluded from participation in and implementation of global development goals.
Girls with disabilities experience STEM sessions differently depending on their disability. For instance, learners with hearing impairment are more interested in coding and scratch sessions. The visually impaired tend to enjoy Makey Makey, while those with physical impairments are attracted to robotics.
At the event in New York, Clare Akumu, a Ugandan disability advocate, and Betty Mulavi, a Kenyan disability advocate, were invited to share their remarks on the Get Her There main stage.
“I want to inspire girls in Kenya and all across Africa, because I believe so deeply in the power of mentorship. I believe that young women like me can do anything,” Ms. Mulavi told Africa Renewal.
Ms. Mulavi is a mentor with The Action Foundation (TAF), which champions inclusion and supports girls with disabilities to pursue STEM-related opportunities. She worked as a trainee during her studies at TAF but was unable to find work elsewhere because of her disability, despite holding an M.ED in Special Needs Education from Kenyatta University.
Mildred Omino accompanied Ms. Mulavi; both women are disability advocates with TAF in Kenya. They traveled to New York for the event.
In a phone interview, Ms. Mulavi shared her journey. “Growing up as a girl with a disability, I observed that many girls and young women upon completing school struggle in the job market because of not having STEM skills. I was one of them.”
The fact that the issues of girls with disabilities were given visibility on the main stage is excellent.
She continued: “In my effort to counter the problem, I developed a passion for mentoring girls with disabilities to unlock their STEM opportunities and to help ensure they are not left behind.”
On her part, Ms. Omino said the Get Her There campaign by the Girls Opportunity Alliance was a momentous event for girls with disabilities in Africa.
Ms. Mulavi and Ms. Akumu shared their experiences, the impact that mentorship has had on their lives, and how they are giving back to other girls with disabilities in their countries.
“This demonstrates,” Ms. Omino said, “the ripple effect that the support has on other girls with disabilities in Africa. It also underscores the potential for nurturing a cohort of leaders, who are girls with disabilities, with the right skills for developing solutions to the problems they experience in Africa."
Growing up as a girl with a disability, I observed that many girls and young women upon completing school struggle in the job market because of not having STEM skills. I was one of them.
TAF instills confidence and inspires innovation in adolescent girls with disabilities by exposing them to STEM—through coding, mobile app development, scratch and robotics—while also helping them to develop life skills through mentorship. Mentees often use the STEM sessions to work on real-life challenges the girls face.
According to Ms. Mulavi, girls with disabilities “experience STEM sessions differently depending on their disability. For instance, learners with hearing impairment are more interested in coding and scratch sessions. Individuals who are visually impaired tend to enjoy Makey Makey, while those with physical impairments are attracted to robotics.”
The world has applauded this unique STEM mentorship approach, as well as the Get Her There campaign launch event.
“In Africa, we focus more on challenges - resources and culture. We must also be concerned about how opportunities, such as obtaining an education, are taken away from people because of their diverse abilities. If all African girls have the same opportunities to get an education, they will be able to become solvers of global issues too,” said Ms. Omino.
The highlight of the evening was a performance by Bareilles, who thrilled the crowd with an inspiring performance of her song “Brave.”
The Girls Opportunity Alliance pledged to support hundreds of community-led organizations around the world for the next five years. This means an expansion of the alliance’s reach and impact hence support thousands more girls.
