A few months ago, we told you over 130 million girls are missing out on getting an education. We asked you to raise your voice so world leaders would hear our call for action and you delivered!
Just last weekend leaders met in Hamburg for the G20 Summit where they agreed on a list of commitments to help shape a better world. Thanks to your campaigning, not only was education in there, but it included a call for better and more innovative financing. While we still have a long way to go to, this was a great step forward.
We started this campaign giving G20 leaders an “F” grade, but having seen and heard you, they managed to bring it up to a C. It’s a pass, but they’ll need to work much harder to get to the top of the class. We’re going to need your help to keep this campaign going and make sure they deliver to get those 130 million + girls the education they deserve.
Across the globe, you shared 34,000 tweets and over 21,000 retweets using #GirlsCount. On Facebook, you shared posts about girls education nearly 9000 times and gave over 49,000 reactions! 16,190 of you from 169 different countries (and counting) showed off your creativity and commitment to girls’ education by helping us count to an insanely high number and 122,191 of you signed a postcard asking world leaders to show us they think #GirlsCount too!
Our tireless volunteers and Youth Ambassadors also made sure they helped us spread the message offline! Ahead of the G20 Partnership with Africa conference and G20 Hamburg we covered Berlin and Hamburg with thousands of posters and stencils to target 20 world leaders in the fight for the over 130 million girls missing out on an education around the world.
Take a look at some of this amazing activity below:
BELGIUM
Over in Brussels, our Youth Ambassadors did a virtual hand-in of the petition outside the European Commission and European Council offices.
.@JunckerEU: 106,500+ ONE members call on you to show that #GirlsCount by putting girls’ education at the top of the #G20 agenda pic.twitter.com/brHVoCDszO
— ONEinEU (@ONEinEU) June 9, 2017
They also took action by taking photos of themselves with hand-drawn signs declaring why education was important to them.
https://twitter.com/alice_kabongo/status/877970010022400001
Busy evening with @ONEinEU asking #OneYouth17 what education can give to the 130 million girls worldwide denied access 😢 #girlscount #G20 pic.twitter.com/faDV7T5i8G
— Nicole Zandi 🙌 (@NicoleZandi) June 22, 2017
FRANCE
In France, over 16,000 people took our postcard action! Our French YAs and volunteers attended festivals across France to mobilise the public and collect signatures encouraging the government to take action for all girls missing out on an education.
130 millions de filles ne vont pas à l’école. La France doit agir lors du #G20 contre cette injustice #GirlsCount https://t.co/7sDEBqnnPZ pic.twitter.com/B5H8e9q78Q
— ONE en France (@ONE_Fr) May 17, 2017
GERMANY
Our G20 hosts handed in the petition with 2,000 postcards to Merkel’s Chief of Staff – one of the highest level staff in the German government!
Vielen Dank @peteraltmaier für das Gespräch & Ihren Einsatz für Bildung für Mädchen – Wir zählen auf Sie! #ONEYouth17 #GirlsCount #G20 pic.twitter.com/kJYTkVDe9N
— ONE in Deutschland (@ONEDeutschland) July 5, 2017
IRELAND
We received over 700 signatures from supporters in Ireland and our Irish Youth Ambassadors took to Twitter using hand-written signs to share what education means to them.
https://twitter.com/megansully07/status/882895390604918785
What was the most valuable thing you learnt at school? #ONEYouth17 #G20 #GirlsCount https://t.co/48pe5K9VvU pic.twitter.com/G4fgZNDUfU
— ONE Ireland (@ONEinIreland) June 20, 2017
ITALY
Two Italian Youth Ambassador’s did a virtual hand-in of our postcard action to Palazzo Chigi (the Prime Minister’s office) and asked Italy to continue showing leadership on the topic of girls’ education!
Our YAs also tweeted #GirlsCount videos to the Prime Minister asking him to encourage other G20 leaders to step up their commitment to girls’ education.
#ONEYouth17 consegna il suo messaggio a @PaoloGentiloni: #Italia continui a mostrare leadership al #G20 sul tema dell'istruzione femminile! pic.twitter.com/rWKkt4TLuE
— ONE in Italia (@ONEinItalia) July 3, 2017
NETHERLANDS
Dutch Youth Ambassadors targeted tweets towards Prime Minister Rutte with pictures that explained how important education has been to them and requests for him and the other G20 leaders to do more for girls’ education around the world.
Onze Jeugdambassadeurs over #onderwijs. 130 mln meisjes kunnen niet naar school. Roep #G20 & @MinPres tot actie https://t.co/D6Wn6wrtZ6 pic.twitter.com/dtwlBwaqAK
— ONE in Nederland (@ONENederland) July 6, 2017
Our Youth Ambassadors also visited The Hague to complete a virtual hand-in of our #GirlsCount petition.
130 mln meisjes kunnen niet naar school. Dat kan niet! TEKEN: https://t.co/vqHMy9faRS en vraag #G20 leiders voor meer en beter #onderwijs pic.twitter.com/uRO30BdEha
— ONE in Nederland (@ONENederland) July 4, 2017
UNITED KINGDOM
In the UK over 24,000 people signed our postcard!
#ONEYouth17 deliver our petition to @Number10gov 🙌
G20 leaders must invest in girls' education because #GirlsCount 📚 https://t.co/gfCo61iuNM pic.twitter.com/qD235sRzS0— ONE UK (@ONEintheUK) July 4, 2017
A team of UK Youth Ambassadors made visits to No. 10 Downing Street to hand in our postcards and the ONE team attended meetings at the Argentinian, Canadian, and German embassies in London where they spoke with representatives about why all #GirlsCount.
Great to meet the team at @ARGinUK to discuss our #GirlsCount campaign & why the G20 must invest in girl's education 🎒👩🎓 pic.twitter.com/RGwj8YYrro
— ONE UK (@ONEintheUK) June 26, 2017
Fantastic meeting with @CanadianUK discussing our shared passion for girls' education & why the #G20 must invest because #GirlsCount 👩🏾🏫 🎒 pic.twitter.com/r4FlGEpAFH
— ONE UK (@ONEintheUK) June 28, 2017
Great meeting with the #G20 hosts @GermanEmbassy to discuss why #G20 leaders must invest in girls' education, because ALL #girlscount 🎒👩🏿🏫 pic.twitter.com/AKh8iIdx2q
— ONE UK (@ONEintheUK) July 3, 2017
And this is just the beginning. We’re going to keep holding world leaders to account to push for more and better funds to get those girls back where they belong: in school.