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OUR STORY: THE BECAUSE I AM A GIRL BULLETIN —ISSUE 17/OCTOBER 2011
Later, their work was exhibited in central Bang-
kok, with a mini-concert by the famous rock band
―Playground‖, who also attended the launch.
For more info, please contact Warisara Sornpet,
Plan Thailand again gets Prime Ministerial support In Thailand, the BIAAG report launch had a very
special guest of honour: the first female Prime
Minister, Yinglunck Shinawatra.
Shinawatra used the event to state that gender
equality is a key priority for her government. In a speech to the guests, she also declared that
―Thailand will be a strong supporter of better
welfare and well-being of girls and women, and a
good partner to organisations like Plan‖.
The Prime Minister was joined by a group of
stateless children from a hill tribe community in
the northern part of the country where Plan works.
The children presented their paintings to the
Prime Minister of how they understand gender
equality.
Plan Uganda The report launch in Kampala was attended by
over 150 people from NGOs, government, members of parliament, media, UN, children,
youth and the media, including Care, UNDP, UN
women and Goal. The first woman speaker of
parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, was the guest of
honour.
For more info, please contact Agnes Kabaikya,
PR & Comms for Plan Uganda:
Dear all,
With less than one year to go now before the global launch of Because I am a Girl, the recent 2011 BIAAG report launches
across the organisation are a good indicator that the whole organisation is coming together behind the campaign. The launches have helped to significantly increase both internal and external momentum behind the campaign, and as the count-
down begins to the September 2012 global launch, Plan is emerging as the leading organisation on the critical issue of
girls‘ rights and empowerment. We are so excited to read of all the launch events and activities, and are proud to be able to
present to you this month an issue of the BIAAG Bulletin dedicated to these events. Meanwhile, the BIAAG campaign team is looking forward to a line up of high level global advocacy events, including the
Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Replenishment in Copenhagen, where we will be holding an event on what it takes
to make girls‘ education rights a reality. The GPE is a key stakeholder for the campaign, as it is the only multilateral part-
nership devoted to securing a quality education for the world‘s 67 million out of school children—a disproportionate num-
ber of whom are girls.
Other events on the horizon include the World Economic Forum in Davos, and the 56th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women‘s in New York, both of which will provide further opportunities to establish the Because I am a Girl cam-
paign on the global stage, and present Plan‘s great work on girls and gender, Most importantly, events like these are cru-
cial for our overarching goal of achieving gender justice and equality for girls – the key to building an equal world for all
children, and the great challenge of our century. It is a challenge the Because I am a Girl campaign is looking forward to
tackling head on.
Deepali Sood
REPORT SPECIAL!
Plan Bangladesh: Child’s Rights Week In Bangladesh there was a whole week of celebra-
tions including a fair, art and essay competitions,
as well as the report launch. BIAAG report launch in Kampala
The first female Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra
presenting the BIAAG report in Thailand
A painting of gender equality by a child from a hill tribe
community
Dancing at the launch event in Bangladesh
Plan Bangladesh, together with Bangladesh
Shishu (Children) Academy and the Girl Child
Advocacy Forum celebrated the National Girl
Child Day through a colourful rally, and the publication of ―Girl Child-7‖.
For more info, please contact Nova Shams,
Communications Specialist at Plan Bangladesh:
WARO/Plan Benin At a joint event held by Plan Benin and WARO,
the Minister of Family, Social Protection and
Solidarity launched the ceremony, while all the
female ministers of the government of Benin and
the Prime Minister sent representatives to the
ceremony to present their message of support
for the campaign.
National celebrities also showed support, and
encouraged everyone present to continue to
support the BIAAG campaign.
Stefanie Conrad, West Africa Deputy Regional
Director Program said: ―It's been a long time
since I felt such strong "gender solidarity"; it
reminded me of the good old "women's libera-
tion" days...‖. For more info, please contact Car-
men Johnson, Media Communication & PR at
Plan Benin: [email protected]
OUR STORY: THE BECAUSE I AM A GIRL BULLETIN —ISSUE 17/OCTOBER 2011
GNO: International Day of the Girl GNO hosted an ―International Day of the Girl‖
event in the historic Humboldt Carré in Berlin.
Around 180 guests attended the event, which
premiered the new BIAAG viral clip. Deepali
Sood, Global Head of BIAAG campaign, GNO‘s
ND Maike Röttger and GNO‘s Chairman of the
Board Dr. Werner Bauch were among the speak-
ers, while Dana Golombek, a popular German
actress, presented the new BIAAG report.
Maike Röttger shared the fantastic news that during the event, the German Parliament had
voted overwhelmingly in favour of a creation of
a UN Day of the Girl. Another highlight was the
performance of ―Because I am a Girl‖ by Sisters,
who dedicated the song to the campaign.
For more info, please contact Julia Engel:
Plan EU: European Week of Action for Girls In Brussels, the 2011 Because I am a Girl report
was launched as part of a week-long series of
events in the European Parliament called the
―European Week of Action for Girls‖, held in
partnership with the World Association of Girl
Guides and Girl Scouts, and the European Parlia-
mentary Forum.
Events in-cluded a photo
exhibition, the
cross-Europe
viral launch of
Plan‘s Because I am a Girl online card
game, and the
joint launch ceremony of the MEP declaration in
support of the UN Day of the Girl and the launch of Plan‘s 2011 Because I am a Girl report ―So
what about boys?‖
For more info, please contact Patricia Scherer:
Guinea Bissau to support
International Day of the Girl The campaign was launched by country‘s First
Lady, Mariana Mane Sanha, along with the min-
ister of women, family and social cohesion,
Valentina Mendes, plus representatives of Uni-
cef, the UN and ambassadors from South Africa,
Senegal and Germany.
Ms Mendes congratulated the initiative and
reassured government commitment to work
toward gender equality. She also announced her
government‘s support to establish International
Day of the Girl.
For more info, please contact Joelma Pereira,
Gender and Comms specialist Plan Guinea Bis-
sau: [email protected]
Plan Liberia At Plan Liberia, the 2011 BIAAG report launch
was hosted by the Minister of Youth and Sports,
Etmonia Tarpeh.
The launch ceremony included the personal
story of a 13 year old girl of Plan‘s Youth Media
program in Lofa, focusing on the role her father
played in her education. The Bomi Youth Media
Club also performed a drama on how men can
contribute to end harmful traditional practices such as Early Marriage.
The event was covered by over 10 major media
outlets including radio, TV, and newspaper,
and attended by more than 75 representatives
from government, civil society organisations,
international NGOs, women rights advocates and
youth groups.
For more info, please contact Naomi Walker, Media and Communications Coordinator, Plan
Liberia: [email protected]
ROA At the launch in ROA, Dr. Benno de Keijzer, a
gender and masculinity expert, talked about the
importance of boys in gender equality and com-
mented on the findings of the report. A young
woman also told her story, and her struggle to
become empowered in a ―machista‖ world.
The launch was accompanied with a photo exhi-
bition, that ROA plan to use throughout next
year, as well as some lively Latin American mu-
sic! For more info, please contact Marti Ostrander,
Re g io na l C omm u n ic a t io ns Of f i c er :
MEP Edite Estrela speaking in the
European Parliament
GNO event in Berlin, with GNO ND Maike Röttger, Joana
Zimmer, Dana Golombek and Deepali Sood
Girls dancing at the launch event in Guinea Bissau
Well known German actress Dana Golombek presenting this
year‘s report
Rebecca Kadaga, Uganda‘s first female speaker in Parliament
Report launch in Benin
Photo exhibition at the ROA Launch
BIAAG Youth Summary available! The BIAAG report team is now in possession of
a limited number of hard copies of the BIAAG
Youth Summary for distribution. If you are in-
terested, please could you email the Report
Assistant (Lili Harris) and state how many re-
ports you would like and also state what pur-
pose you would like to use them for if possible.
Plan Finland Congratulations to Plan Finland, whose Face-
book page will soon reach 8000 supporters!
Among the speakers at the launch were Director
of GreeneWorks Margaret Greene and Director
Saba Ayub-Riipinen, who was born in Pakistan
and has personal experience of several core
issues of the Because I am a Girl campaign. The
report was introduced by Ombudsman and
member of the FLNO Board Eva Biaudet.
―This year was special to FLNO because we had
an honour to participate in the BIAAG launch of Plan Sierra Leone. It was our great pleasure to
see that BIAAG is really gaining global momen-
tum.‖ Anna Kononen, Communications Manager,
Plan Finland. They also gave special thanks to
Plan EU for sharing the online card game.
For more info, please contact Anna Kononen,
Communications Manager, Plan Finland:
OUR STORY: THE BECAUSE I AM A GIRL BULLETIN —ISSUE 17/OCTOBER 2011
RESA RESA launched the BIAAG 2011 report at a
media event in Nairobi. You can watch the entire
event again on Ustream http://www.ustream.tv/
channel/plan-resa-biagg-launch or via Facebook.
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/plan-resa-biagg
-launch Regional campaigns coordinator
Hamimu Masudi was interviewed by CBS and by
BBC Network Africa.
For more info, please contact Regis Nya-
makanga, Regional Communications and Media Re l a t i o ns : Reg i s .n ya m ak a ng a@ p l an -
international.org
Plan Pakistan In Pakistan, the Because I am a Girl report was
launched by the Federal Minister for Information
& Broadcast, Ms. Firdous Ashiq Awan and the
Secretary for Human Rights Ms. Batool Iqbal
Qureshi.
Speakers urged the government to take steps to
empower young women through education.
Representatives from local and international
NGOs, and children from the slums of Islamabad
and Chakwal also participated in the event.
For more info, please contact Ghazala Farid,
Communications Coordinator, Plan Pakistan:
Plan Niger The official launch ceremony in Niger was
chaired by the First Lady, Mme Hama Amadou.
Activities included speeches from Plan Niger CS,
and the Vice Minister of Child Protection,
Women Promotion and Population both gave
speeches, a presentation of the main findings,
conclusions and recommendations of the 2011
BIAAG report by the PSM, a photo exhibit and a
debate in the afternoon on ―boys and men impli-
cation in gender equality‖. The event was at-
tended by representatives of international and
local organizations, youth organizations, govern-ment officials, unionists, Plan Staff, youth, media,
and other partners. The same report launch will
then be implemented at PU level. For more info, please contact Assalama Sidi:
Plan France’s chain of support for
girls Plan France designed a social application on the
Plan France Facebook fan page where visitors
can choose a date and pledge to support girls‘
rights on that day through a variety of activities.
The aim is to build a chain of daily support
throughout the year. After just a week, the chain
of support already lasts more than 80 days.
Check out Plan France‘s Facebook page here:
https://www.facebook.com/PagePlanFrance
Plan France‘s Facebook page
Plan Sierra Leone The report was launched by the National Direc-
tor of Plan Finland, members of the Plan Finland
Board, the Country Director of Plan Sierra
Leone, and representatives from the Govern-
ment of Sierra Leone and civil society.
Later in the day, Ms. Edith Maria Gunvor Kron-
man, Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Plan
Finland, Ms. Riitta Weiste, National Director,
Plan Finland; Ms. Miriam Murray, Program Sup-port Manager Plan Sierra Leone attended a live
TV discussion on the national broadcast by Si-
erra Leone Broadcasting Corporation. A docu-
mentary shall be released soon on the BIAAG
launch.
For more info, please contact Mykel Hinga:
RESA Regional Drector Gezahegn Kebede speaking at the
BIAAG Report Launch with Plan RESA and Plan Kenya in
In Pakistan, the BIAAG report was launched by the Federal
Minister for Information and Broadcast, Ms. Firdous Ashiq
Awanand the Secretary for Human Rights, Ms. Batool Iqbal
Qureshi.
Plan Ghana Plan Ghana presented highlights of the report
and the BIAAG campaign on the Breakfast show
on Ghana Television, the only station with na-
tional coverage. At the official launch at the Inter-
national Press Centre in Accra, Ghana‘s deputy
minister of women and children‘s affairs, Hajia
Hawawu Boya Gariba, opened the event in front
of 18 media representatives from television, ra-
dio, print and online organisations.
For more info, please contact Adisa Lansah:
Signing the petition to make 22 September the International
Day of the Girl, at the Plan RESA report launch in Kenya
Because I am a Girl report launch event with Plan Sierra Leone
and Plan Finland in Sierra Leone
Report launch event in Accra, Ghana
Check out Plan Finland‘s videos here:
http://vimeo.com/30430317
Awesome Media Coverage! There’s been some seriously impressive
media coverage from all of the report
launches across the Plan world, from
our CEO Nigel Chapman talking to
Becky Anderson on CNN, to Plan Can-ada’s 18 print and broadcast media in-
terviews.
In fact, we were so blown away by all
the fantastic highlights, we just had to
dedicate a whole section of the Bulletin
to it...
OUR STORY: THE BECAUSE I AM A GIRL BULLETIN —ISSUE 17/OCTOBER 2011
Plan Canada CNO set up 18 print and broadcast media inter-
views. Online coverage as of Monday 26 Sep-
tember included 167 media hits and
5 3 , 9 3 6 , 3 3 7 m e d i a i m p r e s s i o n s .
In addition, Plan Canada published the findings
of a survey it commissioned of Canadian youth
and adults with similar questions to those used in
the global report. In the Canadian parliament, an
official statement about the International Day of
the Girl was read by the Honourable Rona Ambrose, Canadian minister for the status of
women. Plan Canada has spearheaded efforts to
have the UN name 22 September as an official
girls‘ day.
Plan Guatemala Major newspapers in Guatemala announced the
launch, and Jose Campang, director of Pro-
grammes and Susy Eiyadeh were invited by Ra-
dio Sonora to participate in its evening pro-
gramme and expand on the content of the re-
port. A forum is being planned for October
which will include experts on gender and differ-
ent disciplines to make an analysis of the situa-
tion of girls in Guatemala.
Upcoming Events
Global Partnership for Education Replenish-
ment Event
Copenhagen, Nov 7-8
Because I am a Girl—Advocacy Summit
London, December 5-6
Because I am a Girl Regional Roll-out work-
shops
Feb—April 2012
Please feel free to send through your thoughts or contact us for more info on any of these sto-
ries: Write to us at: [email protected] or [email protected]
P l a n ’ s w e b p r e s e n c e Plan‘s web presence increased significantly dur-
ing the launch period: Hits to the global website
are at the highest number they have yet been,
and around 20,000 people around the world
have signed online campaign petitions for the
International Day of the Girl. In less than 20 days,
the @PlanGlobal account has won more than
1300 followers—an increase of 66%! In less than
20 days, the Plan International fan-page has won
more than 9000 ―likes‖, which represents an
increase of more than 250%!
For more info, please contact Waris our Comms
guru: [email protected]
Plan Colombia
Colombia, an article related to the BIAAG report
was published by El Tiempo newspaper, the
most important news diary from Colombia. Cara-
col TV & RCN TV also showed new segments on
Plan International and the release of the new
report. The Caracol news broadcast was accom-
panied with a poll made to all the audience ask-
ing if people think gender based discrimination
or ―machismo‖ still exists in Colombia.
Keep sending your stories in! Good luck to all of the Plan Offices whose report
launch events are stil l coming up!
Remember to send in photos, a summary of the
event as well as any media coverage—and we‘ll
try our best to include it in the Bulletin.
Plan EU created an online card game, ―Play Your Cards Right
and Unleash the Power of Girls!‖ This card game was launched
across Europe through European NOs
Some more great BIAAG press coverage—
Plan Spain (left) and Plan Indonesia (right)
Coverage of Plan India‘s report launch in the media, and an
interview with Plan India‘s Director about the content of this
year‘s BIAAG report
P l a n N e t h e r l a n d s Plan Netherlands are definitely getting a
reputation as one of the most media-savvy Plan
offices! Alongside the launch of the ―So what
about boys?‖ report, Plan Netherlands released
not one, not two, but 5 Youtube videos in support
of the International Day of the Girl! Check them
out on their Facebook page: https://
www.facebook.com/plannederland
Plan Netherlands report launch event: NLNO Director Monique
van ‗t Hek and Tess Milne, who features in the IDotG Youtube
videos
Press coverage in Pakistan
Plan Guatemala celebrate the launch of the new report
