Her Majesty the Queen Mathilde visits children of Plan-It Girls program by International Center for Research for Women

New Delhi, November 8, 2017: The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) Asia had the honor of hosting Her Majesty, Mathilde, the Queen of the Belgians, today at one of its project sites in New Delhi, India. Her Majesty was greeted by Dr. Sarah Kambou, President of ICRW; and Dr. Ravi Verma, Regional Director, ICRW Asia and local program stakeholders and organization partners

The visit was organized at a community center in Dakshinpuri, New Delhi, to meet the young participants of Plan-It Girls, a program being implemented by ICRW Asia. Plan-It Girls is a program for adolescent girls in grades 9 and 11 of government schools in New Delhi and two rural districts of Jharkhand, India. The program aims at building the agency of adolescent girls and promote gender equality at the local level through a curriculum based on gender-integrated life-skills and employability skills. Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians is a prominent spokesperson for the rights and welfare of women and girls. As a member of ICRW?s Leadership Council, Her Majesty has been a benevolent supporter of the work done worldwide by ICRW and other organizations. ?We are very grateful for Her Majesty?s advocacy on behalf of adolescent girls,? said Dr. Kambou. ?Since 2012, she has been a member of ICRW?s Leadership Council, and in 2013, she invited us to lead a roundtable on adolescent girls in crisis at her embassy in Washington. We are pleased to have been able to help provide the evidence needed to support her efforts through our research.?The young girls and boys from the program performed a song, O Ri Chiraiya, to welcome Her Majesty and presented a skit, AAGHAZH: The Beginning. The skit revolved around the challenges faced by adolescents due to restrictive gender norms at the household and the community levels, and how programs such as Plan-It Girls are enabling them to negotiate these spaces.

The performance by girls and boys was followed by an interaction session with H.M the Queen of the Belgians. ?ICRW and its partners are engaged to empower adolescent girls and enhance their economic value and employability through innovative and comprehensive programming such as Plan-It Girls,? said Dr. Verma. ?We believe that girls can be truly empowered only when they begin to aspire in unconventional ways moving away from prevailing gender stereotypes, and have the ability and necessary support to realise those dreams.?

About ICRW: For over 40 years, ICRW has been a premier research institute focused on women and girls. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., with regional offices in South Asia and Africa, ICRW provides evidence-based research to inform programs and policies that help alleviate poverty, promote gender equality and protect the rights of women and girls.

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