14 core human rights regularly violated in the girls’ daily lives prompted them to create their own Bill of Rights and two murals

This summer I travelled to Freetown, Sierra Leone joining 1000 + other feminist activists for the 10th Annual African Conference on Sexual Rights and Health.

I am an undergraduate student pursuing a B.A. in psychology at the City College of New York and was a social media intern with Colors of Connection this spring. Colors of Connection is a non-profit organization driven to create change within the lives of individuals through creativity.

Core to changing existing gender discrimination and violence is understanding how it is perpetuated and developing strategies to address it. Unequal access to community resources and exposure to risks and threats plays a big role.

Last week we engaged in collaborative program design with our local partner, a girls’ arts collective here in Goma DRC in preparation for our Girl Awakening program for girls.

The Adolescent Girl and Creativity Network (AGCN) launched a Creative Assets and Program Content Guide commissioned by the Population Council. This guide includes thirteen creative assets and fifty activities – program content – to build social and emotional learning, mitigate and manage trauma, and promote healing for adolescent girls.

A local group of young women and girls, M’shujarts, has been raising awareness about COVID-19 and supporting eachother. M’shujarts is about 20 in number, all who participated in CC programs in the past and have since formed their own girls art collective that promotes gender equality through public art in Goma, DRC.