The World’s First Ladies Unite to Give Children a Direct Voice

Wednesday 13^th October 2010; Kuala Lumpur: A groundbreaking collaboration between 20 of the world’s First Ladies placing children’s rights and education at the heart of the development agenda is taking place in Malaysia. (Photo: First Lady of Sierra Leone, Sia Koroma)

Hosted by Malaysian First Lady Rosmah Mansor, the 3 day summit brings together First Ladies from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe to spearhead new ways in which families, communities and governments can work together to give children a direct voice in shaping the future of themselves and their country.

Participating first ladies include: Sia Koroma (Sierra Leone), Ernestina Mills (Ghana), Maria da Luz Guebuza (Mozambique), Thandiwe Banda (Zambia), Lorna Golding (Jamaica); Patience Jonathan (Nigeria); Shiranthi Rajapaksa (Sri Lanka), Mercedes Lugo (Paraguay) amongst many others.

Also attending will be Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and government representatives from the Summit nations. A declaration urging the United Nations and world leaders to place access to education at the heart of global development policies will be issued on Wednesday.

SIA NYAMA KOROMA, FIRST LADY, SIERRA LEONE:

This summit is all about preparing children for the future. The children of Sierra Leone have been deprived, they have suffered so I am bringing them hope. We are preparing them for leadership and proper leadership.

At the heart of the First Ladies Summit is a move to increase access to education and promote children’s rights, continuing the momentum generated by the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) meeting in New York. Access to primary education (MDG 2) is a fundamental right and a core goal for 2015. Failure to address education is one of the biggest impediments to socio-economic integration, elevation from poverty and, for girls in particular, the hope of a life based on equality. “The empowerment of girls is really important, because educating a woman means giving an education to a nation” (Maria de luz Guebuza, Mozambique First Lady).

The Summit, themed around the message ‘A Child Today, A Leader Tomorrow’, represents a unique opportunity for this influential group of women to instigate concrete changes. As host, Rosmah Mansor explained “investing in children lays the foundation for nation building. Given the large proportion of young people, especially in the developing world, the impact is immeasurable, driving economic growth. If they are not invested in, they could become marginalised and radicalised”.

A New Breed of First Ladies: The First Ladies are part of a new breed who see their role as crucial in helping to solve the problems of their nations. As professional women in their own right (teachers, nurses, midwives and business leaders), they are able to fast track ideas for reaching the most disadvantaged people. As Sia Koroma (Sierra Leone) says “As a modern First Lady, you’ve got to be for your people. We are agents of change. We are between the United Nations and our people, giving a voice to the voiceless”

Education MDG Facts: 69 million school-age children are not in school. Almost half of them (31 million) are in sub-Saharan Africa and more than a quarter (18 million) are in southern Asia. In sub-Saharan Africa, half of the countries with available data indicate that at least one in four children of enrolment age are not at school.

Manuela Mirkos, fbcmedia.com

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