WOW – Women of the World, Mulberry Schools Trust and Purposeful will mark this year’s International Day of the Girl with three days of digital activities to celebrate, empower and inspire.

Jude Kelly, Founder WOW – Women of the World – Festivals and Foundation said:“For 2020’s International Day of the Girl, we’ve set out to find brilliant girls from across the globe who, despite tremendous obstacles, are demonstrating creativity and courage to change the world and empower others."

To help give these incredible activists a platform and help people discover their work, we've published the Young Leaders Directory - a global online directory, the first of its kind, featuring girls and non-binary leaders aged between 11-19 from all over the world. Explore it here. Each of the leaders are known for their work, both in their home countries and globally, in areas such as social justice, LGBTIQAI+ rights, climate action, education activism, sexual and reproductive health and rights activism and gender equality.

Working in partnership with Purposeful, a feminist movement-building hub for adolescent girls, over the International Day of the Girl weekend, these activists will come together for two closed virtual convenings to connect, share and learn from one another to help establish a new network. The sessions will end with a Self Care in Activism workshop led by Manal Omar (Across Red Lines) and Haleema Bharoocha (Alliance For Girls).

Also taking place as part of WOW's Day of the Girl celebrations are two digital events. On Friday 9 October, Mulberry Schools Trust in partnership with WOW, are curating a day of digital panel discussions and workshops, which will be broadcast to 20 different schools from Somerset to Singapore.

Speakers will include founder and chair of the Women of the Future Awards and Asian Women of Achievement Awards Pinky Lilani; Jude Kelly founder of The WOW Foundation, which runs WOW - Women of the World; human rights and equality barrister Schona Jolly QC; human rights campaigner Rahima Begum; girls education activist Nusrath Hassan; actress Jing Lusi; creative director, artist activist and DJ Saliah M Bryan; youth sports ambassador and podcast host Lipa Nessa; CEO of UK Youth Ndidi Okezie and multi-award-winning broadcaster, social impact entrepreneur and diversity champion Dr Joanna Abeyie MBE.

On Sunday 11 October at 12pm, everyone is invited to watch the premiere of a panel discussion exploring being a girl activist, hosted by Jude Kelly and featuring three influential young activists: Amika George, founder of Free Periods campaign, Hayat Muse, youth activist and co-founder of Kow iyo Labo, and Heba Rose Ahmed, a human rights and anti-racist activist who was responsible for 15,000 people attending the Black Lives Matter protest at Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester earlier this year. You can watch on our YouTube channel and Facebook.

Jude Kelly, Founder WOW – Women of the World – Festivals and Foundation said: “For 2020’s International Day of the Girl, we’ve set out to find brilliant girls from across the globe who, despite tremendous obstacles, are demonstrating creativity and courage to change the world and empower others. The range of things the girls that we are working with across the weekend have already done is staggering. We must create spaces for them to continue, we must champion them as the future. 2020 has so far shown itself to be an age of division but within that we are seeking to build networks across cities, countries and continents. It is in their lifetime that the UN goal of gender equality by 2030should have been reached. These girls are showing us how to build a more equal world and how to imagine a better future across human rights, education, environment, sports and business, for a fairer, more sustainable planet.

“We are already beginning to see the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on women around the world, from labour markets to domestic spaces - on the frontline and in the home. For younger girls everywhere much has changed already, child marriage is rapidly increasing, access to education is diminishing, often girls are the ones who have to help with household chores or increased childcare. There are great concerns that doors we’ve previously fought to open will begin to close again during this crisis. It is essential that we urgently work alongside the next generation to keep these open and ensure we are empowering them against existing gender inequalities. WOW has adapted over the last six months, connecting women across the globe in two major Festivals, and so it is fitting that alongside our friends at Mulberry School Trust and Purposeful we are able to put into practice those skills to create digital events and collectives to support the movement.”