A Port Harcourt-based environmental advocacy group, MyEnvironment MyWealth, has activated advocacy for the United Nation's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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| #PadUpAndDANCE International Dance Day April 29, 2021. |
This comes as the organization unveiled a 2021 pact with the hashtag #TheECOPLEDGE in order to encourage partnerships with individuals, groups, institutions, corporate bodies, and governments, as well as to encourage them to make a pledge at http://bit.ly/THEECOPLEDGE.
The group also launched the #Bottle4PAD and #PadUpAndDANCE campaigns to commemorate World Environmental Education Day, International Women's Day, and International Dance Day. The events were held during the first quarter of the year and took place on January 30, March 8, and April 29, 2021, respectively, at the Luther Welfare Centre, Eleme, Rivers State.
The Sustainable Development Goals, adopted by world leaders in 2015, are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and improve the lives and prospects of everyone by 2030, which aims to "leave no one behind." As the information continues to expand, we know that we have been able to save a generation of girls who will grow up strong and confident instead of vulnerable. It is worthwhile to note that dancing as a recreational activity can improve general well-being and boost self-esteem.
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| February 28, 2021 OVCs Sessions in clusters with Trained Nurse |
While speaking on the brain behind activating advocacy for the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the convener of MyEnvironment MyWealth, Wonne Afronelly, said: "We wanted to teach all SDGs generally on a basic level, but the discovery of girls using cloth materials endangering their health and complaints by girls about streams drying up and too many plastics on river surfaces inspired us to help the girls tackle problems identified in the community that affect them directly."
In her words: "On January 30, 2021, we celebrated World Environmental Education Day with SDGs and the unveiling of #TheECOPLEDGE. In the course of learning about all 17 SDGs, we discovered the plight of the girl. So, we decided to activate advocacy for SDGs 3,4,5, and 10 in particular.
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| Young OVCs |
"The unveiling was done with the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVCs) at the Luther Welfare for Children at Risk Development Center, Eleme, and had a thorough session on all 17 SDGs, which helped discover the plight of young girls in rural marginalised communities and how a larger population of young girls use cloth material during their menstrual cycle.
As a result, we launched the # Bottles4Pad campaign to teach girls about recycling, entrepreneurship, and menstrual hygiene management as part of our advocacy for # SDG 3 "Good Health and Well-being" and SDG 9 "Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure."
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| Bottles exchanged for Pads |
Speaking further on how the group celebrated The International Women's Day, Ms. Wonne said: "On March 8, we decided to #ChooseToChallenge the status quo with the flag off of #Bottles4Pad to celebrate International Women's Day with the young OVCs. We had a session with about 49 female OVCs. Of the 49, 24 had started their menstrual cycle. We were able to persuade one male student representative, whose sister was about to begin her cycle, to participate in # TheECOPLEDGE.
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| March 08, 2021 International Women's Day and Unveiling of #Bottles4PAD |
"This male student Promise was quite helpful with helping us identify certain challenges in terms of proper #menstrualhygiene management especially disposal of sanitary pads from the male perspective. He also agreed to champion #SDG5 ‘Gender Equality’ for his sisters and other females to #PadUpETEO & #RecycleForGain."
"We did not realise we had just ignited something pretty interesting and captivating", she said, while narrating how a young OVC from Bene Republic requested the sensitization program be taken to the entire community as most of the girls in the community, especially mothers (a particular religious women's organization who feel shy talking to their young girls about such issues), need the education for sustainable living.
"Young Esther went on to convince us that she could stand boldly and politely talk to women and girls in the community and make them understand the health implications of using cloth material during menstruation. We appointed Esther the SDG3 Girl child ambassador for the OVC centre and two other young OVCs Evangelista and Dera to assist her.
"In response to Esther's plea, we decided to give the girls a TREAT with a DANCE SHOW tagged #PadUpAndDANCE to commemorate the International Dance Day 2021. We worked in partnership with Most Gorgeous Queen Nigeria with the hope to impact 1000 girls and 500 households. So far, we have done 108 households, she noted."
The International Dance Day which was the third event celebrated by the group, is a global celebration of dance created by the dance community of the international Theatre Institute, a partner for the performing arts of The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO is a specialised agency of the United Nations aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences, and culture, celebrated 29th April every year in remembrance of Jean-George Noverre, (a French dancer and balletmaster). The event encouraged participation and education in dance through events and festivities demonstrated by males and females of different centers and some secondary schools around as a sign of relief from the outer world.
Highlights of the Event were teaching the girls how to properly position the pad on their panties, how to properly dispose of pads after use to avoid making it an eyesore, how to avoid infections during menstruation, hygiene information during menstrual periods, abstinence from sexual practices, etc. Most important was the distribution of PADs free to all female attendees about 280. The boys were also encouraged to support their sisters and female friends to gather discarded bottles in exchange for sanitary pads.
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| Girl Child Ambassadors |
Important personalities at the event were: Her Royal Highness (HRH) (EMERE-OWA) EVELYN G. MEME, WOMEN'S CHIEF, ETEO Community, ELEME, Queen Genevieve (Miss FINESH Nigeria), Queen Peace Wali Okea (Miss Humanity), Queen Fortune Kingsley (Superb Shakara Ambassador), Queen Emilia Donatus, Queen Uriah Fyne (CEO Most Gorgeous Queen Nigeria), etc. Other resource persons are: Evangelista Iloh (Girl Child Ambassador 2), Esther Ben (Girl Child Ambassador 1), Obarijiji (Ambassador 3 & Eleme Dance troupe Leader) and Naomi Sunday ( Girl Child Ambassador 4, For the Community).
The sponsors of the program in collaboration with My Environment, My Wealth were: Elegant Shine Solutions, The VerdantCircus Africa, Pa$$ion’s Huband Association of Beauty Queens, Kings & Models, Rivers State, etc.
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