Promoting girl power: conference set for Nov. 17

The non-profit group 60 Million Girls is inviting anyone interested in promoting the rights of girls to attend their annual conference next Tuesday night (Nov. 17) in Montreal.

The guest speaker is Betty Makoni, founder of the Girl Child Network, an organization that champions the rights of girls in Zimbabwe. She has received several national and global awards for her efforts. Makoni is currently living in the United Kingdom following death threats she received while in Zimbabwe. In the UK, she has expanded the reach of the GCN, creating the International Girls Empowerment Centre as the headquarters for a new global push to end violence against girls and women.

A number of West Islanders are behind 60 Million Girls, headed by Wanda Bedard who lived in the West Island for most of her life but recently moved from the suburbs to central Montreal. She said the group is run by a core of about 20 volunteers and it enlists the help of local students for fundraising. “We all give of our time freely as volunteers for this passion of ours and over 99 per cent of the donations we receive are allocated to the projects we support,” Bedard stated.

In the past, the foundation has supported educational projects through the Stephen Lewis Foundation, Free the Children and UNICEF. This year, they plan to raise $200,000 to support projects in Zimbabwe and Honduras. “Half of the proceeds will go to the GCN and the other half to another extraordinary project to facilitate educational needs of Lenca girls in Honduras,” Bedrad said. “All the funds raised from the conference will go toward the projects we are supporting this year in Honduras and Zimbabwe. These two projects will provide school supplies, enable girls to continue their education at the high school level through bursaries and provide psycho-social and mentoring support for young girls affected by violence.”

60 Million Girls was founded in 2006 by a group of women who wanted to education for girls in order to create a more just and balanced world. Their main objective is to support education projects in developing countries with the greatest gender disparity in school enrolment by raising funds.

While the annual conference is partly a fundraiser, its main goal is raise to awareness of education for girls in developing countries and to improve the group’s visibility, Bedard said in a phone interview. “This (conference) is our big public event we have each year,” she said.

The group has a student chapter, made up of high school, CEGEP and university students, that help raise funds, Bedard said. Queen of Angels students in Dorval raised about $9,000 for the foundation earlier this year, she added.

The conference takes place Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m. at l’Ermitage on the campus of Collège de Montréal, 3510 Côte des Neiges Blvd. A cocktail and silent auction will precede Makoni's keynote address (which will be given in English).

Tickets can be purchased at $100 each by contacting the 60 million girls Foundation at

www.60milliongirls.org or 514-933-6346.