Mark your calendars! Upcoming: Day of the Girl and Men’s Day

October 11^th is internationally celebrated as Día de la Niña (known in English as Day of the Girl or Day of the Girl Child) to recognize girls’ rights and the unique challenges girls face around the world. It’s only 4 weeks away! Here are some ideas for celebrating in your site…

• Host a movie night with films like Girl Rising or other local variations that show the challenges girls face and their potential to contribute to their communities. (click here for our post on gender consciousmovie nights)
• Perform plays and sing songs about the importance of girls' education at primary schools
• Do a poster contests depicting girls’ life goals or women’s role in work or society
• Hold a sports tournament for girls—volleyball, soccer and kickball are all huge hits.
• Organize mentoring activities for girls, such as Take Our Daughters to Work
• Have a parade, feria or other public event with local women’s groups
• Discuss how gender norms affect the classroom with teachers in your town (more info on this to come!)

Global Gender Gap--where does Nica stand?

Since 2006 the World Economic Forum has produced an annual Global Gender Gap Report. When Hannah, a health volunteer in rural Matagalpa, heard that in 2012 Nicaragua ranked inside the top ten while the US held a spot at #22, she felt there was some investigating and reflecting to do.

The following post was originally published on Hannah’s personal blog on March 29^th, 2013 and is re-posted here with her permission. 

A year of commemorative days

If you’re looking for a special day to organize a project this coming year, consult this list of commemorative days and holidays! Don’t forget, if you get something going in site, the GAD committee would love to hear about it. Leave us a comment or send an email to gad.nicaragua@gmail.com.

Dia contra la violencia hacia las mujeres

This past week, on November 25^th, Nicaragua celebrated the Día Internacional para la Eliminación de la Violencia hacia las Mujeres with marches, radio reports, and other events across the county. El Movimiento Autónomo de Mujeres (MAM), which brings together all the feminists organizations in Nicaragua, led the march in Managua that not only spoke out against violence against women, but also against the recently proposed constitutional reforms.