The pandemic through the eyes of adolescent girls

"People here are scared because covid-19 has no known cure," says Madhu, from Nepal.

"I miss my friends a lot," replies Antsa, in Madagascar.

In recent months, our lives have been affected by the covid-19 pandemic.

For girls around the world, this has meant facing increasing threats to their safety and well-being, including harmful practices such as violence, exploitation, abuse, social exclusion, and separation from their guardians, parents and friends.

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The closure of schools, health and protection services to contain the spread of Covid-19 leaves girls even more vulnerable, intensifying the current crisis.

While the pandemic has received wide coverage, the voices and stories of adolescent girls have often disappeared, although they are and will be greatly affected.

“Currently, many parents do not have a job or money for school fees.

So they have started planning to send their children to work.

In the case of girls, they may plan to marry them off at a young age. ”Sangamithra, India.

At Unicef ​​we want to urge governments and policy makers to recognize the vulnerability of girls and adolescents and guarantee them access to quality education and legal, justice and health services, including sexual and reproductive health.

In addition, we call for more attention to be paid to particularly vulnerable adolescents, such as those who are already married, widowed or divorced, adolescent mothers who have undergone female genital mutilation.

Ensure your needs and vulnerabilities are recorded with data and evidence during and after the pandemic.

Ultimately, ensuring that the voices of girls and adolescents are heard and their thoughts and ideas are considered in policies and programs that directly affect their lives.

Nankali Maksud

is a senior consultant to the Unicef ​​malpractice team and

is an officer in UNICEF's child protection section. 

The section On the Front Line is a space in Planeta Futuro in which members of NGOs, organizations and international institutions, who work in the field, narrate their personal experiences in relation to the impact of their activity.

They are always written in the first person and the responsibility for the content rests with the authors.

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