Money for Humanitarian Innovation- use it to support girls!

The Humanitarian Innovation Fund has been launched, with its own site and acronym HIF. It describes itself as "a landmark grant-making fund to support organisations working in countries struck by humanitarian crises, such as Haiti or Pakistan, to develop, test and share new technologies and processes that will make humanitarian aid more effective and cost-efficient in the future." The first call for proposals is out. Organisations with ideas, apply! I trust there is plenty of room for humanitarian innovation, especially when it comes to ensuring women and girls can fully participate in humanitarian work, their voices are listened to and their needs are catered for.

Girls! Just yesterday I had a conversation with a child rights expert. We agreed that there is a huge problem: work on women's rights tend to lose sight of girls, who have their own needs. Work on child rights tends to be gender-blind, which in today's world means it forgets about the specific aspirations and needs of girls. Please, never forget the girls, and girls, speak up and don't allow anyone to forget you!