New Delhi, Delhi, India:
Today, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership: India-Yash project, led by Jhpiego, a Johns Hopkins Affiliate celebrated International Women’s Day in New Delhi. The event witnessed representation from government officials, civil society actors, implementing partners under the ‘Yash’ ecosystem, start-ups, thematic experts, academia and project staff from the MOMENTUM project.
The event celebrated women changemakers across various programmatic interventions who are proactively contributing at individual, interpersonal and community level to advance gender equality agenda by felicitating them with certificates of appreciation. Thematic experts, community members and implementing partners came together to dive on issues related to promoting collaboration and allyship, pushing technology and innovation to promote gender equality, exploring implementation models to combat gender-based violence and protecting rights of adolescent girls post COVID era by prevention of Child, Early and Forced Marriage.
Celebrating the theme of embracing equity, the event concluded with renewed commitment towards mobilizing collective action towards advancing gender equality agenda along with the need to strengthen cross-cutting interlinkages across interventions being made by larger array of stakeholders and development partners.
Speaking at the event, Government of India Representative stated, “Government of India remains determined to advance gender equity, eliminate crime against women and ensure better health outcomes for women and their communities. Today, several cross-cutting gender transforming policies and programs are in place to ensure women led development and effective access to essential services by all.”
Representative, USAID commented saying, “By investing in suite of interventions, USAID is responding to gender-based violence, empowering adolescent girls, engaging men and boys to address gender norms and affirm its long-standing commitment towards promoting gender equity and equality, yielding sustainable development outcomes.”
On the occasion Dr. Somesh Kumar, Country Director, Jhpiego India highlighted, “International Women’s Day is not just about celebrating achievements of women, but it also marks a call to action towards accelerating gender equality and parity. By building bolder partnerships, focusing on community mobilization and advocating for innovative solutions, the MOMENTUM project aspires to ensure that young people can exercise their own voice; and live free from restrictive gender norms and violence.”
