Adolescent Girls’ Views on Safety in Cities: Finding from the Because I am a Girl Urban Programme study in Cairo, Delhi, Hanoi, Kampala, and Lima

The Because I am a Girl (BIAAG) Urban Programme
is a collaboration between Plan International, Women in
Cities International (WICI), and UN-HABITAT to build safe,
accountable, and inclusive cities with and for adolescent
girls in all their diversity. It is being carried out in five
capital cities around the world: Cairo, Egypt; Delhi, India;
Hanoi, Vietnam; Kampala, Uganda; and Lima, Peru, and
was established to put into action the recommendations
from the report Because I am a Girl: State of the World’s
Girls Urban and Digital Frontiers: Girls in a Changing
Landscape (2010).

The BIAAG Urban Programme is a groundbreaking programme that seeks to close existing gaps between urban programming targeting ‘youth’ or ‘women’, by focusing on adolescent girls who are often the most vulnerable population in a city, yet are frequently excluded from urban processes. This programme provides girls with a space to discuss the issues they are facing and to offer their own innovative ideas for making improvements to their cities. With a rising level of gender based violence and urban insecurity around the world, the programme is being introduced at a crucial time.