Girls take a LEAD-ing role in shaping future

BEYONCE sang that girls run the world.

And if this group of inspiring youngsters are any indication she might well be right.

Girls from schools in Rochdale have been taking part in a ground-breaking leadership programme.

And last week they delivered their manifesto for the first time to a captivated council audience.

National charity RECLAIM are working with year 8 Girls in Rochdale on the LEAD (Leadership, Enterprise, Activism, community Development) programme. The girls, from four different schools, covered the four elements of the programme at their conference last week. The week culminated in the release of the first ever Rochdale Girls Manifesto put together by the group.

Last Thursday saw the girls release their manifesto and they headed out into the streets to talk with locals about it.

In the afternoon they presented their manifesto to elected members and senior officers in the council. Their presentation and discussion session gave their audience an insight into how their manifesto was devised, the = priorities for young people and ideas of how they plan to work over the coming year to deliver it.

The four key points of the manifesto are;

●●Rochdale girls demand dignity and power – hear our voice

●●Make fun free for working class people

●●Create and educate, don’t discriminate

●●Break the barriers, not our community.

After they launched their manifesto the girls took questions from council staff and councillors on what was a priority for them and ways the council can support them.

Gail Hopper, director of children’s services at Rochdale council, said: “The confidence and passion demonstrated by the girls was incredible to see. Their manifesto is something they should be really proud of and we are looking forward to working with them to achieve the changes they want to see. Staff in children’s services are already discussing how their teams can respond to some of the issues raised.”

Rod Kippen, from RECLAIM, said: “The girls did a great job and the support and interest from the council has been tremendous. I would like to thank the people, volunteers, services and businesses of Rochdale for their fantastic support for the group and would like to develop this further in supporting the Girls manifesto over the coming year.”

RECLAIM will work with a group of working class boys from February 2018.