Four congregations namely, The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, The Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, The Comboni Missionary Sisters and The Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions have been collaborating on a study entitled "How are the Girls"?

The study was concentrated on the topic of how Covid affected the lives and rights of girls and women in six countries: Ecuador, Peru, South Sudan, Kenya, India and Nepal.

The congregrations had submitted their findings to International Union of Superiors General (USIG) in Rome on Wednesday.

Rev.Sr. Patricia Murray, USIG Executive Secretary explained on how vital the information obtained from the study was. She said, while covid has affected everyone it has had more of an impact on young people particularly young girls.

Mathilde Gutzenberger, a member of Research Co-ordination team and senior expert in gender and children rights join the discussion. She said,the issues that emerged in the study were:learning loss, poverty and food crisis, mental health issues, increased violence (including sexual and domestic) and higher levels of child marriage and teenage pregnancy.

Education has acted as a sort of protection which many girls reporting relief after returning back to school.

Throughout the study two main issues that were highlighted was the lack of access to technology and mental health issues.

To solve this, the four congregations have decided to continue collaborating with each other to address these two needs. Other steps include upgrading technological equipment, provide training on the safe use of online platforms and designed a programme for girls mental health.

-VN