Girls Advocacy Alliance International Programme SUMMARY 
The Girls Advocacy Alliance (GAA) Programme is an initiative of Plan International Netherlands (lead), Terre des Hommes Netherlands and Defence for Children - ECPAT Netherlands. The five year programme started in January 2016 and is carried out in strategic partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The goal is to eliminate gender-based violence and the economic exclusion of girls and young women. The programme uses international human rights monitoring, accountability mechanisms and the Sustainable Development Goals (Agenda 2030) to ensure that governments of the ten GAA countries (Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Philippines) uphold their obligations and the internationally agreed objectives. The programme builds the capacity and supports the advocacy efforts of local and national civil society organisations. Girls and young women are supported by youth lead country monitoring and in person representation at fora. In order to achieve the protection against violence and the empowerment of girls and young women there are two constraining factors in the international arena that we have to take into consideration.

First, in order to achieve the empowerment of girls and young women, civil society needs the freedom to operate. States should ensure an enabling environment for civil society. However, the space for civil society is shrinking considerably in many countries in the world. An increasing number of states is seeking to shelter themselves from public pressure. International human rights review mechanisms do provide opportunities for civil society to denounce restrictive measures while at the same time, they are also affected by the deteriorating civil society environment. 

Secondly, the global agenda of children's and women's rights is also being threatened by the emergence of an international coalition of organisations and governments opposed to the goals of gender equality and sexual and reproductive health rights. This coalition aims to impose the view of the 'traditional family' in international debates and human rights monitoring processes. By questioning the individal rights of girls and women and denying the diversity of and within families, it poses a real threat to a progressive agenda for children and women. To protect girls and young women from all forms of gender-based violence, labour exploitation and to empower them economically, the GAA in the global arena will focus on 2 target actors: civil society and governments. Under civil society GAA global includes CSOs for girls and young women as well as youth advocates. Furthermore, GAA global holds governments accountable by on the one hand utilizing the existing Human Rights Mechanisms in Geneva. On the other hand GAA global will also engage in the review processes of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Change (the HLPF in New York) and with the International Labour Organization (ILO). 

Through linking and networking, capacity development, lobby and advocacy and research GAA Global wants to achieve the following changes:
1. GAA country CSOs have improved capacity to influence their governments and to engage strategically with HR mechanisms and in SDG review processes;
1. A targeted group of young advocates have capacity to mobilize others behind priority SDGs, lead and participate in events, develop advocacy strategies and engage in direct advocacy;
2. Effective monitoring of the performance of national governments in GAA countries by international human rights mechanisms;
3. Effective monitoring of national governments SDG implementation plans 

More accurate monitoring by international bodies, resulting in relevant recommendations for national governments should in the longer term improve the follow up by national governments in GAA countries of the recommendations of the HR mechanisms. It should also contribute to enhanced governments' responsiveness to the recommendations of the international community on SDG progress. The final beneficiaries of the GAA global advocacy are girls and young women living in the 10 GAA countries who benefit from improved implementation of public policies and programmes aimed at the elimination of gender based violence and economic exclusion. The main advocacy actions which contribute to the achievement of the first goal of stronger CSO influencing are: 
1. Conduct mapping with country level input of existing and planned youth advocacy initiatives
2. Deliver youth advocacy trainings to GAA organisations and partners in GAA countries
3. Provide technical assistance on plans/proposals for youth engagement in national and international influencing opportunities
4. Technical assistance to in-country GAA teams (sharing information, deadlines, outlining relevant recommendations from HRMs) and mapping of the engagement of the GAA partners in HRMs

The main actions to be implemented in relation to the effective monitoring of GAA countries by international human rights mechanisms are: 
1. Develop advocacy briefing papers, including key recommendations, to be used in meetings with Permanent Missions and relevant human rights mechanisms and bodies
2. Organization of side events on how to keep girls and young women safe from violence and empower them economically around/during meetings of the Human Rights Council and other relevant fora
3. Support country GAA teams to engage in the entire cycle of human rights monitoring (CRC, CEDAW, UPR) by advocating for Governments to submit overdue reports and remove reservations 

Finally, the advocacy actions related to the objective of improved monitoring of SDG implementation plans of national governments are:
1. Develop a strategy around engaging with major stakeholders, including CSOs and intergovernmental bodies, in order to have access to / feed into the data collection for the Voluntary National Review (VNR) process
2. Provide advice and support to GAA partners in countries to facilitate their engagement in the VNR process at least nine months ahead of the High Level Political Forum
3. Facilitate engagement with government representatives of GAA countries in relevant UN fora