Case Study
#MoveTheDate
49
Days
If every other family had one less child and parenthood was postponed by two years, by 2050 we would move Overshoot Day 49 days.*
*NOTE: If we continued as now, we would be at 9.7 billion. This is the UN medium variant estimate. If each mother or father had on average 1.8 children (= 0.9 children per person), compared to 2.3 currently, and parenthood was delayed by 2 years, we’d be at 7.7 billion in 2050. Assuming humanity’s Ecological Footprint per capita stays at 2020 levels (2.47 gha per person), the difference in 2050 would be 49 days.
What is the solution?
Girl’s leadership clubs give girls and young women the opportunity to learn about their economic and reproductive rights from mentors and peers in a safe, supportive space.
This solution improves our resource security in the population category.
How does it #MoveTheDate?
Investing in smaller families through the empowerment of women and girls brings communities closer to achieving gender equality in addition to reducing pressure on the planet.
How is it scalable?
Girl’s leadership clubs have already been implemented in 15 communities across Africa. The model is replicable and adaptable to the needs of girls and young women around the world.
What is the solution?
Girl’s leadership clubs give girls and young women the opportunity to learn about their economic and reproductive rights from mentors and peers in a safe, supportive space.
This solution improves our resource security in the population category.
How does it #MoveTheDate?
Investing in smaller families through the empowerment of women and girls brings communities closer to achieving gender equality in addition to reducing pressure on the planet.
How is it scalable?
Girl’s leadership clubs have already been implemented in 15 communities across Africa. The model is replicable and adaptable to the needs of girls and young women around the world.
Batonga Leadership Clubs, a Batonga Foundation program, provide adolescent girls with accessible, private, and physically and emotionally safe spaces where they can meet weekly with a group of their peers and a trusted female mentor. These spaces are an essential part of their strengthening girls’ voice and agency. The first sessions of any Leadership Club include discussions of club values, such as respect for your peers, confidentiality of things shared in the clubs, and trust in one another. They provide girls with a safe space to learn critical life skills and information ranging from reproductive health to financial literacy. Girls understand their rights, gain self-confidence, and can plan their own economic future.
The meeting locations of Leadership Clubs are chosen specifically to ensure safety and accessibility. This means that meeting locations are within the girls’ walkable community and are not located in isolated or unsafe areas which might necessitate a dangerous walk for the girls. The perceived safety and privacy of these spaces helps to reduce barriers to attendance and enable discussion of sensitive, sometimes taboo issues among girls and their mentor. Girls can build solidarity networks with their peers, seek advice, share traumas, learn skills, all with a sense of security.
For more information about Batonga Leadership clubs program, please contact info@batongafoundation.org.
There’s no benefit in waiting!
Acting now puts you at a strategic advantage in a world increasingly defined by ecological overshoot. Countless solutions exist that #MoveTheDate. They’re creative, economically viable, and ready to deploy at scale. With them, we can make ourselves more resilient and #MoveTheDate of Earth Overshoot Day. If we move the date 6 days each year, humanity can be out of overshoot before 2050.