The Gauteng Department of Social Development through the 'Invest in a Girl Child and Empower Young Women to Lead' campaign has given 20 young women within the Department an opportunity to serve as Girl Child Ambassadors.
This follows an internal campaign where staff members were requested to submit a motivation stating the reasons why they would like to be girl child ambassadors.
Candidates were expected to have a clear view on patriarchy, who they expect the campaign to reach and what they would like to see in the youth of Gauteng.
One of the chosen candidates is an enthusiastic Moipone Matsapola (31) from Head Office Communications in Johannesburg.
She says she would like to see girls and boys in Gauteng engaging in more dialogues together instead of separating them according to gender.
"I fully agree that girls have been overlooked and oppressed decades ago and at present. However, the boy child should not be left behind. He needs to understand and be able to complement the empowered girl child," said Matsapola.
 
She added that one of her inspirations is to see the youth of Gauteng as principled, influential, emotionally well, knowledgeable, skilled, financially savvy and entrepreneurial.
Outlining the roles of Ambassadors at Turffontein Racecourse on Thursday, Assistant Director from the Gender, Youth and Disability Mainstreaming (GYDM) Directorate, Jeffrey Makhwiliri said the roles of girl child ambassadors are in line with the 7 Pillars of the campaign.
He said ambassadors should be agents of change through attending and participating in the commemoration of child events such as 'Take a Girl Child to Work' and 'International Day of the Girl Child'.
"Our ambassadors must maintain a positive image in line with the goals and objectives of the campaign. They must be advocates of change, and serve as mentors and coaches," said Makhwiliri.
He added that girl child ambassadors should be able to visit schools, and share life changing stories to inspire teenage girls to discover who they are and what they stand for.