Uganda woman leads teens in fight for safer cities
This 計画（する） International photo 解放（する）d by Safer Cities shows 19 year-old Faridah in Kampala
Two years ago, Faridah's world changed -- she and a friend were attacked by 麻薬 （麻薬）常用者s on a 貧しく lit street in the Ugandan 資本／首都 Kampala, their hometown. Faridah escaped, but her friend was 強姦d and killed.
But since that difficult night, her 近隣 has transformed. The 地元の 政府 任命する／導入するd street lights and 調印するs and （疑いを）晴らすd clogged drains, and the unwelcome catcalls from motorcycle taxi drivers have nearly 中止するd.
"I don't want my girl to grow up and experience what I experienced -- 存在 called 指名するs when 接近ing the streets," Faridah, a 20-year-old mother of two who asked to be identified only by her first 指名する, told AFP at Women 配達する, a major 会議／協議会 in Vancouver on gender equality.
Enter Safer Cities, a program run by child 権利s charity 計画（する） International that 動員するs adolescents to 支持する for girls' safety in 10 cities around the world.
In Hanoi, 当局 and teens are working to 改善する bus safety for girls who need to use public 輸送（する）. In New Delhi, 96 パーセント of teenage girls 調査するd by 計画（する） International say they don't feel 安全な.
"Safer cities for girls are safer cities for all," said Alexander Munive, 全世界の 長，率いる of gender equality and 傾向 at 計画（する） International.
In Kampala, Faridah took 活動／戦闘 after her friend's death.
"I felt like my world had come to an end," she said in a speech at the Vancouver 会議／協議会, which wrapped up on Thursday.
- Community 活動／戦闘 -
When 計画（する） International asked 156 girls in Kampala about safety in 2012, 80 パーセント of them said they felt "very 危険な" or "危険な" in public spaces, 含むing markets, roads, recreational areas and public 輸送（する）.
They said they 特に 恐れるd 強姦, 窃盗 and いやがらせ.
Safer Cities -- which 作品 in 共同 with UN-HABITAT and Women in Cities International -- 取り組むs this problem by discussing girls' 権利s with groups of teenage girls and boys.
They then ask them to 文書 safety problems in their community.
Faridah 見解（をとる）s the Vancouver harbor on her visit to Canada for the 会議／協議会
Faridah, a group leader for the program, and other teens walk around their 近隣 with pens and paper, 同様に as a smartphone app, to 地図／計画する the problem 位置／汚点／見つけ出すs.
They then 株 their findings with their families, communities and 政府 to 支持する for 改良s.
Faridah and other teens met with city 公式の／役人s and 納得させるd them to 任命する／導入する the street lights and の近くにd-回路・連盟 television cameras -- simple 安全 対策 so that girls would feel safer.
The group also had 会合s with motorcycle taxi drivers and told them how 攻撃を受けやすい the teens felt when they were whistled and hollered at, she explained.
Result: many drivers changed their 行為. Some now even wear jackets 支持するing for girls' safety.
"You cannot do anything on this without the community," said Munive, who 公式文書，認めるd that social 圧力 from 近隣 居住（者）s was also a major factor in getting the drivers on board.
- Walking tall -
最初, 居住（者）s of her 近隣 were not inclined to help, Faridah says. But the mapping 演習, along with other 認識／意識性 activities led by the teens, changed the game.
Now, 地元のs step in and defend girls when they see いやがらせ.
"I'm becoming more popular," said Faridah, who has become something of a 地元の celebrity thanks to her Safer Cities work.
"Even people I don't know 認める me, so I don't feel challenged in public spaces."
Safer Cities 現在／一般に operates in Alexandria, Asuncion, Cairo, Hanoi, Honiara, Kampala, Lima, Melbourne, Nairobi and New Delhi. The organization hopes to 結局 拡大する the program to 20 cities.
The whole experience has 上げるd Faridah's 信用／信任 -- she says she now feels 安全な at home, and has returned to school with a scholarship after dropping out 妊娠している at age 15.
Faridah, pictured here in Kampala, says she wants to become a women's 権利s lawyer
"I used to think of myself as a person of no value, as a person who could not 達成する anything," she told AFP.
Driven by the loss of her friend and her experience as a mother, Faridah is 献身的な to 支持するing for girls' safety, and wants to become a women's 権利s lawyer.
She wants her message to reach more people across Kampala, 含むing police who, she says, いつかs don't take girls 本気で and public 輸送 操作者s in other 近隣s.
"I want to 奮起させる other girls to be changemakers. That's my dream," she said.
