Education
Source: ScreenAfrica
Take a Girl Child to Work Day is the flagship project of South African cell phone network Cell C and enjoys a wealth of support from both public and private sector organisations. This year's campaign was aimed at girls in Grades 10 to 12 with the tagline, 'Empower a Girl. Empower a Nation'.
The task of promoting the campaign was given to Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg (O&M JHB) to inspire young women across the country to believe in themselves and open their eyes to the integral roles they can play in shaping this nation's future.
O&M JHB drew from aspirational expressions by girl children inspired by iconic African women like Khanyi Dlomo and Wendy Luhabe to facilitate an enabling role by Cell C to awaken their potential.
The print advertisements read as follows: "My potential is limitless, just like Khanyi Dhlomo's" and "Like Wendy Luhabe, I only need one day to awaken my potential".
Louw le Roux, creative director at O&M JHB says, "What makes the communication compelling is the humble beginnings of these icons and their triumph against challenging odds. We wanted to get the message out there, 'by educating and empowering a girl child, you are helping the young women and girls of this country to believe in themselves'."
On the day, some of the alumni from previous Cell C Take a Girl Child to Work Days addressed the girl learners on being responsible young women for the benefit of the nation as well as on issues that currently affect young South African women. Some of these girl-learners were paired with women who were previously exposed to the programme, holding their hands and exposing them to the world of work.
O&M JHB made its own impact and participated in the programme by hosting a few girls from Cosmo City High School and Diepsloot, who relished the opportunity to spend the day at the Ogilvy offices and learn about what each department does on a daily basis.
To date, over 600,000 girl learners have been blessed with an opportunity to expose themselves to the world of work. When the initiative began, it was hailed by The Encyclopaedia of Brands and Branding in South Africa, in association with Sunday Times as "one of the country's single largest collaborative act of volunteerism."