EXCLUSIVE: Melissa Doyle reveals the sobering reason she teamed up with World Vision for a campaign dedicated to helping young girls in need
Melissa Doyle has teamed up with World Vision as an ambassador for their new campaign, “1000 Voices for 1000 Girls,” which aims to empower young girls in need.
The former Sunrise presenter, 53, told Chron Australia on Monday that she got involved after learning some alarming statistics about the hardships faced by many young girls in developing countries.
“Empowering young women has always been a central concern for me. “The more information a young girl has about her potential opportunities in the areas of school, safety and health, the greater the long-term impact on her life,” she began.
“It’s about empowering young girls and I particularly like this campaign.” “We tell one girl’s story at a time and use our voices to tell individual stories.”
Melissa said people living in Australia often take the things they have for granted and she wanted to raise awareness of the issues girls face in poorer countries.
Melissa Doyle (pictured) has teamed up with World Vision as an ambassador for their new campaign ‘1000 Voices for 1000 Girls’, which aims to empower young girls in need
“The issues they face are very different than those faced by my teenage daughter or any other young girl in a first world country.”
She added that her 19-year-old daughter Natalia fully supports her involvement in the campaign and as a mother she is proud of how compassionate today’s youth are.
“Teens are the first to remind you that it’s up to us to change the world.” Whether it’s climate change or empowering young girls, our teenagers today remind us not just to talk about it, but to do so something to do.”
The former Sunrise presenter, 53, told Chron Australia on Monday that she got involved after learning some alarming statistics about the hardships faced by many young girls in developing countries. Pictured: Doyle with the other prominent ambassadors
She added that the campaign is about making many small improvements in the quality of life of at-risk girls, which will ultimately lead to a larger overall improvement.
“It’s about recognizing the vulnerability of young girls around the world.” There are girls forced into child marriages and girls taken out of school because their families can’t afford to keep them there.
“If we can slowly improve the situation of an individual child, a community and a village, then that is what we are trying to do. “The journey of 1000 girls begins with 1000 votes on their behalf,” she added.
She added that her daughter Natalia (right), 19, fully supported her involvement in the campaign and, as a mother, was proud of how compassionate today’s youth are
Mel is working on the campaign alongside several other influential Australian women, including Melbourne Cup winner Michelle Payne and First Nations model and lawyer Samantha Harris.
Each woman will tell the story of a single girl in a developing country struggling with hardship to make her story more relatable.
Doyle raises her voice for 12-year-old Leon, who lives in an African village without adequate food and water supplies and struggles with violence.
She says Leon hopes to become a journalist when she grows up and this campaign is designed to help her achieve that goal.
Mel is working on the campaign alongside several other influential Australian women, including Melbourne Cup winner Michelle Payne (left) and First Nations model and lawyer Samantha Harris (right).