WAO capacity building officer Hannah Reshma Jambunathan said Malaysia lacked support services for young girls, especially those from marginalised communities, and the girls were often overlooked out of a bias against their age and gender.
“They deserve the opportunities and the spotlight to make decisions and advocate for change,” she told FMT.
“By allowing girls to take centre stage to share their opinions, and listening and respecting what they have to say, we can empower these girls, and continue normalising a rights-based approach to social change for our girls.”
Hannah is a moderator for the channel, which is run on the Discord app.
She said it is part of a network called Girls Takeover! set up by the WAO in April during the national lockdown period when people had to resort to connecting with friends online.
Despite its name, the local network is not affiliated with the international movement called Girls Takeover, in which girls assume positions of power, such as judges, presidents, chief executives, on the International Day of the Girl.
Hannah said discussion topics on the Discord channel have ranged from everyday routines and family celebrations to local politics and the Black Lives Matter movement in the US.
More than 70 girls have joined the network so far, and WAO hopes to bring in at least 200 by December. Girls aged between 12 and18 are free to join, after a consent form is signed by a parent or guardian.
“Our network is quite diverse, the majority of the girls come from some form of marginalised communities. Some have HIV and others, disabilities. We also have a few girls from the refugee communities,” she said.
They have talked about issues such as migrant and refugee rights, child sexual abuse and domestic violence, and also share news articles on matters like racism, then discuss what they think about it.
There are also light-hearted discussions about their everyday routines or family traditions. Recently some girls talked about putting up Deepavali decorations and how they held their celebrations during lockdown.