Jelena Dokic thanks Australians for their incredible generosity as World Vision's 1,000 Girls campaign more than doubles its target
World Vision Australia
Key Facts:- World Vision's 1,000 Girls campaign has more than doubled its target, with over 2,000 vulnerable girls sponsored by Australians in just a few weeks.
- Campaign ambassador Jelena Dokic, a former tennis champion and two-time Logie winner, has praised Australians for their extraordinary generosity despite cost-of-living pressures.
- Dokic travelled to Bangladesh with World Vision and witnessed firsthand the challenges facing vulnerable girls, including the threats of childhood marriage and pregnancy.
- The campaign concluded on International Day of the Girl (11 October), with Dokic emphasising that sponsoring a single girl can change her future by keeping her in school and providing for her basic needs.
- Dokic stressed that despite the campaign's success, the problem continues, with 12 million girls facing childhood marriage and pregnancy every year — one girl every three seconds.
FOR RADIO NEWS BULLETINS - MONDAY 12 OCTOBER
Former tennis champion, bestselling author, commentator and two-time Logie winner Jelena Dokic has praised the extraordinary generosity of Australians
despite cost-of-living pressures, and thanked those who have helped give vulnerable girls a brighter future.
Australians have dug deep and more than doubled World Vision's 1,000 Girls
campaign target, with more than 2,000 vulnerable girls sponsored in just a few weeks.
The former tennis champion and two-time Logie winner, who travelled to Bangladesh
with World Vision and witnessed firsthand the challenges facing vulnerable girls, says
the response has been ‘incredible’.
The campaign wrapped up yesterday, on International Day of the Girl (11 October).
LISTEN TO AUDIO HERE: Jelena Dokic 1000 GIRLS ANR
NEWS COPY
Australians have rallied behind World Vision's 1,000 Girls campaign, more than doubling its target with over 2,000 vulnerable girls sponsored.
Campaign ambassador Jelena Dokic says she's been overwhelmed by the generosity of Australians, despite tough economic times.
KEY AUDIO GRABS – JELENA DOKIC
GRAB 1: Australians double campaign target
00:51 - 01:06
"It's been amazing to have more than 2,000 girls now sponsored over the last couple of weeks during the campaign. And just to see the way that Australians have reacted to the campaign and the generosity as well."
GRAB 2: Jelena thanks Australians
04:10 - 04:29
"I just want to say thank you to Australia, to every single Australian that's been able to sponsor a girl. It's just a massive, massive thank you, not just from me, but everyone at World Vision as well."
GRAB 3: The life-changing impact of sponsorship
01:31 - 01.45
“Sponsoring a girl and if you're thinking to do it or if you're thinking how can I help by sponsoring one girl, it literally changes her future and it saves her life. It gives her the opportunity to stay in school. It gives her the opportunity to actually get an education.”
GRAB 4: Campaign success, but the need continues
02:59 - 03:11
"We've exceeded the goal by more than double, which is great, especially going into the International Day of the Girl, which is the 11th of October. But the problem continues to be there. It doesn't stop."
GRAB 5: An honour for Jelena to do her bit to help
00:00 - 00:15
“The International Day of the Girl is so incredibly important because of what we're trying to do, which is protect girls and protect women all across the world. And it's been an honour for me to be a part of this campaign to try and help.”
BACKGROUND
World Vision's 1,000 Girls campaign aimed to find sponsors for 1,000 of the world's most vulnerable girls by International Day of the Girl on 11 October.
Fronted by Jelena Dokic, the campaign has more than doubled its target, helping give girls greater opportunities for education, protection and a brighter future.
- ENDS -
Notes to Editors:
00:00 - 00:15
The International Day of the Girl is so incredibly important because of what we're trying to do, which is protect girls and protect women all across the world. And it's been an honour for me to be a part of this campaign to try and help.
00.15 - 00.24
Every single number that you might hear, every single statistic has a name, has a face, has a girl or a young woman behind it.
00.27 - 00.36
So it's been an honour for me to be able to be an ambassador, to try and bring awareness to that and to try and be able to get girls sponsored.
00.47 - 00.51
For me personally it’s been an honour to be part of the campaign and to try and help.
00.51 - 01.30
Yeah, it's been amazing to have more than 2,000 girls now sponsored over the last couple of weeks during the campaign. And just to see the way that Australians have reacted to the campaign and the generosity as well. And people just calling and people kind of reacting to the campaign and wanting to try and sponsor a girl. So it's been incredible to see that because we know that millions and millions of girls in the world face violence, are forced into childhood marriage and childhood pregnancy so to see Australians react the way that they have, it's been incredible to see the response over the last few weeks.
00.31 - 02.03
Sponsoring a girl and if you're thinking to do it or if you're thinking how can I help by sponsoring one girl, it literally changes her future and it saves her life. It gives her the opportunity to stay in school. It gives her the opportunity to actually get an education. It gives her the opportunity to have a better childhood and to not have to go through childhood marriage and childhood pregnancy. And it gives her the opportunity to write her own story and shape her own future instead of that negative impacts and consequences.
02.04 - 02.28
When I went into the whole campaign and child sponsorship and just seeing what that means and someone might think, oh, I'm sponsoring one girl and I feel like, do I really change something? You do because it's one by one. One life at a time. I always now like to say what's come out for me as well is that when you see that there's a face and a name and a girl, one by one, we are literally changing lives.
02.28 -02.36
And over the last 10 years, World Vision has been able to get more than 50,000 girls sponsored. So that's 50,000 lives changed.
02.36 - 02.58
And when you go there, when you see it firsthand, what it does, and it brings some of the maybe basics that we think are normal, but are not in countries around the world, like Bangladesh, having water, being able to go to school, having your basic kind of needs, especially when you're young. Well, World Vision provides that. And I saw that firsthand and how girls actually get to have a better future.
02.59 - 03.44
We've exceeded the goal by more than double, which is great, especially going into the International Day of the Girl, which is the 11th of October. But the problem continues to be there. It doesn't stop. 12 million girls face childhood marriage and childhood pregnancy every single year. That's one girl every three seconds, so the problem is huge. It's on a really big scale and worldwide, so the problem doesn't stop. We need to continue to try and help and if there's anyone out there that does feel like they can help I know times are tough but if they can sponsoring a girl literally saves that girl's lives and also it creates a ripple effect a positive ripple effect in the community especially when it comes to keeping girls at school.
03.44 - 04.01
I would like to just add that it's been an honour for me to be a part of this campaign. It's been incredible to see Australians really get behind this campaign and to hear the numbers every single week go up and to see Australians react to it so incredibly strongly and with heart as well.
04.10 - 04.29
I just want to say thank you to Australia. to every single Australian that's been able to sponsor a girl. It's just a massive, massive thank you, not just from me, but everyone at World Vision as well. I know we are so grateful. And every single girl that's been able to sponsor, you have literally just saved her life. So thank you.
About us:
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian and development organisation dedicated to working with children, families and their communities to reach their full potential by tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision and their partners are working in communities to improve families’ economic prospects, strengthen violence prevention and child protection services, and improve education systems. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity or gender.
Contact details:
Claire McIlroy – 0422 925 100
[email protected]