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by Carol Aloysius

A fun loving and spirited little girl and her struggle against injustice, has made her a symbol of hope for millions of girl children and a role model for children in general throughout Asia.

Many girl children in South Asia still live under horrendous conditions of enslavement and deprivation. Meena's practical approach to real life problems facing these children and her positive solutions to them , along with her infectious zest for life and her clear aspirations for the future, has made her a powerful advocate for their rights.

But Meena is not just a role model for girl children in the region. She has been a change agent in every community of every country where her adventures have been read, heard or seen on television.

She dares to be different. She is outgoing, caring, loyal, and curious.She is also assertive, and bold enough to tackle problems head-on in her own unique way,

Irrespective of age, caste or creed she has touched the lives of many and brought about a change of attitude towards the girl child. Her non-confrontational, simple and practical solutions have brought about an unexpected change of heart among males in her community in a way that very few previous strategies for countering gender discrimination in the region have done.

So popular a figure has Meena become, that in 1998 she was made the official 'ambassador' of the International Children's Day Broadcasting - an event reaching more than 2,000 broadcasters globally. Additionally, Meena's adventures have been dubbed into 30 languages. UNICEF national committees in Europe and Canada have developed teaching packs and used Meena videos for broadcasting on children's programs and for development education.

So who is Meena and why does her antics attract audiences (both children and adults) not only in the South Asian region, but also as far as Zimbabwe and Canada?

According to Ms Nuzhat Shahzadi, Regional Meena Co-ordinator; "Nine year old Meena represents the day-to-day life of girl children living in Asia's poorest nations. She was conceived in a village where only a tiny fraction of girls go to school, but many work in factories under inhuman conditions, and marry very early in life even before they have entered their teens.

Conditioned by the strict laws of the country and age old laws that discriminated against the girl child from the day she was born, these girl children might have given up hope of breaking free from their enslavement - if Meena had not come along."

She adds, "Meena is not like the stereo-typed girl child in her village. She refuses to accept her fate of being confined to the role of 'house-slave'. She dares to be different. She is outgoing, caring, loyal, and curious. She is also assertive, and bold enough to tackle problems head-on in her own unique way, particularly when it comes to battling injustices against girl children like herself.

Meena watches sadly as Raju and his friends go to school

What is more, she takes on issues like illiteracy among girls, bullying, sexual abuse, early marriage and other gender related problems that girl children in her region face. Rather than being portrayed as a passive victim, Meena is shown as vulnerable , yet optimistic and proactive , promoting a vision of girls as people of potential. Meena's dynamic character thus represents a role model for girls and a positive approach to advocating children's rights".

She is more than a little girl who tackles real life problems with an adult vision. She is a cartoon character who is featured with her brother Raju, sister Rani and her best friend and alter-ego , her pet parrot Mithu in a series of animated films, booklets and comic books. She is also part of a unique Initiative by UNICEF to improve the lives of girls and equalise opportunities between boys and girls in South Asia, thus realising the goals of the SAARC Decade of the Girl Child.

The Meena Communication Initiative was conceived by UNICEF in South Asia in 1990 on the request of former UNICEF director James P Grant, for advocating the rights of the girl child in South Asia. Neill Mckee, a British woman living in Bangladesh and working for UNICEF then came up with the idea of a cartoon character to advocate girl child rights.

Research on the pilot project took the programmers to several countries until they finally came up with the right face and character of Meena. "The Meena you see in our booklets or on TV or posters is a girl any child or adult in the region or even outside can identify with" Nuzhat says, displaying pictures of a little girl with big expressive eyes in a long skirt and blouse, her hair knotted into a single plait. The cartoon had been drawn by well-known artist Ram Mohan.

The Meena communication package , developed after much research that involved the target audience themselves who were active partners in its development, includes a series of stories produced in animation (some 13 animated episodes have been produced so far), on radio, and as comic books as well as other media. This multi media package has proved to be a huge success, and now, ten years after she was conceived, Meena continues to enjoy enduring popularity in her role as advocate for children's rights.

"UNICEF Meena Initiative in South Asia aims at creating awareness , generating discussion among children and adults on the status of the girl child so as to remove discrimination", explains Nuzhat who is currently in Sri

Lanka to conduct a training course for trainers on the effective use of the Meena/Communication material to achieve the same objective.

As she points out, girl children in Sri Lanka too face problems of gender discrimination, albeit being slightly different from those that girl children face in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and India, where the Initiative has officially been launched. "Young girls in Sri lanka may not be illiterate or given in early marriage as they are in the other countries of the region, but they do face problems such as sexual abuse, trafficking and child labour, among other problems.

It is our hope that the Meena Initiative can help them overcome these problems by bringing about a change of attitudes both among the girls themselves and the communities in which they live".

According to Surani Abeysekera, Assistant Communication Officer for UNICEF, Sri Lanka, the character of Meena is already featured in five comic books and discusses various issues ranging from health to domestic violence. "We have made slight adaptations, but the main story line and concept has remained unchanged," says Surani. Meena is also expected to feature in a series of comic books targeted to those living in conflict areas in the North and East where de-mining is underway.

Now in its eleventh year, the Meena Communications Initiative Regional Co-ordinator says she is currently focussing on three things; to set up a Meena foundation that will serve as a resource centre to promote survival and protection of girls; produce more books, films etc because "it is important that the Meena series should continue", and support any country effort to implement the Meena Communications Initiative . "This is why I'm here " she explains.

I want to train trainers at this workshop so that they in turn can take the Meena message to different parts of the country so that all children, particularly the girl child can face any problems they may encounter in their society in the same positive, non-confrontational way as Meena does".

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