The Girl Up Girlafesto
http://www.girlup.org
Did You Know?
- Studies show that every year of schooling increasing a girl’s future earning power by 10 to 20 percent.
- Less than half a cent of every development dollar goes to programs specifically for girls, particularly those ages 10-14.
- Girls make up more than half of the world’s 143 million out-of-school youth.
- One in seven girls in the developing world marries before the age of 15.
“Together we are stronger.” One of my favorite organizations is Girl Up, a campaign of the United Nations Foundation. There are more than 500 million adolescent girls living in developing countries today.
Many of them struggle for the opportunity to go to school, see a doctor or be included in their communities. This has serious consequences including: low levels of enrollment in school, high levels of child marriage and way too many girls facing health risks from pregnancy and early child birth.
Solution
Girl Up believes that American girls are a part of the solution. The campaign gives American girls the opportunity to become global leaders and channel their energy and compassion to raise awareness and funds for United Nations programs that help some of the world’s hardest-to-reach adolescent girls.
Vision
Girl Up works in four contries: Ethiopia, Guatamala, Liberia and Malawi and has five different areas of focus: education, health, safety, leadership and documentation.
I love Girl Up and the work they do because I believe it is so important that all girls-no matter where they are born-should have the opportunity to receive an education, have a safe space to grow up in, and be empowered to reach for her dreams.
I am very excited to work with Girl Up this summer to create a New York regional coalition, bringing together Girl Up clubs and supporters and teen advisors from across New York. If you are a teen living in New York or the surronding area who wants to help these bright, talented girls full of dreams reach their full potential living in New York leave a comment so that we can get you involved.
Visit http://www.girlup.org to learn more.
