What is The Girl Effect?
The girl effect is the powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society.
World Economic Forum Gives Adolescent Girls a Voice on the Global Stage
(Corporate, foundation, government and NGO leaders )
DAVOS, SWITZERLAND, 30 January, 2009
The agenda focused almost exclusively on the global financial crisis, the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting program featured its first-ever plenary session focused on adolescent girls.
A safe, healthy, educated, economically empowered girl has the power to solve poverty and ignite progress as an economic actor and future mother. With the right opportunities, she alone will unleash the girl effect. She will marry later, have fewer children, and invest nearly all of her income back into her family. Yet today, less than half a cent of every international development dollar is spent on her.
"Including girls in this year's agenda marks a real turning point in the world's understanding of adolescent girls" potential contribution to their own communities and to the global economy," said Mark Parker, President and CEO of NIKE, Inc. "When given an opportunity to participate, girls are a powerful force for social and economic change. That's exactly what we need right now. The session, entitled The Girl Effect on Development, was moderated by Dr. Helene Gayle, President and CEO of CARE USA. Panelists include:
- Melinda French Gates, Co-Chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
- Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director, World Bank
- Mari Pangestu, Minister of Trade of Indonesia
- Mark G. Parker, Chief Executive Officer, NIKE, Inc.; Co-Chair of the Governors Meeting for Consumer Industries 2009
- Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); Chair, Global Agenda Council on the Welfare of Children
- Muhammad Yunus, Managing Director, Grameen Bank; Board Member of the United Nations Foundation
Panelists explored the dearth of investment in adolescent girls in developing countries, which economists have called "an irrational investment gap." They discussed the potential multi-trillion-dollar impact of girls on national economies, the economic cost of not investing, and the impact of these investments on developed economies.
“We'll never be able to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of eradicating extreme poverty if we do not address the issues girls face," said Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director, World Bank. “Directing resources to address gender equity, universal education, child and maternal health is a start, but the success of reaching every goal is dependent on the critical wellbeing, safety and participation of world's girls."
In India, for example, adolescent pregnancy results in nearly $100 billion in lost potential income over a lifetime. That's equal to the world's total humanitarian assistance over the last 17 years combined. However, innovative organizations like Going to School are showing girls in India a world of possibilities beyond early marriage and early child-bearing. Their "Be! an Entrepreneur" Fund inspires girls to create businesses that solve the social, economic and environmental problems they face in their daily lives.
With little more than one half a cent of every international development dollar going to girls, there is a desperate and immediate need to increase funding to programs that unleash the girl effect and enable girls to achieve their potential. Early champions, including the UN Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, the Nike Foundation and many others, have helped drive this issue to the forefront. Saturday's session is a critical step in building global attention and investment. However, much more must be done for families, communities and nations to benefit from the potential of girls.
The session addressed what others can do to invest in girls as well as the importance of reaching girls in early adolescence – before they are faced with the issues that derail a healthy and prosperous trajectory. These include a range of factors that can take a girl away from school including early marriage, early pregnancy, household chores, caregiving for family members and HIV/AIDS.
Click to watch the whole event:
Davos Annual Meeting 2009 - The Girl Effect on Development
Ann M. Veneman (L), Executive Director, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), New York; Chair, Global Agenda Council on the Welfare of Children, talks to Muhammad Yunus, Managing Director, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh, during the session 'The Girl Effect on Development' at the Annual Meeting 2009 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 31, 2009
Posted by: Mimmy Duhaylungsod
I learned that there is an increasing problem treatment of girls in developing countries and it is not so much being addressed to by the society. But I’m glad that there is this forum that has seen the power of girls in improving the economy and society. By giving the girls experiencing poverty we could start the girl effect. When girls have safe places to meet, education, legal protection, health care, and access to training and job skills, they can thrive. And if they thrive, everyone around them thrives, too. I hope that this could be start of more women entering into business and thriving harder for the improvement of society.
ReplyDeleteI quote "A safe, healthy, educated, economically empowered girl has the power to solve poverty and ignite progress as an economic actor and future mother."
ReplyDeleteIt's not "GIRL" alone, the adjectives that preceded it made that GIRL an asset, a future investment. We shouldn't feel inferior and useless. We can do something to help improve the status of our economy and society.
Forums like this will help awaken the women especially in developing countries where almost everybody feel anxious and hopeless. Being educated on how to handle money properly and how to even start to save up for a future business like that of the "Be! an Entrepreneur" Fund in India, is a big help for the women to have the right mindset. Support from the government, and not only fromt the concerned private companies and organizations, is needed for this type of program to be successful.
Rose ANn Santos
It’s a good thing to know that girls/women nowadays are being empowered and valued when in comes to the development of the world, especially now that we are facing a global crisis. I do believe in the power of the women. Women are totally equal to men when it comes to rights in making a difference and creating changes involving world’s development. Their ideas are not far than that of men’s ideas, and for some instances, they are much better than the men. Women may seem weak, but they have a strong desire for success, and they do strive for it.
ReplyDelete-mayang
This forum proves that women have a big role in our society. women are quite but their impact on society, country and world gives a big difference. Women have this very good fighting spirit and courage to take part in improving our world. It is a great help that the generation today values and appreciates the power of women.
ReplyDelete-Geramarie Dianzon