[Share] Fw: New Government commitment to Girls Education

[Bill Brohier]

Dear All,

FYI.

Best regards.

Bill.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Santigul, Malisa 
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 1:06 PM
Subject: FW: New Government commitment to Girls Education


Dear TWG on EFA Members,

 

A statement from DFID: Women at the heart of development.

 

Many thanks to Maki Hayashikawa (UNICEF EAPRO) for sharing this. 

 

My apologies for any cross-postings. 

 

 

With best regards,

Malisa

for the Regional EFA Secretariat

 


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Dear All 
Our new Secretary of State for International Development. Andrew Mitchell gave his first international speech at the Carnegie Endowment, Washington DC on Friday 25 June. 
Please see the section of his speech below which puts forward DFID's continued commitment to girls education. 
We have yet to work through the detail with Ministers on our future programming in education but this public announcement provides the steer that girls education will remain a key priority in the UK development programme 
Sally 
  
  
 Women at the heart of development 
Education 

Just as maternal health covers a whole continuum of care, so too, does gender cover a continuum of opportunity - of which a key stage is education. Focussing our efforts exclusively on women rather than on women and girls is to miss the opportunity to reverse a vicious cycle that can be the lot of girls in poor countries. The cycle starts with limited access to education but soon leads to poor employment, ill-health, early marriage and, all too frequently, to violence and exploitation. 

By making sure that more girls have the chance to attend school we can replace that vicious cycle with a virtuous one that ultimately puts females at the heart of their families and their communities. Bringing in money, supporting local enterprise, making sure their own children are educated. And typically, putting an average of 90% of their earnings back into the family compared to the 30 to 40% that males contribute. 

There are many reasons why education is particularly hard for girls. These can be linked to issues of comparative low status: girls will often be expected to do the household chores or to make the long journey to fetch water, instead of attending school. When I visited Pakistan earlier this month, I saw how insecurity can add to the difficulties girls face. The new work that I was able to announce while I was there will see some 300,000 girls in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa encouraged to attend school in return for a monthly allowance. There is a good story to tell in Afghanistan, too, where 3 million girls are now attending school. 

Making sure that girls are able to have access to education - and are able to complete that education - will remain a key priority for the UK's department for international development 


DFID, the Department for International Development: leading the UK Government's fight against world poverty. Find out more at http://www.dfid.gov.uk.



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