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Category: National News

Washington, DC - Today, the Obama Administration announced that it is expanding its efforts to help adolescent girls worldwide attend and complete school through an initiative called Let Girls Learn.

This new effort will build on investments we have made and successes we have achieved in global primary school education, and expand them to help adolescent girls complete their education and pursue their broader aspirations.

62 million girls around the world – half of whom are adolescent – are not in school. These girls have diminished economic opportunities and are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, early and forced marriage, and other forms of violence.

Yet when a girl receives a quality education, she is more likely to earn a decent living, raise a healthy, educated family, and improve the quality of life for herself, her family, and her community.  In addition, girls’ attendance in secondary school is correlated with later marriage, later childbearing, lower maternal and infant mortality rates, lower birth rates, and lower rates of HIV/AIDS. A World Bank study found that every year of secondary school education is correlated with an 18 percent increase in a girl’s future earning power.

This new effort will build on the Let Girls Learn public engagement campaign launched last summer by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Let Girls Learn will elevate existing programs, including in areas of conflict and crisis, and leverage public and private sector partners. It will also look to build more partnerships and challenge other organizations and governments to commit resources to lift up adolescent girls across the globe.

A key part of Let Girls Learn will be to encourage and support community-led solutions to reduce barriers that prevent adolescent girls from completing their education. Through the efforts of the First Lady - working with the Peace Corps – this new initiative will support community-generated and community-led girls’ education projects worldwide.

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA & PEACE CORPS – SUPPORTING COMMUNITY LED SOLUTIONS

Throughout her travels over the past six years, in meetings with local leaders and the Mandela Washington Fellows from the Young African Leaders Initiative, and in discussions with experts and global education advocates, the First Lady has heard first-hand about the power of community-based solutions to eliminate barriers to adolescent girls’ education around the world.

Peace Corps’ nearly 7,000 volunteers – in more than 60 developing countries – are already working side-by-side with families and community leaders. Through the grassroots development work that Peace Corps volunteers do each and every day, they are already positioned to work with communities to identify the barriers facing adolescent girls who want to attend, and stay in, school.

This will lead to hundreds of new community projects to break down those barriers. To support this effort, Peace Corps will train thousands of volunteers and tens of thousands of community leaders; collaborate with local leaders to identify community-based solutions; and recruit, train and place hundreds of additional volunteers.

The Peace Corps Partnership Program (PCPP) will also connect volunteers with members of the public and private sector to fund small, community- initiated, sustainable, grassroots projects. For more information, visit https://letgirlslearn.peacecorps.gov.

The Peace Corps’ Let Girls Learn program will be phased in globally, starting in 11 countries the first year, including:  Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo, and Uganda. Additional countries will be phased in following the first year.

Organizations announcing commitments in support of this effort include: The Brookings Institution – as part of their collaboration with CHARGE (Collaborative for Harnessing Ambition and Resources for Girls’ Education), CARE, Girl Rising, Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., Global Partnership for Education (GPE), National Peace Corps Association, PBS LearningMedia, and UN Foundation/Girl Up. For more information about these commitments, please visit: http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/LetGirlsLearn.

EFFORTS ACROSS THE U.S. GOVERNMENT SUPPORTING LET GIRLS LEARN & ADOLESCENT GIRLS EDUCATION

Through Let Girls Learn, agencies across the U.S. Government will work together to address the range of challenges confronting adolescent girls around the world. Agencies will increase efforts to build strategic partnerships and enhance diplomatic efforts that will help adolescent girls succeed. This initiative will build upon the broad portfolio of existing programs across the government, all aimed at addressing the complex and varied barriers preventing adolescent girls from attending and completing school, and from realizing their potential as adults. These include programs that address: education; empowerment/leadership; health and nutrition; preventing gender-based violence; preventing child, early and forced marriage; and partnerships with bilateral and multi-lateral partners. Below is a selection of existing programing.

Education Programs

Empowerment/Leadership Programs and Initiatives

Health & Nutrition Programs

Programs to Address Gender-based Violence (GBV)

Programs to Prevent Child, Early and Forced Marriage

Partnerships with Bilateral and Multilateral Partners