I was invited to be a member of a panel addressing the topic  ‘Girls Education – An End to Poverty’ on Thursday April 1st, 2010   A copy of my presentation is attached here Presentation at DPI Briefing on April I, 2010        You can view the Powerpoint without script   Girls Education – An End to poverty[1]   You can read more and see some photographs on www.girlsrights.org       “Investing in girls’ education delivers well-known returns.    When girls are educated, they are more likely to earn higher wages and obtain better jobs, to have fewer and healthier children and to enjoy safer childbirth.”    Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon – World Population Day, 11 July 2009.     The Working Group on Girls partnered with the UN Department of Public Information to produce the April 1, 2010 NGO Briefing entitled, “Girls’ Education” An End to Poverty?”  The Panel  Moderator was: María-Luisa Chávez; Chief, NGO Relations, Department of Public Information (DPI).     Speakers included   

H.E. Jean-Francis Régis Zinsou, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of the Republic of Benin to the United Nations

Elizabeth Fordham, Education Programme Specialist, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in New York

Tamara Rosenberg, co-producer of Time for School 3, Public Broadcasting Service/Thirteen

Winifred Doherty, Congregation of Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd representative to the United Nations in New York and member of the Working Group on Girls

According to an important study on the subject by the Center for Global Development, entitled Girls Count: A Global Investment and Action Agenda: “without adequate skills and training, and without access to economic self-sufficiency, many girls in developing countries enter into child marriages. One in seven girls in developing countries marry by age 15, and in 15 countries throughout South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, almost half of all girls are married before age 18.”    There is also a very strong link between lack of education, gender inequality and poverty.  In the light of these facts and your experiences what are you doing for girls?  If you would like to share a short account of your activities please do so by clicking on leave a comment.