USAID Impact Photo Credit: Nancy Leahy/USAID

Tag archives for Girls

Accidental Empowerment

By: Anju Malhotra, Vice President of Innovation at The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) Women are on the move in New Delhi, and in an entirely new way: on the Metro. I couldn’t help but notice them during my last trip to India a few weeks ago. Women filled the first car of [...]

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Actress Lucy Liu: “Fight Human Trafficking by Nurturing Women and Girls”

In the past several years I’ve met with girls and women who have survived brutal treatment as sex trafficking victims, and have been involved with several documentaries about their struggle to survive and give back.

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Vivian’s Story—Breaking the Cycle of Poverty by Educating and Empowering Girls

By Linda Lockhart, Founder of the Global Give Back Circle and Nicole Goldin, Senior Advisor in USAID’s Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning Vivian O. was born in the outskirts of Kisumu, Kenya, and is said to have entered the world smiling.  Life for Vivian and others in her rural fishing village was challenging, requiring [...]

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Educating 1+ Billion Girls Will Make the Difference for Women’s Equality

Submitted by Elizabeth King, Director of Education for the World Bank. Elizabeth blogs on Education for Global Development, at blogs.worldbank.org/education. This week we celebrate International Women’s Day and it’s as good a time as any to remind ourselves of the remarkable accomplishments toward achieving gender equality—and of the challenges that remain to ensuring that the [...]

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The Role of Teachers and Textbooks in a Democracy

Submitted by: Diana Harper “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives.” —James Madison, 1788 This month’s historic referendum will determine southern Sudan’s future, either as an independent country of part of a unified Sudan.  Voting ends on Saturday, January [...]

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One Man Can

Submitted by Ryan Cherlin There may be one major factor overlooked in the struggle for women’s rights: men. Skeptics are being won over by the preponderance of evidence proving that unless men are actively engaged in supporting the empowerment of women, progress will remain painfully slow and women will remain vulnerable to health threats, including [...]

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Taking a Stand Against Violence Now

Submitted by Jessica DiRocco “Girls have been made to believe that they need someone to survive.” These powerful words came from one of the commentators in the short documentary, SASA!, a film about women, violence and HIV/AIDS. Sasa is Kiswahili for “now.” As in now is the time to take a stand against women’s violence. [...]

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Giving Girls a Chance Against HIV/AIDS

Submitted by  Jessica DiRocco In Malawi, Chimwemwe Banda was abandoned by her parents when she was a young girl; she and her sister were left to take care of themselves. Without money to pay for basic needs or tuition, Chimwemwe was forced to drop out of school. In hopes of improving her situation, like many [...]

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Promoting Evidence and Action for Respectful Care at Birth

Submitted by Wendy Coursen Exciting. Moving. Powerful. These words are often used to describe childbirth. It can be a time of wonder and joy. In many places, however, the experience is described differently: Humiliating. Frightening. Abusive. Throughout the world, women are abused in subtle and overt ways during childbirth, which is also a time of [...]

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The Straight Facts: The Plight of Women

Submitted by Sandra Jordan Women around the globe should be celebrated for their extraordinary contributions in all areas of society – as professionals, as bread-winners, as caregivers and caretakers. But we must also focus on the stark reality that women suffer disproportionately from poor access to health services, discrimination, the effects of war, and, at [...]

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