Nick Clegg addresses the Liberal Democrat Conference, Photo by Alex Folkes/Fishnik Photography
Last week the UK Government announced a new project to help up to a million girls in the world’s poorest countries to go to school. The announcement was made by the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, at the Liberal Democrat Conference. £355m has been set aside for the project in the Department for International Development’s (DfID) aid budget between now and 2015, in addition to money already allocated for education.
This is great news because educating women and young girls is so important in developing countries. Education for girls can radically improve their prospects for employment, increasing potential income by as much as 10 to 20 per cent for every extra year of primary school. This improves not only their own lives, but those of their families and their communities. Moreover, education dramatically improves the health of young women and their children, preventing maternal deaths and infant mortality, as well as raising the age of marriage and lowering fertility rates. Girls who have been through school are three times less likely to contract HIV. By focusing on getting access to school for girls, DfID can help towards greater equality for women in developing countries, at the same time as working towards education for all and the wider contribution this makes to economic, social and political development. Continue reading
On Monday, 20 September, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the Summit’s first session with an appeal to Member States to provide the necessary investment, aid and political will to meet the goals. He called the gathering “the most significant global development conference” since the UN Millennium Summit laid out the MDGs 10 years ago.
