Not in Africa, but...

While skimming through the world news this morning, I ran across this feature on the BBC, written by a girl living in Pakistan.

It's a diary of her life in the Swat Valley region of Pakistan. The area used to be known as "the Switzerland of Pakistan," but has lately been making headlines as a hotbed of Taleban activity and the focal point of their campaign to close/destroy Pakistani private schools in an effort to stop the education of girls.

Education and the rights of women and girls have long been causes dear to my heart. Since coming to work with Plan, I've found that the listening to the voices of children (and protecting their ability to speak) has joined the list of causes I'd like to advance. With that in mind, it goes without saying (though I'm going to say it anyway) that this article struck a chord with me.

I touched on the education of girls in a previous post sometime back. Though I still don't know if achieving real success in development is as 'simple' as "getting girls (especially rural girls) into and through school up to the 8th grade," but I'm pretty sure ensuring that girls receive educations is a pretty significant step in the right direction.

Education is a a huge economic asset; for women especially, it opens doors to economic self-sufficiency and sustainability in the future. It's also been shown in studies all over the world that more educated women marry later (read: when they're women and not themselves still children), have fewer children, space the children that they do have, are substantially less likely to die in giving birth to those children, and are more likely to have children (both boys and girls) who themselves attend school and reap the benefits that it brings. And that's just the benefits to the girls themselves; the benefits to the countries and communities in which little girls grow into empowered and inspired women are nothing short of profound. (You can check out the reports being published by Plan as part of their Because I Am A Girl campaign for more detailed info).

In Gul Makai's case, you can already see the difference education has made. Being able to read and write allowed her to share her story with the BBC: maybe, just maybe, the education she already has will help her secure the education she and others like her need and deserve in the future.

Give the Gift of Opportunity

So...I'm planning on writing a more substantial update over the weekend, but in the meantime, please allow me to share EWB's current fundraising campaign with you.

The Gift of Opportunity Campaign is a chance for people to contribute to the work that EWB is doing in Africa.

I know that barely any time has passed since the wide world of Amanda and friends (and friends of friends and random officiandos of handmade jewelry) pitched in to fundraise for this year in Malawi. I'm not trying to pressure you into donating again. And EWB certainly isn't one of those "now that we have your email we're going to use it to ask for money ALL the time" organizations. I just wanted to let you know that the opportunity to keep supporting the work that I'm doing is there if you're so inclined.

I hear tell that it's becoming increasingly fashionable in some circles to make donations of material aid in the names of friends & family in lieu of Christmas gifts. This isn't quite the same - you don't get the satisfaction of seeing photos of your specific beneficiary with the specific goat that you bought. You do however get to contribute to the work I'll be doing to assist Plan International in their work in Malawi to ensure that Malawian children, their families and their communities have access to safe water & adequate sanitation to free them from the entirely preventable spectre of water-borne disease.

That's a pretty solid showing of Christmas spirit in my opinion... even without the goat.

Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.

Most people (EWB Canada and me included), agree that addressing gender disparity is vital to effective/sustainable development.
From some quarters inside EWB, I've heard it put as strongly as "the key to development is getting girls (especially rural girls) into and through school up to the 8th grade."

The United Nations has gone as far as to identify gender equity and the empowerment of women as the 3rd of the Millenium Development Goals.

There is also abundant research that suggests that educated women are a crucial socioeconomic driver; women who have completed primary education generally have fewer children, are less likely to die in childbirth, are less likely to stay in abusive relationships and are more likely to access health care and formal employment opportunities (if you watched the Hans Rosling lecture I posted yesterday, you would have seen a really cool graph illustrating some of these trends. There's also good info available from the International Development Research Center (IRDC) on Gender, Development & Policy).


Here's a new version of the old message put in pretty stark terms by the Girl Effect campaign...


(You can find a bit more info about the campaign here,at the official Google blog.)

So...agree or disagree? is it really as 'simple' as that?

(title courtesy of the eloquence of Arundhati Roy and the old friend who introduced me to to her work)

[Edit: Plan U.K (the parent organization of Plan Malawi) is a supporting partner of Girl Effect. Their campaign, Because I am a girl, has an excellent website, including some facts & figures regarding women, girls and poverty.