10×10 Executive Director, Holly Gordon, and Executive Producer, Tom Yellin, will introduce the 10×10 project to the Philadelphia community on Thursday May 19.

Marjorie Margolies will present as the evening’s featured guest speaker.

10×10 is a groundbreaking film, a global social action campaign and an extraordinary opportunity: Investing today in adolescent girls living in the developing world creates a ripple effect that transforms families, communities and entire countries for generations. By harnessing the power of media and forging relationships with forward-thinking, action-oriented nonprofit and corporate partners, 10×10 brings together a global community with a common purpose— to remake the future.

10×10 affects change three ways: (1) by driving resources to girl-focused programs already operating on the ground that are proven models for change; (2) by penetrating the public consciousness and creating a vast grassroots network; and (3) by using that groundswell of support to provoke governmental, institutional and policy changes that empower adolescent girls, the world’s single most powerful untapped resource.

WCI has identified a number of key issues about the importance of  targeting adolescent girls  for advocacy and leadership training including:

• Adolescent girls or young women ages 10-24 make up one in eight of the world’s population (close to 900 million).
• As these young women mature, future populations, economies, and governments will depend on their ability to become informed and actively engaged global citizens.
• The World Bank reports that for each year of additional schooling, adolescent girls will increase their incomes by 10 to 20 percent. This is a greater return on average than for adolescent boys; each year of additional schooling will increase their incomes by only 5 to 15 percent.  Additionally, income earned and controlled by mothers has a twenty-fold effect on their children’s health as compared to the same income controlled by fathers.
• Women’s empowerment and a nation’s economic development are strongly correlated. The World Economic Forum writes, “A nation’s competitiveness depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its female talent.”  The education of females, if it includes marketable skills learned through formal or informal channels, can lead to a larger and more productive workforce and increased national economic growth.

Check out The Girl Effect’s inspiring message below: