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: