‘Greatest Return comes from Investing in Girls and Women’, says UN chief

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday made a fresh call for ‘Investment in Girls’ Education‘ around the world.

Mr. Ban spoke at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington D.C. at a high level meeting of the Global Education First Initiative launched in September 2012.

He said the meeting is a single but critical step to support the objectives of the Initiative to provide quality, inclusive and relevant education to all children.

Girl Rising is a groundbreaking film, directed by Academy Award nominee Richard Robbins, which tells the stories of 9 extraordinary girls from 9 countries, written by 9 celebrated writers and narrated by 9 renowned actresses. Girl Rising showcases the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world. Explore the film in detail at girlrising.com.

“The greatest return comes from investing in girls and women. When they are educated, they drive development in their families, communities and nations. We need to transform this understanding into results. Consultations with countries have already identified bottlenecks. Development partners are armed with ideas about supporting this effort.”

Also speaking at the same event is the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Global Education, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

“People understand now more than ever the importance of education to the success of an economy. No country will become a high income country or move from low or middle income status to high income status unless it invests in quality education.”

The issue of education for all will be further addressed at a high level meeting of the General Assembly in early July.

Derrick Mbatha, United Nations.

AT EVENT FOR FILM, SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS NURTURING THE MINDS, RELEASING THE POTENTIAL OF GIRLS ‘WILL CREATE AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE FOR PROGRESS’

Following are the remarks of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as prepared for delivery, at a special event on Girl Rising in Washington, D.C., 18 April:

What a wonderful gathering. I am delighted to join World Bank President Kim; My Special Envoy on Education, Gordon Brown; Secretary of State Justine Greening; the talented actress Freida Selena Pinto; Shabana Basij-Rasikh, from the 10×10 [“ten by ten”] initiative; Holly Gordon, the producer of Girl Rising; and all of you.

I am very grateful to those who made Girl Rising possible.

The stories you are about to see speak for themselves. I will only add that the United Nations is doing everything possible to help the world’s girls.

As Secretary-General, I launched last year the global Education First initiative, which, among other things, aims to ensure every single girl has a chance to go to school.

In Haiti, UNICEF and UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization] have provided three quarters of a million schoolkits to girls and boys.

The United Nations global “Stop Rape Now” campaign aims to end sexual violence; and when emergencies hit around the world, the United Nations Population Fund distributes “dignity kits” to women and girls.

These are just some of our life-saving activities for girls.

It is important to raise funds and awareness. But above all, we have to change attitudes. Everyone can be part of this effort. If you have a mobile phone or a Twitter account, if you have a blog or a Tumblr, you can speak out.

One of the girls in this film calls herself a “superhero”. I quite agree that she is a superhero. And even though she is extraordinary — she is not alone. There are millions of other outstanding young women in our world. When we nurture their minds, protect their bodies and release their potential, we will create an unstoppable force for progress.

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