Last week Global Impact, a leader in global philanthropy, launched the Women & Girls Fund in partnership with four of the best-in-the-business charities to help improve the lives of women and girls around the world. The Women & Girls Fund is unique in that it harnesses together four of the most respected charities in the field, CARE, World Vision, Plan and International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), to help change the world by investing in women and girls.

The plight of women and girls around the world is heartbreaking. Of roughly one billion people in the world who live in extreme poverty, the majority of them are women.  I have written tirelessly about the struggles of women and girls because it is a cause I am truly passionate about.

Photo courtesy of CARE.

Here is a reminder of some of the most tragic facts that unfairly impact women and girls:

• Two-thirds of the children denied primary education are girls.
• Women make up 65% of the nearly 1 billion people who cannot read or write.
• Women control less than 10 percent of the world’s assets yet perform two-thirds of all labor to produce more than half of the world’s food.
• An estimated 60% of women have been physically or sexually abused.
• Women and girls make up 98% of human trafficking victims.
• Each year about 300,000 women suffer a preventable death during pregnancy and childbirth.
• 1 in 9 girls is forced into marriage before her 15th birthday.

Schoolgirls. Photo courtesy of Plan.

For young girls, the problem is compounded. In some countries, long-standing cultural, and often religious, practices devalue and marginalize female children resulting in a lack of access to education, marginalization, forced marriage, sexual exploitation and violence.

Without access to clean drinking water, sanitation, medical care, equal rights, education and decent employment, poverty continues to intensify. When mothers lack the means to thrive, their children suffer too and girls are usually the ones most negatively impacted.

Maria. Guatemala.

Despite these tragic statistics there is hope. Although women and girls are often the faces of poverty, they are essential to overcoming it and can improve their lives, as well as the lives of all mankind, if given the opportunity. By investing in a girl, she can lift herself out of poverty and abuse creating a ripple effect that would not only alter her condition, but would improve the community and world as a whole.

This is why the Women & Girls Fund is critical and the time to act is now. By partnering with Global Impact and its charity partners we will be able to provide resources and frontline delivery of critical services on a global scale. Through this fund, you will join with millions of people around the world working to help women and girls. Your contributions will go directly to supporting real and meaningful work to improve the lives of women and girls worldwide by helping to provide education, protection and rehabilitation from violence and exploitation, job training, healthcare, safe drinking water and other key services.

To learn more about Global Impact’s Women & Girls Fund, click here

About Global Impact 

Global Impact is a leader in growing global philanthropy. The organization raises funds to meet critical humanitarian needs around the world. In partnership with nearly 100 major corporations and more than 300 public sector entities, Global Impact provides funding to more than 100 U.S.-based international charities through innovative partnerships and employee giving programs. Since 1956, Global Impact has generated more than $1.6 billion to help the world’s most vulnerable people. The organization and its charity partners help an estimated 400 million people each year.  http://www.charity.org

About the 4 Key Partners in the Fund:

CARE 

In more than 80 countries, CARE addresses not only the consequences of gender inequality, but also the root causes. CARE works to increase women’s and girls’ ability to determine their own futures through improved education, increased economic power and more decision-making authority in their homes and communities. At the same time, CARE engages with fellow community members, social and religious leaders, politicians and local organizations to shift attitudes and behaviors that marginalize women and girls. This involves working closely with men and boys to promote equitable roles, responsibilities and policies, as well as respectful attitudes and behaviors, and mutually beneficial relationships.

World Vision

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision is the largest international non-governmental organization in the world, working in nearly 100 countries with 45,000 staff serving millions of people in need.

The organization’s Strong Women, Strong World initiative highlights the organization’s projects that empower, protect, educate, and nurture girls and women, providing them with equal rights and opportunities. Programming engages men and women, boys and girls, collaboratively, to build equitable, just and sustainable communities. Programs address sex trafficking, health, education, economic development and empowerment.

Plan International

Investing in a girl and her future, gives her the ability to lift herself out of poverty, altering the economic condition of her family, her community, and ultimately her country. Decades of experience and in-depth research have proven it. Yet even today, a girl in the developing world still faces overwhelming odds from the day she’s born.

Through sustainable development projects, Plan reaches out to the most marginalized and vulnerable populations of girls around the world, rigorously measuring their impact every step of the way.

International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) 

ICRW research identifies women’s contributions to their communities and the barriers—like HIV, violence, lack of education—that prevent them from being economically stable and able to fully participate in society. ICRW provides a path that creates the conditions under which not just one woman, but millions of women can benefit.

Disclaimer:

This post is a part of a sponsored awareness program that seeks to help women and girls everywhere live healthy lives wherein they are protected, respected, educated and empowered to reach their potential. Visit www.togetherforwomen.org.