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Former first lady Michelle Obama is putting new force behind efforts to ensure girls overcome educational barriers in some of the world’s most economically disadvantaged areas.
The Obama Foundation’s Girls Opportunity Alliance pledged Saturday to rally $2.5 million for dozens of grassroots groups who advance adolescent girls’ education by covering school-related costs, challenging patriarchal practices such as child marriage, counseling survivors of sexual abuse and providing other forms of support.
“These groups are changing the way girls see themselves in their own communities and in our world, helping create the leaders we need for the brighter future we all deserve,” Obama said in a video released Oct. 11, the International Day of the Girl. “Because when our girls succeed, we all do.”
Nearly three-quarters of the 119 million girls out of school worldwide are of secondary school-age, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund. Girls Opportunity Alliance — an outgrowth of an Obama White House initiative that invested $1 billion in U.S. government programs promoting adolescent girls’ education abroad — launched in 2018 with a focus on helping that population between ages 10-19 graduate.
But the latest announcement comes amid stark warnings from international aid groups that budget cuts will roll back recent progress. UNICEF projects that a 24% drop in wealthy countries’ global education funding will push six million girls out of school by the end of next year.
“The need right now, I think more than ever, is crucial,” Girls Opportunity Alliance Executive Director Tiffany Drake said. “We were just in Mauritius and we heard it time and time again that organizations need funding. They need support.”
Girls Opportunity Alliance’s early October convening in Mauritius brought together Asian and African members of its network. The great demands on local leaders doing tireless work with little resources made it, in Drake’s view, perhaps the most moving gathering they’ve hosted.
