Girl and teacherIn many countries in the developing world, education isn’t free. Families must pay school fees to local governments, buy uniforms, books, and supplies and do without the income of a child who might otherwise be working. Faced with tough decisions about how to use their scarce resources, many families choose to send boys to school, but keep girls at home and put them to work.

But when girls do get an education, the impact on the family, village, and entire nation can be dramatic. Consider these facts:

  • For every year a girl remains in school, her wages increase by 20% and she has 10% fewer children
  • A child whose mother attends five years of school has a 40% lower mortality risk
  • For every two years a girl stays in school, the children she raises stay in school another year
  • You can send a girl to school for an entire year with a donation as small as $75

“If you educate a girl, you educate the whole family.”
– Usha Acharya, Little Sisters Fund

“Girls’ education is the best investment for poverty eradication…”
– UNICEF

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope… Especially for girls and women, it is an agent of family health and nutrition… Literacy is, finally, the road to human progress and the means through which every man, woman and child can realize his or her full potential.”
- Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General

But what can I do?

You can make a real difference in global poverty by helping to send girls to school in any of the following ways:

Educating girls yields a higher rate of return than any other investment in the developing world. Make the investment. Spread the word.