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The Girl Effect Blogging Campaign is a collaborative effort of hundreds of bloggers coming together to write about The Girl Effect from October 4th to October 11th, 2001. Thanks for visiting today and being a part of it!

GIRL EFFECT DATA: WHY SHOULD WE PAY ATTENTION TO GIRLS?

Little research has been done to understand how investments in girls impact economic growth and the health and well-being of communities. This lack of data reveals how pervasively girls have been overlooked. For millions of girls across the developing world, there are no systems to record their birth, their citizenship, or even their identity. However, the existing research suggests their impact can reach much further than expected.

* The total global population of girls ages 10 to 24 — already the largest in history — is expected to peak in the next decade. (Ruth Levine et al., Girls Count: A Global Investment & Action Agenda [Washington, D.C.: Center for Global Development, 2008].)

* Approximately one-quarter of girls in developing countries are not in school. (Cynthia B. Lloyd, ed., Growing Up Global: The Changing Transitions to Adulthood in Developing Countries [Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2005].)

* Out of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth, 70 percent are girls. (Human Rights Watch, “Promises Broken: An Assessment of Children’s Rights on the 10th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child,” www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/promises/education. html [December 1999].)

* One-quarter to one-half of girls in developing countries become mothers before age 18; 14 million girls aged 15 to 19 give birth in developing countries each year. (United Nations Population Fund, State of World Population 2005, www.unfpa.org/swp/2005.)

WHY I CARE

In 2008, I made the first of several life-changing visits to southwestern Uganda. While there I saw firsthand how key girls and women were to the well-being of their village community. Those communities I visited who invested in the education of girls and women were far better off economically than those who did not. Unfortunately, I also saw firsthand how devastating life can be for girls and women who were either overlooked or deemed too valuable and necessary for work at home  to be able to attend school.

Girls everywhere deserve and have the right to be able to attend school, learn to read, and play with other kids their age in a safe and healthy environment. No matter where you live there are challenges for girls. Often men and dads are silent on many issues related to girls and women. It’s time for men and dads to speak up about letting the world’s girls be girls.

THINGS YOU CAN DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

* The Girl Effect is about girls. And boys. And moms and dads and villages and towns and countries. Learn more about the Girl Effect: http://www.girleffect.org/learn/the-big-picture 

* Write your own Girl Effect blog posts during the week of October 4-11. Include a link to this page ( http