Is the education of girls key to solving the world’s greatest challenges?
Yes, but it must be whole-child education.
It has been well researched that girls' education brings high returns not just for income and economic growth, but in other crucial areas as well—including improving children’s and women's survival rates and health, reducing population growth, protecting children's rights and delaying child marriage, empowering women in the home and in the workplace, and even improving climate change adaptation.
Too often our well intentioned charity creates dependence to foreign aid and we make the mistake of putting ourselves at the center of solving local problems, instead of the girls we serve. We deny them the opportunities or dignity to solve their own problems; redesign healthcare, create pathways to education, combat corruption, uplift families out of poverty and gain access to the personal freedom that it takes to lead a life of flourishing.
So, girls’ education is simply not just about books or a classroom, it’s about the early and focused nurturing of these precious resources, girls, within communities of action that will drive the social change needed for human dignity and flourishing for all.
MEET MAKESH
Due to Makesh’s training with Girls on Fire Leaders, she now teaches hundreds of girls weekly using Practice You, Girls On Fire principles, and meditation. True leaders are emerging through self-study and girl-led education. She is showing us we don’t have to wait to see what the next generation will do. It’s all being done now!