This week Ann Cotton, an amazing role model for women about making a difference, received the WISE (World Innovative Summit for Education) award for her role founding Camfed, and organization that has helped millions of African girls stay in school.

Ann started Camfed in 1993 to create sponsorship to a few dozen girls so their families could afford to keep them in primary school.  Today, it is estimated that over 3 million students benefit indirectly from Camfed’s activities, which include financial support of students, teacher training, and mentoring community activists — all with the goal of giving all children access to primary education (especially girls who still rank well below boys in completing primary school in poor countries).

Some might ask why I focus on empowering girls and women and why educating girls around the globe is so important.  This past fall, I found out why this matters at Just Like My Child’s gala event, which raised money for the Girl Power project.  Here are a few reasons:

• 51% of the world’s population are women and 64% of illiterate adults are women.
• More than 100 million children remain out of schools and 66 million of them are girls, half in the sub-Saharan Africa.
• When a girl educated for 7 years or more, she marries 4 years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
• Empowering women and girls raises economic productivity and reduces infant mortality. It contributes to improved health and nutrition, and increases the chances of education for the next generation.
• When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90% of it into their families, compared to 30-40% for males earning income.
• When a woman is financially independent, she can stand her ground, speak her voice, her children are stronger and healthier and the state of the world improves exponentially.
• Education has proven to yield larger impacts than any other form of aid and assistance for men or women.  With education sexually transmitted disease, including HIV, go down, early pregnancies decrease, and income potential increases.

I leave you with these words from Nelson Mandela:

“No country can really progress unless its citizens are educated.”