The World Bank has announced it will invest $2.5 billion in girl’s and young women’s education.
“Let Girls Learn”, an initiative championed by Barack and Michelle Obama to get 62 million girls in school around the world, will receive the investment over the next five years.
A World Bank study found that every year of secondary school education is correlated with an 18 per cent increase in a girl’s future earning power.
Research also shows that better educated women "tend to be healthier, participate more in the formal labour market, earn more income, give birth to fewer children, marry at a later age, and provide better health care and education to their children".
Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank Group, said the empowerment of girls is “central” to the group’s development efforts.
“Empowering and educating adolescent girls is one of the best ways to stop poverty from being passed from generation to generation, and can be transformational for entire societies,” he said in a statement.
"This increased funding will help provide countries, especially in regions like Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, with the tools to expand access to quality education so that all adolescent girls can go to school and reach their full potential.”
The investment will go to provide scholarships and secondary level education, as well as ensuring girls enroll and stay at school.
Popstars recruited by Ms Obama, including Kelly Rowland and Kelly Clarkson, recorded a single “This Is For My Girls” in aid of the initiative.
Let Girls Learn has also previously worked with Beyonce to make a mix of her song "Get Me Bodied".
