Understanding and Serving the Needs of Adolescent Girls in Lao, PDR
When I face an injustice, I resolve to speak out about it and work to make sure it doesn’t happen to others. So, when I went to Ethiopia, after experiencing alienation for speaking out about sexual harassment and intimidation, I decided to dive deep into creating a fairer and just world for women and girls. In Ethiopia my work focused on providing access to education and health services to adolescent girls, who are admittedly the “newest” and most popular target population in the gender and development world. According to the data, “when 10% more girls go to school, on average, a country’s GDP goes up by 3%. A single additional year of primary education increases a girl’s eventual wages by 15% and a year of secondary education increases her wages by 25%.” Studies also show that to educate a girl is to educate a family, a community, and it significantly increases the likelihood of her children growing up to be happy, healthy and