Clinton relayed how great the opportunity was to internationalize efforts and bring change through innovation. “We want to do development more effectively. That is our goal. We want to change systems. We want to deliver highest possible impact for every tax payer dollar we spend,” she said.

According to Clinton, few challenges are as persistent or heartbreaking as the poor health of many women and children around the world. She cited WHO’s calculation that 2.6 million children are stillborn each year and that a woman living in Sub-Saharan Africa is 136 times more likely to die during childbirth than women elsewhere in the world.

In the last decade, 58 million young women in developing countries — one in three — have been married before the age of 18, many against their will and in violation of international laws and conventions on women’s rights. Even more disturbing, according to new figures, one in nine girls, or 15 million, has been forced into marriage between the ages of 10 and 14. With limited education and economic opportunities, child brides are often condemned to a life of poverty, social isolation, and powerlessness, infringing on their human rights, health, and well-being.

In the coming years, the number of child brides will increase drastically. As such, the Elders, a group of global leaders ranging from Nelson Mandela to Mary Robinson, introduced an initiative to bring more awareness. They state, “Every single day, it is estimated that more than 25,000 girls under the age of 18 are married. At this rate, 100 million more girls — around 10 million each year — will become child brides over the next decade.”

They squatted side by side on the dirt, a crowd of village women holding sari cloth around them as a makeshift curtain, and poured soapy water from a metal pan over their heads. Two of the brides, the sisters Radha and Gora, were 15 and 13, old enough to understand what was happening. The third, their niece Rajani, was 5. She wore a pink T-shirt with a butterfly design on the shoulder. A grown-up helped her pull it off to bathe.

In the story’s outcome, journalist Cynthia Gorney spent her own money to educate an 8-year-old child bride from Northern India so she could access education post-high school. Months after Shobha Choudhary began school, Cynthia received a video of the young girl thriving while living in a safe house for girls and continuing her education. “She looked straight into the camera at one point, and in English, an enormous smile on her face, she said, ‘Nothing is impossible, Cynthia Mam. Everything is possible.’”

Shobha’s story is one of hope but hers is also rare. Yet, the report Paying the Price: The Economic Cost of Failing to Educate Girls highlights why education will lead countries toward economic vitality. “Based on World Bank research and economic data and UNESCO education statistics, it estimates the economic cost to 65 low and middle income and transitional countries of failing to educate girls to the same standard as boys as a staggering US$92 billion each year. This is just less than the US$103 billion annual overseas development aid budget of the developed world.”

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This blog is brought to you by the Interagency Youth Working Group (IYWG) with financial assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The content is managed by FHI, which functions as the secretariat for the IYWG.

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