Young women at the World Bank

Girl Guides from Uganda and young women from Liberia and Guatemala made a big splash in October at the World Bank in Washington DC when they addressed politicians and policy makers from across the globe, including World Bank President Robert Zoellick, wife of former British PM Tony Blair, Cherie Blair QC, and singer Angelique Kidjo, from Benin, a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.

The young women were there to share their life experiences and the work of WAGGGS as the World Bank and the Nike Foundation launched the ‘Adolescent Girls Initiative: An Alliance for Economic Empowerment’ which they intend to pioneer in and later scale up to other war affected countries.

Gloria Success, a Ranger from Uganda who spoke at the event, was interviewed by CNN. Watch the interview.

The public-private partnership was launched as part of the World Bank’s Gender Action Plan. The Adolescent Girls Initiative initially will provide up to $30 million to six poor and post-conflict countries to economically empower girls.