bdnews24.com | 22 September 2016
It has brought in 10 international partners to launch ‘Deliver for Good’ campaign which applies a gender lens to the Sustainable Development Goals and promotes investments in girls and women.
Denmark pledged support to the campaign calling for investment in girls and women to achieve the SDGs at the launching on Tuesday in New York.
The movement will fuel concrete action to address major global issues that disproportionately affect girls and women’s lives, the Women Deliver said in a statement.
The campaign aims to secure much-needed investment – political, programmatic, and financial – across 12 issues, from sexual and reproductive health to climate change to women’s political and decision making power.
Investments in girls and women have a massive impact on the society. Analysis suggests when 10 percent more girls go to school, a country’s GDP increases by an average of 3 percent.
Fully closing gender gaps to create a scenario in which women participate in the economy identically to men would add up to $28 trillion in global annual GDP by 2025.
One of the outputs of Deliver for Good will be “a stronger, more comprehensive” evidence base that fills both gaps in knowledge and data on the impact of investment in girls and women.
“Achieving growth and prosperity for all starts with ensuring equal gender opportunities,” said Kristian Jensen, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark, during the launching.
“And that’s why Denmark pledges to support the Deliver for Good campaign—because we know that investing in girls and in women is one of the best ways to accelerate global development,” he said.
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark termed the campaign ‘unique’ and said it was inspiring that “the campaign rather than focusing on the problems girls and women face – we know them well – it focuses on solutions and benefits”.
Dr. David Nabarro, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Climate Change, said inspiring gender equality and women’s empowerment was “a necessary condition for ending poverty, inequality, and achieving a better world for generations to come”.
“Innovative campaigns such as Deliver for Good, will help implement the Every Woman Every Child Global Strategy and achieve greater political, programmatic, and financial improvements at the community, country, and global levels,” Nabarro said at the launching.
“Girls and women carry more than babies. Or water. They carry families. They carry businesses. They carry potential,” said Katja Iversen, President and CEO of Women Deliver.
“The Deliver for Good campaign will drive action toward what we know is true: investing in girls and women unlocks untapped potential, and creates a ripple effect that benefits families, communities and entire nations,” she said.
To date, nearly 200 organisations have signed onto the campaign.
The founding partners joining Women Deliver in the launch include: Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), FEMNET (The African Women’s Development and Communications Network), FHI 360, and Global Partnership for Education, International Planned Parenthood Federation, Landesa, Plan International, Population Services International, Scaling Up Nutrition, and Every Woman Every Child (EWEC).
Women Deliver is known as a leading global advocate for girls’ and women’s health, rights, and wellbeing. It brings together diverse voices and interests to drive progress, particularly in maternal, sexual and reproductive health and rights.
