Why Connect To Learn?
Educate a Girl. Change the World.
Letter from the Executive Director
A few months ago, I was sitting outside at one of the Millennium Villages in Ghana listening to a recording I’d made of Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute and our scientific advisor, talk about the need for access to quality secondary education for boys and girls around the world. At the time, I wondered if it were really possible to ensure that all the world’s children could go to secondary school by 2025. I tried to do the math. I wondered if our ambitions weren’t too grandiose, if we were setting up to fail and disappoint.
But I was deeply inspired by Jeff’s vision, the commitment of our partners at Millennium Promise and Ericsson, and our global spokeswoman Madonna. In every encounter since returning from Ghana, they have encouraged our Connect to Learn team to think bigger, to push harder, and to dream about the world we want to see, not just focus on the world we know.
The world we want is one where every child – especially girls – can experience the transformative power of education. Where they can be transported beyond the walls of their village school and connect with children all over the world. We dream of a world where a girl in Malawi has the same educational resources and opportunities as a girl in Manhattan. We also dream of a world where the side effects of education are the growing of communities, strengthening of economies and healthier children and families.
This dream is most definitely possible. Recently, a study came out in the scientific journal, The Lancet, that showed increased education for women helped avert the deaths of more than 4 million children last year. As the Washington Post put it, “It turns out that pencils and books for mothers might be as important as vaccines and drugs for babies in reducing child mortality in the developing world.
Our dreams can be a powerful reality. But it won’t be easy. While the cost of putting a girl through three years of secondary education is less than $2000 USD, there are more than 600 million adolescent girls around the world. So how do we do this: with the support of power partners, by advocating for a global fund for education, by getting everyone involved. For the cost of a daily latte, you can help send a girl to school. That money goes to pay for books, uniforms, supplies and broadband access so she can access the world’s knowledge online.
This is a difficult problem to solve. We need country governments, global leaders, major corporations and you to get involved. So join us in dreaming big: educate a girl; change the world.
Kara Nichols
Executive Director
Connect To Learn
