DFID is working to give girls and women choice, voice and control over their lives. Across the developing world, women and girls bear a disproportionate burden of poverty - but we know when we invest in girls, they have the potential to transform their prospects, their communities and the world. In these blogs various voices will show why this is important and how the UK is helping.
This week, Addis Ababa has played host to the African Union (AU) Summit. While 2015 is the AU’s year of women’s empowerment – one of the issues I’ve focused on here this week – Ebola has, of course, taken centre …
Small faces may look up at me equally quizzically as I visit a maternity hospital in Sudan. But from these first moments, the path for a girl is mapped out differently from that for a boy. And that has included the …
Last week I spent 2 days in Burma, the last foreign country I will have visited as the UK's champion for tackling violence against women and girls overseas. And what a fascinating 2 days it was meeting Burmese civil society …
My last day in India was spent back in New Delhi and I could write a whole blog just on my first meeting of the day with 10 young people! They're part of the 'With.in' initiative, funded by DFID, which …
Yesterday was day 2 of my visit to India on the theme of violence against women, and I spent the day meeting people in some of the poorest areas of Madhya Pradesh. It was an incredibly informative and inspiring day, …
Since 2010 I’ve served as the UK’s first ministerial champion for tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG) overseas, and developing this role has kept me quite busy. From the UN to the UAE, I’ve compared notes with ministers, officials …
Yesterday I returned to a hospital where I worked many years ago. I used to gaze across the Thames from the window at St Thomas’ to the Houses of Parliament, not knowing they would have much direct relevance to me. …
I called her today, the phone rang twice and she picked it up the third time. Like always the conversation started with: “How are you?” The 44-year-old calmly answered my call. “I am well, just calling to say hi,” I reply …
As the world celebrates Human Rights Day, Rachel Jewkes, Director of the What Works to Prevent Violence Global Programme, and Director of the South African Medical Research Council’s Gender and Health Research Unit unveils 18 innovations that are working to …
If you were to ask me for a country that has undergone real change in the last quarter of a century, I would be hard pushed to think of a greater example than South Africa. I’ve been to South Africa …
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