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Skills and jobs: part of the answer to ending child marriage in Afghanistan?

Sewing and handicraft products created by Afghan women in the Zardosi network. Picture: Zardozi.

I recently joined DFID Afghanistan as the Private Sector Development Programme Manager, and my first "trip out" was to a programme I manage called Zardozi. It was already warm at 7:30am as I set off to meet 3 women - …

Tackling barriers to education for Afghan girls

The Girls’ Education Challenge will help up to 1 million of the world’s poorest girls in 22 focus countries get an education and transform their future. Picture: Sarah Cottereau

When the Girl Summit is held in the UK in July, one of the key messages will be the role of education in transforming the lives of girls. Education enables girls to participate more fully in their communities and their …

One billion rise to tackle violence against girls and women on V Day

International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone believes FGM/C can end in a generation if we work together. Picture: DFID

I wanted to take the opportunity of V-Day, a day on which girls and women around the world will rise up to challenge the violence perpetrated on them, to update you on my priorities as Ministerial Champion for the elimination …

Ending violence against women is possible: a report from the UN

Posted by: , Posted on: - Categories: Development Debates, Female Genital Mutilation, Girls & Women

Defending any form of gender-based violence (GBV) on the basis of tradition, culture or religion is no longer an option. Certainly, this is one of the strongest messages to emerge from this year’s Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) …

A UK led effort to end female genital cutting within a generation

I'm posting this from a chilly New York, where I'm attending the UN's Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).  It's a sight to see so many women in colourful national dress, queueing in snow flurries to get past security …