Championing Girls’ Empowerment through Partnership, Advocacy and Investment

26 July 2017, London – Standard Chartered hosted the Beyond Girls’ Education Global Summit 2017 in Johannesburg, South Africa on July 18-20.

Girls in low-income countries are vulnerable to gender based violence, disease and barriers to education. 250 million adolescent girls live in poverty. More than one in three girls in developing countries is married by 18, girls aged 10-19 in sub-Saharan Africa are up to three times more likely than boys to be living with HIV; and more than one in four girls in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa aged 15-24 are illiterate. Standard Chartered’s Goal programme aims to help tackle these issues through sports based programmes which help educate and empower young girls.

The summit convened over 130 representatives from civil society, the private sector and academia who spent two days discussing best practices, opportunities and challenges in empowering adolescent girls and young women around the world. 20 per cent of the summit participants were under the age of 25 to ensure the voice and perspective of adolescent girls and young women were front and centre. Girls and young women travelled from Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to share their experiences and visions for the future.

The summit’s keynote speaker, Amanda Dlamini, former captain of the South African women’s Olympic football team and founder of the Amanda Dlamini Girls Foundation, reinforced the importance of investing in adolescent girls and using sport use a tool of empowerment. “When I was approached to be a part of this initiative, it was no brainer for me. For a girl from Harding in KwaZulu-Natal, I have been privileged enough to travel the world through sports, and I am delighted that I am able to be a part of an organisation that seeks to do the same for other girls,” says Amanda Dlamini.

“Standard Chartered is committed to being Here for good in our communities and to improving the gender balance in business,” said Tracey McDermott, Head of Corporate, Public and Regulatory Affairs. “Goal is one of our key programmes and as of December 2016, we have reached over 285,000 girls around the world. We are delighted that some of our Goal alumni could participate in the summit and really demonstrate how giving girls the tools to shape their own futures can have a huge impact and effect not only on them as individuals but also on wider communities and societies.”

At the summit, delegates made more than 50 public commitments to further champion adolescent girls. These include Standard Chartered and Discovery Learning Alliance, a global education organisation established by Discovery Communications, exploring a partnership to educate girls and shift socio-cultural norms; identifying employment opportunities for alumni of Standard Chartered’s girls’ education and life skills programme, Goal, in East Africa; expanding opportunities for adolescent girls to create micro businesses in the Middle East; and publishing research in partnership with Dalberg Global Development Advisers, a strategy and public advisory firm, on the barriers girls face on the path to economic empowerment.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Goal
Through a combination of sports and life skills training, Goal aims to empower and equip adolescent girls with the confidence, knowledge and skills they need to be integral economic leaders in their families, communities and societies.

We partner with global development organisations, who are experts in developing confidence, leadership and teaching life skills to adolescent girls. The girls play basketball, football, netball or volleyball, depending on the local game of choice. The girls learn key life skills, including how to stay healthy and manage their money.

Goal was first launched in 2006 as a pilot in Delhi and reached 70 girls. Since 2006, Goal has reached over 285,000 girls across the Bank’s global footprint. Goal aims to reach over 80, 000 in 2017 bringing the total to 365,000 girls. By the end of 2020, we aim to have reached a total of 600,000 girls since the programme’s inception.

Goal will be active in twenty countries through direct Standard Chartered support and through our partners: Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Uganda, The Gambia, UK, Vietnam, Zambia.

For more information:

Payal Dalal, Head, Global Community Programmes
Standard Chartered
Payal.Dalal@sc.com
Direct: +44 20 7885 5929

Geraldine Matchaba, Head Corporate Affairs and Brand & Marketing     
Standard Chartered Southern Africa
Geraldine.Matchaba@sc.com
Mobile Number – +27 63 251 8573