By George Bowden BBC News
- Published
The G7 group of wealthy nations is to agree a new target of sending 40m more girls from low and middle income countries to school within five years.
Foreign ministers will use a London summit to commit to helping women in developing countries with a $15bn (£10.8bn) two-year package of support.
At their first in-person meeting for two years, they will also agree to help 20 million more girls read by age 10.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said educating girls was a smart investment.
He added that the new targets would help ensure 12 years of continuous education for young women and transform "the fortunes not just of individuals, but whole communities and nations".
The UK holds the rotating presidency of the G7 group, which also includes the US, France, Germany, Canada, Japan and Italy, and will host a summit of leaders in Cornwall this summer.
Mr Raab will meet the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken later to discuss trade, Iran and China, ahead of the meeting of foreign ministers from Tuesday.
The collective agreement on girls' education, which will be formally signed on Wednesday and also includes the EU, aims to put "gender equality at the heart of global co-operation to build back better" from Covid, the government said.
Women make up more than two-thirds of the world's 796 million illiterate people, according to the United Nations.
The UN said 39% of girls in rural areas attend secondary school worldwide - fewer than rural boys (45%), urban girls (59%) and urban boys (60%).
It was estimated that, before the pandemic worsened education outcomes, 90% of children in low income countries were unable to read a simple text by age 10.
As part of the funding, there will be renewed support for women-led businesses, and for products or services that particularly benefit women and support their empowerment.
The government said the G7 nations would also "recommit to collective action to defend and protect sexual and reproductive health and rights for all" and "scale up gender-based violence prevention and elimination".
The G7 announcement comes as Mr Raab defended cuts to the UK's overseas aid spending.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) has been accused of going back on a promise to continue funding for UN family planning projects aimed at helping women and girls.
The UN Population Fund - which helps provide contraceptives and maternal health care for millions of women - said the UK pledged £154m for its projects, but then said it would instead receive about £23m.
It has also been criticised for the timing of a planned cut in bilateral funding for clean water and sanitation projects .
The UK government announced last year it would cut UK aid spending from 0.7% of national income to 0.5% - a reduction of more than £4bn. It has yet to confirm which programmes will be affected.
Mr Raab said it was an "extremely difficult decision to reduce and find savings in the aid budget, that's because of the impact Covid has had, the biggest contraction we've seen in the economy for 300 years".
He told Sky News's Sophy Ridge on Sunday: "I've found the process of making those savings very difficult but, of course, you'd expect that."
Related Topics
-
- Published
- 12 April
-
- Published
- 17 January
from Via PakapNews