The International Council for Research on Women (ICRW) just released a new report examining “Girls’ Education, Empowerment, and Transitions to Adulthood.” Drawing on contributions to the consultation from organizations like BRAC, CAMFED, UNICEF, Nike Foundation, as well as AUDACIA, ICRW undertakes a more in-depth analysis of the linkages between education and positive development outcomes. ICRW concludes that “education offers many of the ingredients for a successful transition to adulthood, namely ‘the acquisition of relevant capacities, including cognitive competencies, marketable skills, social capital, and complementary values and motivations, that enable individuals to function effectively in a range of adult roles, including worker, household provider, parent, spouse, family caretaker, citizen, and community participant.’”

Rose Odengo, Senior Reporter for the Global Press Institute, writes about an interesting initiative to break down the communications barriers between students and adults. The Talking Box, an initiative for girls in Nairobi’s Kibera slum, invites students to write down concerns they are afraid to discuss with their teachers or parents, so that adults can address them. The box provides anonymity and a safe space for students to share challenges they face. Educators say The Talking Box is reducing school dropouts and improving academic performances. Read the complete article here.  (Photo Credit: Rose Odengo)

This past semester Emma Willard School students in the AUDACIA Student Advisory Group embarked on a video project. Inspired by the idea of using communications as an effective catalyst for social change, these students set out to create a video that both shares a glimpse of the AUDACIA conference with those who were unable to attend, and also educates and inspires for the girls’ education movement as a whole. See their laudable final project below.

The Foreign Policy Magazine just released a set of maps depicting The Worst Places to Be a Woman. These world maps show everything from discrepancy in education to maternal mortality, child marriage, governmental participation, women’s physical security, trafficking in females, and more. You may be surprised to see how your country stacks up; check it out here.

In Afghanistan, where schooling for girls is challenged by insurgents, underground girls’ schools emerge as part of a shadow education system. Despite the risks, “the girls just kept coming. They were so eager, like they were starving.” You can find the full article on how girls and their teachers persevere despite terrifying threats of violence here.

Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab presents a new policy briefcase called “Raising Female Leaders”. After investigation, J-PAL found that, in addition to changing perceptions of women’s abilities and improving women’s electoral chances, a quota system for female village leaders in India also raised aspirations and education attainment for adolescent girls! Read the full report here.

The video of the panel session Katie Couric moderated at AUDACIA is now up! Ms. Couric and four leading experts discuss using communication as an effective intervention or catalyst for social change.

As AUDACIA Executive Director Dr. Donna Blackwell notes, "One of the things that we’re seeing in this space is a lot of video, a lot of online media, a lot of communication that is devoted to girls’ education. So we here ask the question ‘How is it working? Is it really creating change? Is it creating the environment in which opinions are changed, in which girls have more access to a quality education? We ask ourselves the question, how do you use it? When is it useful to us?’”

Watch Katic Couric, Holly Gordon of 10x10, Dr. Abigail E. Disney of Fork Films, Gina Reiss-Wilchins of Girl Up, and Meera Gandhi of The Giving Back Foundation tackle these questions and more in the full plenary session below.

AUDACIA made a prominent appearance on the March 7 episode of Insight Germany. Insight Germany explores the unique perspectives of people who have gone to Germany to live and work. This episode featured Emma Willard School alumna Cynthia Barcomi ‘81, founder of the heralded Barcomi’s cafes. Talking about Emma, Barcomi shares, “It really was a place, I feel, made me the person who I am today.” Going on to talk about how Emma founded a movement, AUDACIA, the host proceeded to share a clip of the highlights video from the AUDACIA forum. As Barcomi shows, one girl has the opportunity to become a global leader of tomorrow, but to get there, she needs to be educated. Reference to AUDACIA starts at around the 19 minute mark, but the entire interview is delightful. Congratulations Cynthia Barcomi!

The New York Times profiled the work of Camfed in honor of International Women’s Day. According to the article, Camfed “works with 3,667 schools in rural parts of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Ghana and Malawi, and has provided direct support for more than half a million children to attend primary school. Camfed has also provided grants to enable 60,000 girls to complete secondary school, supported 15,000 more who attend university or receive business training, and provided financing for 8,000 of their enterprises…. What’s most instructive, and innovative, about Camfed, however, is not how it channels assistance to vulnerable students in remote areas, but how it catalyzes broader changes, eliciting leadership from more than 90,000 people in thousands of villages — including parents, teachers, local leaders and, especially, the women in its alumni network, known as Cama.” You can find the full text of the article here.

The videos of the plenary sessions at AUDACIA are starting to go up on the webpage! At this very moment you can watch the first three plenary sessions in full here. Keep your eyes peeled for more to come!