| Why adolescent girls? Over 500 million adolescent girls and young women live in the developing world. They are a significant part of the next generation of global economic and social actors, but these young women do not have the same opportunities as young men to access jobs, gain financial independence and become productive members of society. Helping girls and young women stay in school, avoid early pregnancy and marriage, build capital assets, and find jobs are critical interventions to improve their life chances. It is also an efficient way of breaking intergenerational cycles of poverty. Evidence shows that investing in adolescent girls’ economic opportunities has a large development impact on their families and their future children, with long term benefits for poverty reduction and potentially for growth. The purpose of the Adolescent Girls Initiative (AGI), a part of the World Bank Group’s Gender Action Plan-Gender Equality as Smart Economics, is to smooth the transition from school to productive employment for girls and young women aged 16-24 by helping them complete their education, build skills that match market demand, find mentors and job placements, and by offering incentives to potential employers to hire, retain and train young women. The Initiative has its origins in President Zoellick’s six commitments to promote gender equality announced on April 11, 2008. One of these commitments was to “launch a work program with private and public sector leaders on ‘young women count for economic development’.” Since then, the World Bank and the Nike Foundation have been at work designing the first pilot in Liberia—due to launch in March 2009. Other countries where projects will be developed include Afghanistan, Nepal, Rwanda, and South Sudan. The Gender Action Plan’s partners in the AGI are the governments of Australia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the City of Milan and The Nike Foundation. The Bank also is developing partnerships with a core group of private sector firms interested in joining the AGI, including Cisco, Standard Chartered, Goldman Sachs as well as the Cherie Blair Foundation. The World Bank Group’s Gender Action Plan, Gender Equality as Smart Economics, aims to increase women’s economic opportunities by improving their access to the labor market, agricultural resources, land, credit, and infrastructure services. 
Today Story: "At Critical Time in a Girl's Life, Cycle of Poverty Can Be Broken" President Robert B. Zoellick Announces 6 New World Bank Group Commitments on Gender Equality
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“Enabling women to move successfully through education to productive employment will have a very high payoff in terms of long-term growth and poverty reduction.”
Commission on Growth and Development, 2008
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