CEOs of leading development organizations call on Canada to invest in girls' education at G7

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Highlights:

  • 75 million children and youth live in countries affected by conflict or disaster
  • Girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys during crises.
  • Girls with secondary school education are six times less likely to marry as children
  • Each extra year a girl stays in school increases her income by 10 to 20%
Fatuma Omar Ismail, University of Toronto student, former child refugee from Somalia. 
(June 04, 2018) –
On June 5, Fatuma Omar Ismail, a former child refugee from Somalia will be joined by CEOs from Canada's leading development, humanitarian and advocacy organizations to make a G7 plea to Prime Minister Trudeau and other world leaders. Together, they will present the urgent need for a significant financial investment in the education and empowerment of girls in crisis-situations at the upcoming G7 Summit. The Prime Minister of Canada has already pledged his support to girls' education as a key step towards achieving gender equality. Now is the time to turn his words into action.
 
WHAT:  Canadian civil society organizations call on the Government of Canada to invest in girls' education at G7.
   
WHO:   Fatuma Omar Ismail, University of Toronto student, former child refugee from Somalia.
  Initiator of the Change.org petition that has more than 150k signatures (English/Somali/Swahili)
  Michael Messenger, President and CEO, World Vision Canada (English/French)
  Christina Dendys, RESULTS Canada, Executive Director (English)
  Kevin Frey, CEO, Right To Play (English)
  Marlen Mondaca, Save the Children, Chief Policy and Programming Officer (English)
  David Morley, UNICEF Canada President and CEO (English/Spanish)
  Caroline Riseboro, Plan International Canada President and CEO (English/French)
   
WHEN: Tuesday, June 5, 2018 (11am ET)
   
WHERE: Charles-Lynch room, Centre block, Parliament Hill, Wellington St, Ottawa, K1A 0A4
  Conference will be broadcast live on Channel 43 or 107 of the PTN system.
   
INTERVIEWS: All speakers will be available to answer media questions.