Let Girls Learn partnership event, featuring First Lady Michelle Obama, held at Washington DC's Union Market.

In recognition of International Women’s Day, the Peace Corps celebrates volunteers working in collaboration with their community members around the world to increase opportunities for women and girls. Ahead of the first anniversary of the President and First Lady’s launch of Let Girls Learn last week, the Peace Corps announced the addition of 23 new Let Girls Learn countries, more than doubling the number of participating countries and allowing thousands more Peace Corps volunteers to become agents of change for girls in their communities.

A key approach to making Let Girls Learn a success is through strategic partnerships. Today, First Lady Michelle Obama announced 13 new independent commitments to Let Girls Learn from organizations around the world. In addition to a donation from ALEX AND ANI to the Let Girls Learn Fund, new commitments to the initiative total nearly $500,000. Through the Peace Corps Let Girls Learn Fund these commitments will support community-led Peace Corps volunteer projects that increase girls’ access to educational opportunities and help them realize their potential as adults.

Since the launch of Let Girls Learn, with the help of corporate partners and individual donors from all over the U.S., Peace Corps has funded more than 100 Let Girls Learn projects in 22 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Central America. In addition, more than 800 Peace Corps volunteers have already received training to become catalysts for community-led change to improve girls’ access to education and empowerment.

Throughout the initiative’s second year of operation, Peace Corps’ Let Girls Learn program will focus on knowledge and skills-building as the major vehicle for behavior change. The agency will hold five regional Let Girls Learn Summits in 2016—three in Africa, one in Asia and one in Latin America.[...]