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A Kent MP will lead the UK's efforts in helping girls in the developing world access education, it has been announced.
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson has appointed Helen Grant, MP for Maidstone and The Weald, as his new Special Envoy on Girls’ Education.
The role involves championing the UK’s global expertise on education and securing backing for initiatives to get 40 million more girls in school internationally by 2025.
Before working in Parliament, Mrs Grant was a solicitor for 23 years, specialising in protecting women and children from domestic abuse.
Since becoming an MP in 2010 she has been a champion of gender equality in Parliament, and has previously served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice and Women and Equality.
Helen Grant, who is also the Trade Envoy to Nigeria, said: "It is an honour to be appointed as the Prime Minister’s Envoy on Girls’ Education and to have the opportunity to lead the UK’s important international outreach on this issue.
"Ensuring all girls get 12 years of quality education is rightly a priority for the Government. High quality female education empowers women, reduces poverty and unleashes economic growth.
"I will be making it my mission to encourage a more ambitious approach to girls’ education from the international community as we seek to build back better from the Covid crisis."
A child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past the age of five and twice as likely to attend school themselves.
And, with just one additional school year, a woman’s earnings can increase by up to a fifth.
Boris Johnson says empowering women and girls through education will be a key focus for the UK’s G7 presidency later this year.
He added: "It is my fervent belief that educating girls is the simplest and most transformative thing we can do to lift communities out of poverty, end the scourge of gender-based violence and build back better from the pandemic.
"It can change the fortunes of not just individual women and girls, but communities and nations.
"That’s why I am delighted to appoint Helen Grant as my Special Envoy on Girls’ Education today to drive forward the UK’s vital work in this area."
Since 2015, the UK has supported 15.6 million children, including over 8 million girls, to get a decent education.
In Zambia, Zimbabwe and Tanzania alone, the UK’s Girls Education Challenge has helped more than 260,000 girls from poor communities to stay in secondary school with learning, mentoring and skills training, and by providing the financial support needed to buy uniforms and stationary.
The UK will also co-host the Global Partnership for Education summit with Kenya later this year to channel investment and action into getting children around the world into school.
