Amid the week of International Women’s Day, the Countess of Wessex attended a reception at Downing Street for the launch of the Girl’s Educations Skills Partnership, a new initiative to improve girls’ access to education and employment in developing countries.
Launched by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the £20 million partnership will continue to help as the United Kingdom leads global efforts of improving girls’ education access. It’s the first education partnership of its kind in the nation. Partnerships in the initiative include Microsoft, Accenture, United Bank for Africa, and Vodafone. The UK government will also work closely with UNICEF’s Generation Unlimited (GenU) to help deliver the programme and fund different partners.
The Countess has long been a supporter of work to help women conflict worldwide. One of her projects includes the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, which is a United Nations initiative to help put more women at the centre of conflict resolution. The initiative also recognises the disproportionate impact of conflict on girls and women around the world. In addition, the Countess is known to support Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Initiative (PSVI). A UK Government-led initiative, it raises awareness of sexual violence in situations of armed conflict. Therefore, it encourages and rallies the world to come together and end it.
During International Women’s Day 2019, the Countess announced her commitment to champion both WPS and PSVI. In front of an assembly of women peacebuilders at Buckingham Palace, the Countess said at the time: “As someone who firmly believes in the equality of men and women, I feel drawn to your cause and to do what I can to help raise further awareness of your work. To help give voice to women and girls who are being denied their fundamental rights as humans and are being subjected to harm and violence as a result of conflict, to promote those who seek to play a part in finding peace, and to support others as they attempt to rebuild their lives.”
Before the global health crisis, millions of girls from disadvantaged families became particularly vulnerable to missing out on education, whether it was because of poverty or prejudice. The crisis has created more education barriers, with a peak of 1.6 billion children around the world facing school closures.
