The document discusses Plan Canada's Because I am a Girl initiative to support girls' rights and empowerment globally. It highlights that girls face significant barriers and discrimination simply due to their gender. However, girls also have tremendous power to uplift themselves and their communities when given access to education, health care, food security and other resources. Plan Canada works on projects that provide girls with clean water, health services, education and economic opportunities through microfinance. The initiative asks supporters to get involved through fundraising, shopping with "Gifts of Hope", donations and spreading awareness of girls' rights and the challenges they face worldwide.

1. In Support of Because I am a Girl
Presentation: The GIRL ISSUE

2. The GIRL ISSUE is real, and it's affecting girls and women around the
world – but what is it?
http://plancanada.ca/becauseiamagirl/page.aspx?pid=3884
The Girl Effect, courtesy of The Nike Foundation

3. The POWER and PLIGHT of GIRLS
There’s an urgent need to stand up for the rights of millions of girls
around the world who face barriers to survival and development simply
because they’re girls.

4. “I never understand why boys and girls are not equal to each other. In
rural areas elders think that girls are born to give birth and to marry and
for cleaning the house. Girls who live in rural areas… are not sent to
schools. Their parents are not aware of the changing world yet.”
- Girl, 15. Turkey
Because I am a Girl: State of the World's Girls Repot (2007). Italy: Amadeus.

5. Plan Canada’s Because I am a Girl Reports
• Plan Canada has taken Year Topic
leadership on the global girl 2007 The State Of The World’s Girls
issue creating a series of 2008 In The Shadow Of War
research reports about girls 2009 Girls’ In The Global Economy: Adding It
and development. All Up
• Read the report at 2010 Digital And Urban Frontiers: Girls In A
Changing Landscape
becauseiamagirl.ca
2011 So What About Boys?

6. The PLIGHT of GIRLS
• Discrimination against young girls
and women remains deeply
entrenched and widely tolerated
throughout the world.

7. The POWER of GIRLS
• Despite the obstacles GIRLS face, they have
a unique power to uplift not only themselves,
but everyone around them.
• "When girls reach their full potential, through
improved status, better health care, and
education, it is the most effective development tool
for society as a whole. As a country's primary
enrolment rate for girls increases, so too does its
gross domestic product per capita."
- Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General

8. The Because I am a Girl Initiative
• Plan Canada’s social movement to unleash
the power of girls and women to claim a
brighter future for girls in the developing
world.
- Girls have the right to be educated.
- Girls have the right to eat.
- Girls have the right to be safe.
- Girls' rights are human rights.
• Because I am a Girl is all about harnessing
the incredible power that girls and women
have here at home and in the developing
world, to change the future.

9. The PLAN for GIRLS: Projects
• Clean water
• Constructing health centers
• Nutrition
• Girl scholarships
• School construction
• Training opportunities
• Business skills education
• Entrepreneurial initiatives
• Food security
• Birth certificate registration

10. The PLAN for GIRLS: Water Sanitation
• A clean supply of water ensures health
and hygiene.
• They need a source of safe water
close to home so that girls can go to
school rather than spending their days
traveling great distances to bring clean
water home.

11. The PLAN for GIRLS:
Maternal and Child Health
• Provides nourishment and care for
expectant mothers, and children
with limited access to food and
health care.

12. The PLAN for GIRLS: Education
• Many girls stay home while their
brothers go to school.
• Send girls to school and see their
futures improve as they learn valuable
skills and delay marriage and
pregnancy.

13. The PLAN for GIRLS: Microfinance
• Teaches the benefits of
saving while providing
training in life skills, such as
basic numeracy and literacy,
financial literacy, and
information and
communication technology.
• Young women can use
these skills to earn a living
for their family and improve
their community.

14. How YOU Can Help
As a Canadian, you've got the power to make a difference for girls'
futures in the developing world. Help us change the world for – and
through - girls and women everywhere. There are so many ways you
can be part of the growing social movement.

15. GET INVOLVED
• Spread the Word
• Sign the ePetition to claim
September 22 the
International Day of the
Girl
• Join the conversation on
Facebook or Twitter
• Sign up for our monthly
newsletter
• Read our blog

16. FUNDRAISE
• Make your next birthday, anniversary or other milestone event an ethical
celebration by asking for donations to Plan’s Because I am a Girl initiative
in-lieu of a gift
• Ask for donations to Plan’s Because I am a Girl initiative in-lieu of hostess
gifts at your next dinner party
• Select a GIRL ISSUE related book like Half the Sky at your next Book
club, and spread the world about the Because I am a Girl movement
• Clean out your garage and home to host a Yard Sale and donate proceeds
• Clear out your closet and ask your friends to do the same and host a
clothing swap with an entry donation fee

17. SHOP
Plan Canada’s Gifts of Hope
• Ethical giving is real dollars going to real projects that change real lives.
Ethical gifts give twice - here and abroad. They are gifts that carry power
and meaning. Your donation goes to buy the very items you are
purchasing. Items like a girl’s scholarship, literacy training for 2 women, or
clean water for a family.
•You can also purchase a “Givable” like our Because I am a Girl T-shirt to
WEAR THE CAUSE, including a donation to the Girl Fund from every
purchase!

18. GIVE
• Sponsor a GIRL
• Donate to the Because I am a Girl
Fund
• Sponsor a project

19. THANK YOU!
For more information about Plan Canada’s Because I am a Girl
initiative visit becauseiamagirl.ca