Whenever I travel to Bangladesh, I can’t help but imagine how it would be for my 12-year-old daughter to grow up there instead of in suburban New York.

My daughter is still a child, barely an adolescent. But in Bangladesh, plans for her marriage might be well underway by now, her education nearing its end.

The shy and fleeting faces of Bangladeshi girls have made such an impression on me during the 20 years I’ve been traveling to Bangladesh for public health work. That’s been the case even though girls in rural areas were barely seen and never heard –- especially in those early years.

But increasingly, things are changing for girls. It’s extremely exciting. Imagine the full potential of half population being unleashed!

Check out this video of Shathi. She got married at 14 and became a mother at 15. She’s expected to stay home, like most girls and women in her community. But, today she’s raising her voice to influence those around her to think differently about girls and their futures.

What did it take to make the quiet and unassuming Shathi a powerful agent for change? A safe space to talk, play and learn with other adolescent girls and young women, and support for her to express herself in her own family.

Shathi is just one of 42,000 girls who’ve benefited from Save the Children’s Girls’ Voices project, thanks to support from the Nike Foundation. Today many of these young women are talking about early marriage and the increased risks of maternal and newborn death that come with young pregnancies.

And armed with new life and business skills, many of the girls are contributing to their family’s wellbeing in ways never before imagined. (Check out Shilpi’s story to see how).

These girls are no longer shy and fleeting but are instead outgoing and active members of their families and communities.

I can hardly wait to see what these girls do next.

Mary Beth Powers leads Save the Children’s newborn and child survival campaign, which you can join at www.goodgoes.org.

As you can tell from these photos (taken by our seriously awesome photographer Morgana), we took the word “party” pretty literally and threw a little shindig of our own. There was wine, cheese, Madonna on the turntable and a whoooole lot of tweeting. It truly was an evening of highs and lows — we laughed (because of funny retweets), we cried (not really, but we were really sad when Twitter kept freezing on us) and we were surprised by how quickly time flew. Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye…

Special thanks to ONE staffers Kara (@karadeese), Chris (@iamchrisscott), Lauren (@LaurenBalog), Erin (@Global_ErinH) and Lorraine (@LorraineChu) for tweeting like madmen last night!

Today is officially International Women’s Day, which means that tonight is finally the Girls’ Night Out Twitter party. Needless to say, we’re pretty excited –- maybe even a little too excited. As you can see from this crazy photo shoot, ONE staffers Malaka Gharib and Erin Hohlfelder (who will be Tweeting on behalf of ONE tonight) had their party hats on and ready to go at 9AM this morning!

And we’ve got even more exciting news – Every Mother Counts’ founder Christy Turlington (@CTurlington), and executive director Erin Thornton (@ETThornton), who specializes is maternal mortality, will be joining us on the panel -– so be sure to look out for their tweets.

So what are some things you can expect from tonight? For starters, we’ll be discussing empowering women, including the great strides that women in Africa have made and the work that still needs to be done. We’ll be sure to include inspiring photos and videos on agriculture, education, health and maternal care throughout the night.

Confused on how a Twitter party works? Check out my post from last week to catch up on all the details so you don’t miss out! Some of us at ONE will be getting together later tonight for the party for a little fun, and Malaka will be tweeting from our ONE handle, @onecampaign while Erin will be tweeting from the policy perspective on her account, @Global_ErinH. So call up some friends, bring out the wine and cheese and join us!

Sign onto your Twitter account tonight from 9 to 11 p.m. EST (8 CT, 7 MT and 6PT) for Girls’ Night Out.

We hope to see you there!

Women can feed the world. This was the simple message of this year’s International Women’s Action Day Breakfast, organized by Women Thrive Worldwide, an organization that advocates for the empowerment of women through US foreign aid programs.

You might be surprised to know that women make up about 70 percent of farmers in Africa, the world’s fastest growing continent. This means that we will increasingly depend upon women to scale up agricultural production and chip away at the number of hungry people worldwide, currently a staggering 1 billion. The World Bank has estimated that if women had access to the same inputs, land and training as men, the developing world’s agricultural production could increase by more than 20 percent.

Last Thursday’s breakfast, which was attended by policymakers, journalists and members of the development community, featured speakers from the US and the developing world who champion the cause of women, and also focused on food security.

Florence Chenoweth, Liberia’s agriculture minister, discussed her achievement of reducing the country’s food insecure population from 80 percent in 1980 to less than 50 percent today. Ms. Chenoweth thanked USAID for sponsoring programs that Liberia had itself prioritized, such as becoming self-sufficient in seed production and training 32,000 smallholder farmers, 72 percent of whom were women.

Lydia Sasu, head of the Development Action Association, inspired the audience with the story of Eva, a Ghanian woman who turned a donation of five pigs into a 400-pig farm, investing in vehicles to bring all of the village’s produce to market and winning national farmer competitions.

Making an impromptu appearance was Sen. Amy Klobucher, the first elected female senator from Minnesota. Sen. Klobucher noted the contribution of high food prices to continuing turmoil in North Africa, saying that, “As a point of compassion, but also as a point of national security and our own economic stability, we can’t let [developing world food insecurity] go unchecked.”

While the focus of the event was women, the threat of serious budget cuts to US aid programs was also a hot topic among the speakers. Ms. Chenoweth, no stranger to the competing demands of donors for influence and prestige, summed up the situation elegantly: “Don’t quit when you are leading,” she said, “Otherwise another country will simply jump in and take all the credit.”

ONE is currently campaigning to prevent cuts to foreign aid funding, which represents less than 1 percent of the US budget. Sign our petition here.

Looking to perk up your Tuesday night? Look no further –- we’re having a Twitter party, and you’re invited. ONE is teaming up with Mom It Forward, a worldwide network dedicated to enhancing the lives of women, their families and the communities in which they live, on Tuesday, March 8 to discuss women’s empowerment in the developing world. Perfect timing, since that just so happens to be International Women’s Day.

So how does this Twitter party work? Every 10 minutes, Mom It Forward will tweet a question on empowering women, and ONE will tweet back the answer. You’re free to discuss via Twitter…until the next question comes along! There are some serious chances to win ONE swag, so keep your eyes peeled!

Anyone with a Twitter account is welcome to join (so guys, that means you, too!). And we would love if our members and blog readers could be there to represent ONE and help boost awareness around our Senate budget petition.

Here are the details:

What: Girls’ Night Out Twitter party. Use the Twitter hashtag (#gno) to show that you’re participating!
When: Tuesday, March 8 from 9 to 11 p.m. EST (8CT, 7 MT and 6 PT)
Where: From your computer or mobile phone
Who: Brand Panelist: @ONECampaign; Moderators: @jylmomIF @Dadventurous @troypattee and @MomItForward
RSVP: Click this link and enter your Twitter URL and Twitter ID

There’s so much potential in Africa’s females, and with 430 million women and girls currently driving Africa’s economy, we’re getting there. When women are given the proper tools, they can help lift communities out of poverty and transform millions of lives.

This week, Women Deliver announced the “Women Deliver 100,” a list of the top 100 people in the world -– men and women, young and old -– who are delivering for women. When I read the stories of the individuals honored, I am overcome with inspiration and gratitude. These are some of the most intrepid and committed people in the world, who are dedicated to improving the lives of girls and women…at many costs. These are people who get that girls and women make the world go round, and that investing in them -– prioritizing them, protecting their rights, telling their stories -– pays.

Last year was truly a momentous year for girls and women, as we saw new donor commitments, new policy decisions, and an overwhelming swell in support for protecting their well being. It was beyond fabulous, but it also raised the stakes considerably. Looking ahead into 2011, we are under even more pressure to keep this momentum going.

The Women Deliver 100 is part of our effort to do so. First and foremost, it is our offering of gratitude and recognition to one hundred heroes. We will celebrate the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day next week, and it’s a time to really celebrate the leaps and bounds we’ve made, and how hard it’s been to get there. Many of the Women Deliver 100 honorees work amidst incredible adversity, without much fanfare, and often without a light at the end of the tunnel. They are committed in their efforts to improve the lives of girls and women -– whether through scientific discoveries, human rights campaigns, or the delivery of health services –- because they believe in the value of women and girls. They don’t count on recognition and they don’t count on an easy road, though they deserve it.

On this International Women’s Day, it is my wish that the world will sit up and pay attention to those who prioritizing girls and women, and offer a giant, global THANK YOU. Change for the better is happening every day in every corner of the globe, and it is thanks, in large part, to the work of these individuals and individuals just like them. These efforts are paying off with progress such as fewer maternal deaths worldwide, and greater participation of women in parliaments, environmental efforts, and small business ownership.

But it’s not all rosy, as of course it never is. Even today as I write, budgets for women’s and girls’ health programs are being cut by some policymakers in the US House of Representatives. And around the world, girls are still undervalued and women still die in pregnancy and childbirth in unconscionable numbers. We have so much left to do.

So on behalf of girls and women everywhere, consider the Women Deliver 100 list a gauntlet thrown: what more can you do to deliver for women? That means you, policymakers and donors, you global and local leaders, you community members and civil society. The point is that we can all deliver and deliver much more for girls and women, and we must. I want this list to be a challenge, but more importantly an inspiration to those who have yet to “see the light,” and understand how critical girls and women are to a healthy, prosperous, and stable future for all of us.

But what does it mean to “deliver” for girls and women? It means respecting girls and women. It means placing the rights of girls and women at the center of your work, whatever that may be. It means raising your voice and telling girls’ and women’s stories. It means focusing on achieving positive results, and continuing to move onwards and upwards with progress on our issues, even in the face of setbacks.

International Women’s Day is the perfect moment to take a moment to appreciate progress, while putting our nose to the grindstone to demand even more.

Here’s to a more enlightened next hundred years, where girls and women will continue leading, inspiring, and delivering, and where, in turn, we will do a better job of delivering for them. Congratulations to the Women Deliver 100 honorees, who are doing just that, and to everyone out there working on behalf of girls and women worldwide. To everyone else -– and I mean this with all due respect –- get a clue and join us! You will not regret it.

This International Women’s Day (and week), let’s come together and celebrate the stories of women who show resilience, strength and courage every day. Opportunity International works with many of these women. In fact, more than 85% of our clients are women. With determination, knowledge and the support of microfinance services, these women have transformed not only their lives, but the lives of their families and communities.

Here is the story of just one of these amazing women, Rosemary Namande. Rosemary’s life has been deeply affected by the AIDS epidemic. The disease has taken her daughter, two siblings, a nephew and the parents of 11 children in her community. Rosemary was able to adopt these children and provide them with shelter, safety, support and an education in large part due to her entrepreneurial spirit. Forty years ago, Rosemary opened a school for infants. Today, equipped with a staff of over 50 people and Opportunity loans, she has five permanent buildings that house an orphanage and an elementary school that allows over 900 children to go to school.

But Rosemary’s impact doesn’t just end with the children. She uses the increased income from her loans to reinvest in her community. She adopts orphans, hires widows to teach marketable skills, helps women establish businesses, leads a local women’s council, and opens her school to other community activities.
I believe that Susan Gillette of the Women’s Opportunity Network had Rosemary in mind when she said “Strong women mother the world.” If you know other strong and inspiring women like Rosemary, please post a tribute to them on the Global Opportunity Quilt. Help us celebrate women in honor of International Women’s Day.

-Ruth-Anne Renaud, Vice President, Women’s Philanthropy & the Women’s Opportunity Network, Opportunity International

Watch:

Here’s a quick run-down:

How Best Can We Advance Women’s Rights as Human Rights?

U.S. Reaffirms Commitment to Afghan Women (by Saba Ghori)

Women Can Drive Agricultural-Led Growth (by Ertharin Cousin)

Reflections on International Women’s Day (by Scott Gration)

In addition to this, the International Women of Courage Awards ceremony was held this afternoon. Both Secretary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama attended. I’ll post the video here once it’s made available.

This week, in observance of International Women’s Day, global leaders and advocates joined the call for equal rights and equal opportunities for all women. Yet, as we celebrate women’s achievements, we must also remember that many challenges still remain and that women’s empowerment can mean the difference between life and death.

Far too many women are still powerless against the threat of HIV, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where women and girls represent about 60% of HIV infections. AIDS is the leading killer of women of reproductive age worldwide. Current HIV prevention strategies such as condoms, although effective, are not practical for women who cannot persuade their husbands or partners to use them, who want children or who are at risk for violence. Women still lack an effective way to protect themselves against HIV.

Microbicides, a new class of biomedical products in development, would address one of the central gaps in the existing range of HIV prevention options. Female-initiated HIV prevention options, such as microbicides, would help give women greater control over their own health.

At the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM), we develop microbicides based on the same antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) being used successfully to treat HIV/AIDS and to prevent mother-to-child transmission. ARV-based microbicides could revolutionize women’s ability to protect themselves from HIV and could be developed into easy-to-use options, such as monthly vaginal rings and once-daily gels and films.

While women may be at greater risk of HIV, they are not helpless—they just need the right tools to protect their own health and their family’s health.

The greatest achievements in women’s rights have resulted from relentless commitment, persistence and innovation. Facing the growing challenge of HIV/AIDS requires more of the same.

-Dr. Zeda Rosenberg, CEO, International Partnership for Microbicides