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By: Ben Bellows, Associate, Population Council, Reproductive Health Programme

When women survive, families, communities, and countries thrive. Investing in the health and well-being of women and girls should be a top development priority. Yet progress toward meeting Millennium Development Goal 5, which calls for improving maternal health, lags furthest behind all eight MDGs. Read more...

By: Dr. Denise Dunning, Program Director, Public Health Institute

Girls and women in Liberia are successfully advocating for their rights in the face of pervasive gender-based violence. During Liberia’s 14-year civil war, 75% of girls and women were victims of rape and 90% experienced some form of physical or sexual violence. To combat this devastating legacy in post-conflict Liberia, the Adolescent Girls’ Advocacy & Leadership Initiative (AGALI) is improving girls’ rights, health, education, and livelihoods. Read more...

By: Suzanne Ehlers, President and CEO, Population Action International

Like many Americans, I just completed the annual ritual of filing my taxes.

In the process, I noticed, as some of you might have, the box asking whether I wanted to donate $3 of those taxes to the presidential election campaign fund. The fund helps pay for presidential election campaigns, and is designed to level the playing field for candidates.

Now, I don’t know how many people check that box or how much money it brings in. But it got me thinking… What if there was a box for international family planning? If you could allocate $3 of your taxes to women around the world, would you check that box? Read more...

By: Adam Lewis, Rabin Martin; Originally posted on Rabin Martin

“We are agents of change, we are drivers of progress, we are makers of peace – all we need is a fighting chance.”

This quote from Hillary Clinton at the 2013 Newsweek/Daily Beast Women in the World summit certainly captured the theme of the conference. Of course, by “we,” the former Secretary of State is referring to women – and how fitting for someone who is herself an agent of change, a driver of progress and a maker of peace to call for more rights for women. Read more...