In Conversation: Ashley Judd speaks with the Nike Foundation about their focus on women & girls

Article here. I think investing in HUMANITY is a better idea. Excerpt:

'Lisa: Systemic change is required at all levels of development. We've boiled this down to four basic learnings:

1.Specific solutions for girls. The unique needs of girls are getting lost in the broader focus on women and youth, so we have to be specific about solutions for girls. For example, girls are five times more likely to die in childbirth than women in their 20s and they have less access to health and social services.

2.Invest directly. Investing in girls doesn't mean investing only in girls. Take a look at your current programs and figure out whether they directly reach vulnerable adolescent girls. No matter your focus, girls can be a powerful part of the solution, or accentuate your problem.

3.It's urgent: Get to her by 12. She arrives at adolescence in a pretty healthy state, and it goes sideways from there. If we don't reach her by age 12, we will be investing in a treatment cycle rather than more cost-effective prevention methods.

4.Count her: Regardless of institutional size, ask for your reports and your data to be disaggregated by age, gender and marital status at a minimum. Girls will remain invisible in development efforts until we demand to see them.'