Better Life, Better Future

Being born a girl can be a life sentence of inequality and injustice. Girls and women are subject to multiple forms of discrimination in all spheres of their lives, including in and through education. In many contexts, they are less likely than boys to go to school, their educational performance is often unequal compared to that of boys and men, and in turn, these missed opportunities generate more inequality. To increase awareness and galvanize new resources for girls’ and women’s education, more innovative partnerships are needed with stronger funding, expertise, and outreach. UNESCO launched the Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education, known as “Better Life, Better Future”, in 2011 guided by the belief that educating girls and women can break the cycle of poverty and foster greater social justice. Our program objectives include: increasing learning opportunities for adolescent girls and women, expanding and improving the quality of education for girls and women at the secondary level and in the area of literacy, scaling up geographical coverage and replicating good practices, and engaging a wider and more diverse network of partners. Our program's two key focus areas are secondary education and literacy.