ReliefWeb

Foreword

Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen, Chief Executive Officer of Plan International, explains why the organization has committed to a partnership to make sure every girl and woman counts and can be counted.

The commitment to leave no one behind is at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. How to turn that promise into a reality for girls and women was a prevailing theme at Women Deliver’s 4th Global Conference held in Copenhagen, in May 2016. This was one of the largest women’s conferences in the past decade – bringing together nearly 6,000 advocates, activists, policymakers and practitioners – and one of the first major forums after the adoption of the Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Several strong themes echoed throughout the conference: a sense of optimism, a renewal of purpose, and the need for more and better data to accelerate progress. As Melinda Gates said so succinctly, “We can’t close the gender gap without first closing the data gap.” That is why Plan International mobilized like-minded civil society and private sector partners at the conference to launch an independent initiative for tracking girls’ and women’s progress over the 15-year lifespan of the Global Goals.

The vision is simple: a world in which improved gender data inform the decisions and investments that can transform the lives of girls and women by 2030.

There was a strong call at the Women Deliver conference for bringing the Global Goals to life by doing things differently, including new ways of thinking and new ways of working together. Our partnership, which brings together organizations from different sectors and regions of the world, as well as from the girls’ and women’s movements, is a step in that direction – and so is this report.

From 2007–2015, Plan International used its annual State of the World’s Girls report as an advocacy tool and an opportunity to highlight some of the challenges girls are facing. These reports focused on a theme each year and helped place girls’ issues firmly on the international agenda.

Counting the Invisible is a transition – building on the foundation of the State of the World’s Girls, paving the way for a series of innovative reports that explore what the data tell us in depth, and delivering a strong focus on data, partnerships and the Agenda for Sustainable Development.

As the partnership grows, we will continue to bring visibility to the invisible by more effectively using what we know and by shining a light on what we don’t know. We will work to make the data and analysis that matter for girls and women available to all, targeting those who need the data, communicating where progress is being made and highlighting where more needs to be done. We will work with grass-roots organizations to ensure that the tools and skills are in place to vigilantly hold national governments to account for their global commitments.

Throughout, we will raise our voices on issues that matter and amplify the voices of girls and women – presenting ‘data with a soul’ by also revealing first-hand insights into the barriers girls and women face and their experiences with overcoming these barriers.