G(irls) 20 Summit 2010

On June 21^st, 2010, 21 girls from 21 different countries arrived in Toronto, Ontario for the first ever G(irls)20 Summit. For 10 days they discussed, debated and designed innovative ideas to help empower girls and women globally.

At the end of the 10 days, which coincided with the beginning of the G20, the delegates produced a communiqué that provides a blueprint on how to utilize and engage one of the best resources in the world – girls and women. Girls and women make up 50% of the world's population or 3.3 billion people, and as the delegates demonstrated, are a key to building economically strong, politically stable and socially innovative communities and countries.

The first ever G(irls)20 Summit featured experts who have spent decades working to improve the lives of girls and women including Plan Canada’s Ndugu Kahihu, International Centre for Research on Women’s Sarah Kambou, Nike Foundation’s Swan Paik, The Mastercard Foundation’s Reeta Roy, Women for Women International’s Zainab Salbi, Women Deliver’s Jill Sheffield, NoVo Foundation’s Pamela Shifman and No Woman, No Cry’s Christy Turlington Burns.

The 21 delegates took part in workshops including Creating Change led by Whitney Smith from Girls for Change, Blogging led by Lilit Marcus of B5 Media, Using Digital To Communicate Your Message To The World led by Google Canada, Physical Boot Camp led by Olympian Charmaine Crooks, Media & Public Relations led by Veritas Communications, Government Relations led by Hill & Knowlton, Inter-generational Leadership led by Dove, and Financial Boot Camp led by Junior Achievement.

For more information, please visit: www.girlsandwomen.com.