Last month, Malala Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize nominee in history. Less than six months earlier, she was shot at point-blank range by those who wanted to silence her for promoting girls' education in her native Pakistan. In a world that too often punishes and oppresses...

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It's quite amazing how often people reach their life's epiphany moment when visiting or living...

When I was 27 years old, I met a young mother who became one of my greatest inspirations and left a lasting impression on my life.

I was an idealistic young volunteer at a family planning clinic in Nairobi, Kenya. One morning, a woman my own age walked in...

As world leaders make their way to New York this month to attend the United Nations General Assembly, we call on them to renew their commitments to combating non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Tackling NCDs with a woman-centered focus is a critical step towards reaching all development goals.

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Today, on the 101st anniversary of International Women's Day, we celebrate girls and women, and the tremendous contributions they make to families, communities and the world. As my friends Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn have so profoundly said, women do hold up half the sky. They contribute up...

On Friday, the Guardian's Poverty Matters Blog posted an opinion piece by Dr. Ofra Koffman that questions the contributions that girls and young women can make to economies when they delay childbirth. Koffman argued that the so-called "Girl Effect" of delaying childbirth does not necessarily "

This past month, the world met a milestone. We officially live in a world of seven billion people -- an impressive figure that drives home just how much responsibility we all have to take care of our globe, ourselves and each other.

This benchmark has sparked many conversations...

There are times in the history of the world when the actions of people with foresight and wisdom have averted crises on a mass scale. We are hopeful that this will be another of those times, and that the 100th observance of International Women's Day on March 8 will...

I kicked off this week with an energizing maternal health advocacy brunch that welcomed leaders, delegates, activists, and young people to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. This week, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will come under close review. Leaders will examine where development progress has...

These past few weeks especially, Kampala has been on my mind. Not least because of the senseless attacks that took place there last week. The injustice of terrorism is confounding, and it is a tragedy that innocent people pay the price. But Kampala is on my mind also...

Prime Minister Stephen Harper couldn't make it to the Women Deliver conference earlier this month, where nearly 3,500 advocates and leaders from 146 countries gathered to support action on maternal health, but thankfully his Minister of International Cooperation, Bev Oda, could. She will surely carry back to Canada...

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak before the Canadian Parliament, at the Standing Committee on the Status of Women, about the importance of investing in women as a global development strategy. Canada is gearing up to host the G8/G20 Summits in just a few...