Save The Girls, Save The Economy

The video begins with a provocative statement. "The world is a mess." And asks the viewer to agree or disagree.

How would you respond? (Watch video.)

Well, the word out of the World Economic Forum in Davos is a definitive "agree". And an interesting trio is suggesting that investing in girls in developing countries is a sure-fire way to make sure they don't become victims of the global financial meltdown. In fact, with our help, they will be able to lead the way into the future.

Mark Parker, CEO of Nike, Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation, and UNICEF's executive director Ann Vaneman believe that investing in girls and women will help them transform their families, their villages, and, ultimately, their countries. It all begins with providing girls with education and economic opportunities so that they can avoid, for instance, becoming commodities in the sex trade. There's more about what these organizations are doing at The Girl Effect.

Of course, it's not just world-famous people who are making a difference in the lives of girls and women in nations around the globe.

In 1980 or so, I read about female genital mutilation, or excision, a practice common in many African countries. I was horrified, and mentioned it to my anthropology professor, eager to discuss why it was encouraged, and what might be done about it. He dismissed it as nonsense, "That doesn't happen."

Today, we know otherwise.

And each year, more people are trying to eliminate the practice. A documentary on CBC Radio last Sunday afternoon told the story of women in the Dogon Hills of Mali who are defying centuries of tradition by saying "No!" to excision.

One is Madame Fifi, who rides around Mali on a motorcycle, educating women about the dangers of the procedure, which more than 85% of the girls in her country endure (and it's being done on younger and younger girls as the older girls begin to resist).

The other is a doctor who once treated the survivors of excision - yes, there are all kinds of physical complications, including infection, massive bleeding, and difficulty giving birth years later. Today, Dr. Joséphine Traoré-Keita is the director of the Malian government's anti-excision agency.

To listen to David Gutnick's report, visit the Sunday Edition site, and choose the February 1, 2009 program.

To read David's in-depth article, click here.

Clearly, New Radicals - ordinary men and women like us who are putting the skills we acquired in our careers to work on the world's greatest challenges - are cropping up everywhere.

Sometimes when I'm delivering a speech about the New Radicals (for more, please see archived articles), I pose a question to the audience that's not unlike the one asked at the beginning of the 'girl effect' video, "Do you think the world is getting better or worse?" Most often, the response is mixed. Once in a while, more hands go up for "better", particularly when I'm speaking to educators. As one teacher put it last year when I remarked on the difference, "We're graduating the future." New Radicals believe that things may be bad, but it's not hopeless, and that each of us can make a difference.

So, can investing in girls in developing countries save their lives and the economy, too? Please share your thoughts by commenting below, or emailing me at julia@wearethenewradicals.com.

• In a related story, have you heard about playwright Eve Ensler's extraordinary efforts to bring the world's attention to the issue of violence against women in the Congo and around the world? Visit her site to learn more, and see if the woman best known for her play, The Vagina Monologues, is going to be in your town as she tours North America with Dr. Denis Mukwege.