Close your eyes.
Imagine the G20 Leaders (Zuma, Obama, Harper, Pena Nieto, Rousseff, Fernandez de Kirchner, Jinping, Keqiang, Yudhoyono, Abe, Geun-hye, Singh, Putin, Erdogan, Merkel, Hollande, Cameron, Letta, Abdullah and Gillard).
Open your eyes.
Now imagine 20 girls. All of them between the ages of 18-20. All of them with the same mission as the G20 Leaders; how do we leave the world a better place than we found it?
What you see are the G(irls)20 Summit delegates.
On June 14, these future Presidents, Prime Ministers, Private Sector and Social Sector leaders and philanthropists will arrive in Moscow, Russia. Over the course of six days they will acquire new skills through workshops (financial fundamentals, media and communications, leadership development, creating your own grassroots initiative) and they will hear from industry experts and high profile speakers (among them Arianna Huffington and Jennifer Buffett).
At the end of their deliberations they will present G20 Leaders (via the Russian Sherpa, Ms. Ksenia Yudaeva) with a communiqué of innovative recommendations as to how to economically empower girls and women to spur economic growth, social innovation and political stability.
The delegates don't stop when they leave Moscow to return home. In fact, through our delegate initiative program and mentorship opportunities, they will take the ideas they have generated and put them into action. This pay-it-forward approach has already yielded tremendous results; creating jobs; teaching girls and boys in slums how to read, placing girls in STEM related educational paths, raising awareness about reproductive health and launching independent charitable organizations.
The G20 represents 90 per cent of global GDP, 80 per cent of international global trade and two thirds of the world's population. Within this, girls and women are a dynamic economic force -- as consumers, producers, innovators, poverty alleviators and community stabilizers. Simply put, with one billion women expected to join the workforce over the next decade, G20 Leaders need to actively engage girls and women globally.
The numbers are clear, the research is compelling and the drive on the part of girls and women is catalytic.
To our partners, thank you for your content and commitment. The G(irls)20 Summit is only as good as its participants and partners.
To the G(irls)20 Summit delegates, this is only the beginning...
To the G20 Leaders: get ready to be amazed...
Farah Mohamed is the President & CEO of the G(irls)20 Summit.