Catalysing global action on adolescent girls’ education and empowerment is essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and establishing foundations for broader economic growth and prosperity. To achieve this, the G7 Whistler Declaration on Adolescent Girls can play a key role by recognising the second decade of life as an age of opportunity and strategically investing – through secondary school and beyond – in the world’s unprecedented 1.2 billion adolescents. 

In this policy briefing, Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) outlines the scale of the challenge and sets forth three key actions for the G7:

1. Move beyond global and national aggregates to focus on 'leaving no girl behind'.
2. Improve educational quality by focusing on teacher training, tackling age- and gender-based violence in schools, and delivering a broad menu of skills relevant to girls’ real-world needs.
3. Increase aid to education six-fold to tackle critical funding gaps, prioritising low-income countries and taking a coordinated, inter-sectoral approach focused on developing the multiple capabilities adolescent girls require.