Tomorrow is “International Day of the Girl Child”, after the United Nations General Assembly voted last December to establish the day as October 11, following a two-year campaign spearheaded by one of our partners, Plan International. Following this announcement, hundreds, if not thousands of organizations and individuals around the world have worked vigorously to develop new campaigns and put on events to commemorate this special day dedicated to advancing the lives of girls globally. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) has recently re-stated our commitment to prioritize girls’ education as a key objective in our new strategic plan. But what I find most exciting about this new commemorative day is the emphasis on education. For instance, today I listened to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announce new public and private initiatives to prevent child marriage and promote girls’ education around the world. She reminded us that every year 10 million girls under the age of 18 become child brides, many of whom are robbed of the opportunity to continue their education. These girls often slip into poverty or illness as a result. Clinton said education can delay and even prevent child marriage and that we need to work together to make the case for education everywhere, to give every girl and every boy the opportunity to live up to their potential, no matter where they live. Secretary Clinton is not the only one putting education at the forefront of the International Day of the Girl. Here’s some of our favorite International Day of the Girl initiatives: • Plan International’s “Because I am a Girl” campaign aims to support millions of girls to receive the education, skills and support they need to transform their lives and the world around them. They are advocating to get 1 million individuals to “Raise your hand now” through their Facebook app to support girls’ right to an education and have enlisted actress Freida Pinto to explain the significance of education in the cycle of poverty. • 10 X 10’s “Educate Girls, Change the World” campaign is calling for organizations and individuals to host or attend an International Day of the Girl event. They’ve gathered event planning resources and curated a map showing the hundreds of different events worldwide. They’ve also been running a “It’s Basic Math” social media campaign encouraging users to complete the equation “Girls + Education = ________” and share a picture on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Flickr. • Global Campaign for Education’s “Make it Right” campaign is raising awareness of the findings in their new report which shows that millions of girls around the world are still denied their right to a full and empowering education. The report is calling for governments to conduct a gender audit of national education strategies among other policies and plans to promote and foster girls’ right to education. • LitWorld’s “Stand up for Girls” campaign advocates for every girl to protect themselves against poverty, poor health outcomes and lifelong struggle through education, particularly learning how to read and write. They are mainly calling for individuals to pledge that they will speak out and stand up for positive change in their own communities so that women and girls everywhere will have the right to a quality education. • UN Women, UNICEF, UNFPA, and Girls Not Brides are hosting an event at the United Nations Headquarters in New York with a panel of experts to discuss how to progress girls’ rights and address the unique challenges they face, with a focus on ending child marriage. We suspect there will be lots of talk about education during this panel discussion. Watch UN Women’s Executive Director Dr. Michelle Bachelet’s video message below to hear more on this and tune into the live webcast on UN Web TV on Thursday October 11th at 1:15 pm EST. Follow us on Twitter and Facebookfor more #DayoftheGirl highlights throughout the day. Of course there are many other campaigns and initiatives, so please tell us about yours in a comment below. Tomorrow the Global Partnership for Education will focus on the rights of girls to an education. And we will do so the next day. And the next, and the next…