Stand Up for Girls, on the International Day of the Girl: October 11, 2012

Every girl has the right to a quality education that will ensure she has a lifelong way to protect herself, advocate for herself, learn what she wants to know and be who she wants to be. Every girl has the right to read and write words that will change her, and to write and tell stories to change the world. Unfortunately, two thirds of all the world's illiterate people are women.

On September 22, 2011, on the International Day of the Girl, LitWorld celebrated by having everyone stand up for girls and their right to go to school and to learn to read and write*. Individuals and communities across the globe joined together to launch a campaign to advocate for a transformative new era in girls' education. The momentum propelled the message to new heights: In December, 2011, the Third Committee of the United Nations General Assembly agreed to designate October 11 as the International Day of the Girl to be observed every year beginning in 2012.

*The 2011 Stand Up for Girls Rally was cosponsored by The Millennium Cities Initiative and Connect to Learn, projects of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Millennium Cities and Villages across Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia Initiatives with Ashta no Kai and Arpana in India, and The Children of Kibera Foundation in Kenya.