Stars back Plan report to support the world’s poorest girls and save billions

Top women celebrities have joined forces to call for girls in the world’s poorest countries to be able to get a full education.

Best-selling novelist Kathy Lette is leading support for Plan International’s Because I am a Girl mission to boost girls’ rights and end discrimination worldwide.

The 2009 Because I am a Girl report, launched on the 22nd September as part of the campaign, reveals that failing to send girls to school is costing the world’s poorest countries billions of pounds a year.

“In the developing world, girls are often little more than runners-up in the human race,” says Kathy, 50, author of ten best sellers including Mad Cows.

As a result of the current financial crisis, an extra 50,000 African babies will die before their first birthday this year. Most of these will be girls, says the World Bank.

So shocked is Kathy by the report’s findings, she held a star-studded dinner party at her North London home to discuss the issue.

Guests included Sky newsreader Kay Burley, actress Maureen Lipman, human rights activist Shami Chakrabarti and wife of the Prime Minister, Sarah Brown. The event was featured in Woman and Home magazine, as part of a drive for groups of women to hold a “Girls’ Night In” to raise money and awareness for the campaign.

Plan is now calling for a global 10-point action plan which includes providing girls with a full education, better jobs, access to property and leadership opportunities.

A recent study revealed that £2 billion could be added to the economy of Kenya alone if the country educated its girls to secondary school level.

In times of economic hardship, girls in the world’s poorest countries are the first to be pulled out of school as families cannot afford books, uniforms and other costs.

The report finds that this consigns them to a life of domestic servitude – so continuing a cycle of poverty as they become less likely to send their own children to school.

“It’s bad enough that if you’re a young woman in Britain the recession could cost you your job, but in some countries it could cost you your life,” says Plan UK chief executive Marie Staunton.

Find out more about "Girls' Night In" or the "Because I am a Girl" campaign.