FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, November 10, 1999

Peace Corps' Work Promoting Girls Education and Leadership to be Highlighted at Major Conference on Gender Equality

{'html': "WASHINGTON, D.C., November 10, 1999 The Peace Corps will highlight its work with girls education and leadership at a forum Friday in Alexandria, Va. on gender equality and sustainable development that is expected to draw 1,500 people from more than 100 countries.

A group from the Peace Corps will discuss successful programs like Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World), a summer leadership camp started by Peace Corps volunteers in Eastern Europe that engages girls in discussions on topics such as self-esteem, values, goal-setting, decision-making, assertiveness, skills identification, and life planning at a young age. All of these are designed to help the girls make better choices as they grow into adults.

The Peace Corps contingent will speak on Friday, November 12, at 5:15 p.m. at the Association for Women in Development's 8th International AWID Forum. The four-day conference, the largest regular conference in North America to address women's issues worldwide, begins tomorrow and will be held at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, 5000 Seminary Road, in Alexandria, Va.

One of the Peace Corps speakers will be Sara Goodkind, 28, of Ann Arbor, Mich., a returned Peace Corps volunteer who helped start a Camp GLOW in Romania, where she served as a volunteer from 1994-96. Other speakers include Lyn Messner, Peace Corps' Women in Development Coordinator, Frank Wagner, Peace Corps' Education Specialist for Africa, Ewa Wiatrowska, a Peace Corps staff member in Poland and Paulina Marciniec, an 18-year-old from Poland who has participated in a variety of Peace Corps' girls education activities in Poland, including Camp GLOW.

Utilizing videotape, photos, and story telling, the group will discuss ways Peace Corps volunteers work with girls to empower them to assume leadership roles.

Currently, more than 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers are working in 78 countries to bring clean water to communities, teach children, protect the environment, help start new businesses, and prevent the spread of AIDS. Since 1961, more than 155,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps.

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