“Truth and right are not just going to come from the mind of a male. If we are underinvesting in half of the planet’s population, I guarantee you that we are missing some right answers.”, when she took the stage with Hollywood actress Julia Roberts on the third day of the Obama Foundation Leaders: Asia-Pacific conference in Kuala Lumpur, to reflect on their recent trip to Vietnam with the Girls Opportunity Alliance.
Room to Read is a programme that transforms the lives of children in low-income communities by focusing on literacy and gender equality in education while the Rock-Paper-Scissors Children’s Fund provides learning opportunities for young students through its art and music programmes. With Girls Opportunity Alliance's tagline “The future of our world is only as bright as our girls”, Obama’s resounding advocacy to global girls’ education was triggered by the fact that 98 million girls worldwide are not getting the education that they deserve partly due to poverty and their parent’s concerns on their safety.
She said self-advocacy and self-confidence should be instilled in young children’s minds early on and that the young leaders in Asia-Pacific should be that light in the lives of these kids that do not get that from their support system.