[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1171 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1171

   To keep girls in school around the world, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 18, 2017

 Mrs. Shaheen introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To keep girls in school around the world, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Keeping Girls in School Act''.

SEC. 2. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the House of Representatives.

SEC. 3. PURPOSE AND FINDINGS.

    (a) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to support empowerment, 
economic security, and educational opportunities for adolescent girls 
around the world.
    (b) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Adolescence is a critical period in a girl's life, when 
        significant physical, emotional, and social changes shape her 
        future.
            (2) According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific 
        and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), approximately 130,000,000 
        girls around the world are not in school and millions more are 
        failing to acquire basic reading, writing, and numeracy skills.
            (3) Girls between the ages of 10 and 19 are three times 
        more likely than boys to be kept out of school, particularly in 
        countries affected by conflict.
            (4) Due to discriminatory gender norms and expectations, 
        disparities in access to safe and quality education manifest 
        early in a girl's life and continue to become more pronounced 
        throughout adolescence.
            (5) Adolescent girls who are not in school are particularly 
        vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, child, early and forced marriage, and 
        other forms of violence which are detrimental to their futures, 
        as evidenced by the following statistics:
                    (A) Each year, 380,000 adolescent girls and young 
                women become newly infected with HIV, more than 1,000 
                every day, and comprise the fastest-growing demographic 
                for new infections in sub-Saharan Africa.
                    (B) Each year, 15,000,000 adolescent girls around 
                the world are married before their 18th birthday, and 
                more than 700,000,000 women alive today were married as 
                children.
                    (C) One-quarter to one-half of girls in developing 
                countries become mothers before the age of 18, and 
                girls under 15 are five times more likely to die during 
                childbirth than women in their 20s.
            (6) While two-thirds of countries have achieved gender 
        parity in primary education, only 40 percent have achieved 
        gender parity in secondary education.
            (7) Adolescent girls who remain in school are more likely 
        to live longer, marry later, have healthier children, and, as 
        adults, earn an income to support their families, thereby 
        contributing to the economic advancement of communities and 
        nations.
            (8) The United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent 
        Girls has brought together the Department of State, the United 
        States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Peace 
        Corps, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation, as well as 
        other agencies and programs such as the President's Emergency 
        Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to address the range of 
        challenges preventing adolescent girls from attaining an 
        inclusive and equitable quality education leading to relevant 
        learning outcomes.
            (9) Since July 2015, more than 100 public-private 
        partnerships have been formed between the United States 
        Government and external partners to support innovative and 
        community-led solutions in targeted countries, including Malawi 
        and Tanzania, to ensure adolescent girls receive a quality 
        education.
            (10) PEPFAR, through its DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, 
        Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe) Initiative, has 
        worked to address a number of the specific barriers to 
        education that adolescent girls face.
            (11) According to the United States Global Strategy to 
        Empower Adolescent Girls, which is the first foreign policy 
        document in the world solely dedicated to the rights and 
        empowerment of girls globally, ``[w]hile the Millennium 
        Development Goals improved outcomes for girls in primary 
        education, they also highlighted the need for a targeted focus 
        on adolescents and young adults, particularly regarding the 
        transition to and completion of secondary school''.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) education is a human right, and girls of all ages 
        deserve an education that is equal, in all aspects, to that of 
        boys;
            (2) the United States has been a global leader in efforts 
        to expand and improve educational opportunities for those who 
        have been traditionally disenfranchised, particularly women and 
        girls;
            (3) gains with respect to girls' secondary education and 
        empowerment have been proven to correlate strongly with 
        progress in gender equality and women's rights, as well as 
        economic and social progress, and achieving gender equality 
        should be a priority goal of United States foreign policy;
            (4) achieving gender parity in both access to and quality 
        of educational opportunity contributes significantly to 
        economic growth and development, thereby lowering the risk for 
        violence and instability; and
            (5) education is a lifesaving humanitarian intervention 
        that protects the lives, futures, and well-being of girls.

           TITLE I--SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS

SEC. 101. ADOLESCENT GIRLS EDUCATION CHALLENGE FUND.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established an Adolescent Girls 
Education Challenge Fund from which funds may be made available for the 
Department of State, the United States Agency for International 
Development, and other Federal departments and agencies to work with 
external partners to implement innovative programs to ensure that 
adolescent girls enroll and succeed in school.
    (b) Authorized Activities.--Programs initiated through the Fund 
may--
            (1) create strategic, focused, cross-sectoral, and results-
        oriented partnerships, including with adolescent girls, to 
        promote their education, economic security, and empowerment;
            (2) apply comprehensive scientific and research-based 
        approaches, aligned, where possible, with local development 
        priorities, to support sustainable development outcomes;
            (3) leverage additional resources from public, private, 
        for-profit, and nonprofit organizations, including those based 
        inside partner countries, as well as institutions of higher 
        education, United States and non-United States Government 
        organizations, and international donor organization to ensure 
        sustainable finance and impact; and
            (4) ensure schools provide safe and quality educational 
        opportunities so that girls can enroll in and regularly attend 
        school, successfully transition from primary to secondary 
        school, and eventually graduate having achieved learning 
        outcomes and positioned to make healthy transitions to 
        adulthood.
    (c) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated at least $35,000,000 for each fiscal year for the Fund 
established under this section.

SEC. 102. ASSISTANCE TO PROMOTE EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of State and the Administrator of 
the United States Agency for International Development, in coordination 
with other Federal departments and agencies, are authorized to initiate 
and advance programs that support educational opportunities for 
adolescent girls and which reduce specific barriers adolescent girls 
face in attaining inclusive and equitable educational opportunities.
    (b) Specific Barriers.--In this subsection, the term ``specific 
barriers'' includes--
            (1) harmful societal and cultural norms;
            (2) distance from a secondary school;
            (3) safety at school or traveling to school;
            (4) cost of secondary schooling, including fees, clothing, 
        and supplies;
            (5) inadequate sanitation facilities and products available 
        at secondary schools;
            (6) prioritization of boys' secondary education;
            (7) poor nutrition;
            (8) child, early, and forced marriage;
            (9) early pregnancy and motherhood;
            (10) female genital mutilation;
            (11) HIV infection; and
            (12) discrimination based on religious or ethnic identity.
    (c) Coordination and Oversight.--The United States Agency for 
International Development Senior Coordinator for International Basic 
Education Assistance, in coordination with the United States Agency for 
International Development Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and 
Women's Empowerment and the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's 
Issues at the Department of State, shall be responsible for the 
oversight and coordination of all resources and activities of the 
United States Government relating to promoting educational 
opportunities for adolescent girls.

SEC. 103. MONITORING AND EVALUATION.

    The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States 
Agency for International Development shall seek to determine that 
programs carried out under this Act--
            (1) employ rigorous monitoring and evaluation 
        methodologies, including an ex post evaluation, to ensure 
        programs and activities demonstrably close the gap in gender 
        parity for secondary education and improve the quality of 
        education offered to adolescent girls;
            (2) disaggregate all data collected and reported by age, 
        gender, marital and motherhood status, and urbanity, to the 
        extent practicable and appropriate; and
            (3) adhere to the Department of State's Policy Guidance on 
        Promoting Gender Equality and USAID's Gender Equality and 
        Female Empowerment Policy.

SEC. 104. TRANSPARENCY AND REPORTING TO CONGRESS.

    Not later than March 31, 2018, and annually thereafter, the 
Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
Development, in coordination with the Secretary of State, shall submit 
a report to the appropriate congressional committees that--
            (1) details programs initiated under this Act that address 
        specific barriers to adolescent girls education; and
            (2) describes the activities and partnerships of the 
        Adolescent Girls Education Challenge Fund, as well as the 
        outcomes and metrics used to measure its effectiveness.

SEC. 105. SUNSET.

    The authorities under this title shall terminate upon certification 
by the Secretary of State to the appropriate congressional committees 
that gender parity in both quality of and access to secondary education 
for adolescent boys and girls has been achieved in the countries which 
receive United States development assistance.

  TITLE II--UNITED STATES GLOBAL STRATEGY TO EMPOWER ADOLESCENT GIRLS

SEC. 201. GLOBAL STRATEGY REQUIREMENT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, the Ambassador-at-
Large for Global Women's Issues at the Department of State (referred to 
in this title as the ``Ambassador-at-Large''), in consultation with the 
Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment at the 
United States Agency for International Development (referred to in this 
title as the ``Senior Coordinator''), shall--
            (1) develop or review and update a United States global 
        strategy to empower adolescent girls;
            (2) submit the strategy to the appropriate congressional 
        committees; and
            (3) make the strategy and review publicly available on the 
        Internet.
    (b) Initial Strategy.--For the purposes of this section, the 
``United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls'', issued 
in March 2016, shall be deemed to fulfill the initial requirement under 
subsection (a).
    (c) Collaboration and Coordination.--In developing the strategy 
under subsection (a), the Ambassador-at-Large and the Senior 
Coordinator shall consult with--
            (1) the heads of relevant Federal agencies and their 
        designees, as well as experts on adolescent girls, gender 
        equality, and empowerment throughout Federal agencies;
            (2) the appropriate congressional committees;
            (3) representatives of civil society and multilateral 
        organizations with demonstrated experience and expertise in 
        empowering adolescent girls or promoting gender equality, 
        including local civil society organizations and beneficiaries 
        where possible; and
            (4) local organizations and beneficiaries, including youth 
        and adolescent girls' organizations.
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