Dive Brief:

• For the first time, First Lady Michelle Obama will visit the Middle East on an official trip to promote Let Girls Learn, an initiative focused on educational opportunities for girls. 
• Mrs. Obama will first speak at the 2015 World Innovation Summit for Education in Doha, Qatar. 
• During her stop in Jordan, she will tour USAID-backed school projects.

Dive Insight:

First Lady Michelle Obama will be taking this trip alone, without her husband or daughters. Earlier this year, the Obamas launched the Let Girls Learn initiative, which raises awareness around the world’s 62 million girls who lack educational opportunities. With help from the Peace Corps and USAID, the initiative’s current and first phase focuses on eleven countries: Albania, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Georgia, Ghana, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo, and Uganda.

“…Too often, a girl who could change her world for the better is locked out of that future by the circumstances of her birth or the customs of her community,” the initiative’s website states. “We know that a girl with an education can shape her own destiny, lift up her family, and transform her community.”