The Girl Effect: Viral video par excellence & a great message too!

This video is sweeping through the blogosphere this morning (I owe a hattip to HaveCoffeeWillWrite, who credits WriteLikeSheTalks, who credits Human Folly, etc.).

Watch it, both for its own surprising message and for its succinct, non-invasive yet powerful use of online video.



(Or watch the video in situ at the Girl Effect website, and download the 2-page fact sheet.)

What's this all about?

From The New York Times Business briefs:

A foundation that Warren E. Buffett endowed with $1 billion has decided to spend part of the money helping adolescent girls in developing countries like Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India and Kenya.

Mr. Buffett’s son Peter, who runs the group, the Novo Foundation, said it was committing $45 million over three years to improve the girls’ chances of staying in school. They will receive microloans for farming or starting businesses, as well as mentoring and skills training. Novo is joining with the Nike Foundation, which is investing $55 million — making a commitment of $100 million — on top of the $36 million it has given since 2004.

“When you affect a girl’s life, you affect a lot more than the girl,” Peter Buffett said. “We hope this will be a catalyst for others to get involved in helping girls.”

His wife, Jennifer, said she and her husband realized this when, on a trip to a rural village in Bangladesh, they saw how one girl was able to stay in school longer because she could pay her school fees — and her brother’s — by selling crops from a field she planted with money from the Nike Foundation.