1.
You can't marginalize more than half of the globe's population and expect to see any meaningful solutions to the problems that ail the world.
Helene D. Gayle
2.
No matter how you measure it, women and girls bear the brunt of poverty. But it's also clear that women are also our greatest hope for ending it. We at CARE have long believed that if you change the life of a girl or woman, you don't just change that individual, you change her family and then her community.
Helene D. Gayle
3.
There is no doubt that a woman's economic empowerment is very much interconnected to her health and the well being of her children.
Helene D. Gayle
4.
The difference between rich and poor is becoming more extreme, and as income inequality widens the wealth gap in major nations, education, health and social mobility are all threatened.
Helene D. Gayle
5.
As many as half of Ethiopias girls become wives before becoming adults. But Ethiopia is also a place where lasting solutions to child marriage are starting to make a difference.
Helene D. Gayle
6.
If you educate a girl, you educate a nation.
Helene D. Gayle
7.
Early marriage is most prevalent in communities suffering deep, chronic poverty.
Helene D. Gayle
8.
We always say at CARE that we would love to see if we can work ourselves out of business.
Helene D. Gayle
9.
Learn to forgive yourself and move on.
Helene D. Gayle
10.
The environmental community has an opportunity to create and leverage partnerships with the development community on social issues, rather than trying to develop new expertise of its own.
Helene D. Gayle
11.
What keeps me motivated is going out to the field and seeing programs that incorporate a focus on both people and the planet, and seeing how mutually reinforcing they can really be.
Helene D. Gayle
12.
When a child is starving, a family may not be able to think about long-term sustainability or damage to ecosystems that support endangered species.
Helene D. Gayle
13.
There are plenty of risks when we encourage "investment" or commoditization of natural resources, as power dynamics may mean that poor people (who are often marginalized and have less power) are sidelined by more powerful interests when money is involved.
Helene D. Gayle
14.
The environmental movement could do a better job incorporating the message about the connection between poverty and environmental degradation, and building that message at the grassroots level.
Helene D. Gayle
15.
Any discussion of investment or putting monetary value on the environment must start with the populations who rely on those resources.
Helene D. Gayle