Girls LEAD Act
Bill: H.R.1661 | Sponsor: Rep. Trone, David J. (D-MD)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Girls' Leadership, Engagement, Agency, and Development Act of 2021 or the Girls LEAD Act
This bill directs the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to jointly report to Congress a strategy to strengthen the participation of adolescents, particularly girls, in democracy, human rights, and governance.
The State Department and the USAID shall (1) implement activities to achieve this goal, including activities to increase adolescent girls' civic and political knowledge and skills and address barriers to political participation; and (2) prioritize foreign assistance funding for democracy, human rights, and governance programs toward achieving the goals in this bill.

To support and expand civic engagement and political leadership of 
         adolescent girls around the world, and 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 ``Girls Leadership, Engagement, 
Agency, and Development Act of 2021'' or the ``Girls LEAD Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Inclusive democracy and governance are fundamental 
        objectives and critical foundations for sustainable development 
        and global peace. Promotion of democracy, human rights, and 
        governance is a reflection of fundamental American values and 
        identity.
            (2) Democracies score consistently higher than 
        nondemocracies on a broad range of socioeconomic development 
        indicators, including infant and child mortality, life 
        expectancy, primary school enrollment, adult literacy, female 
        youth literacy, female secondary school enrollment, and access 
        to clean water.
            (3) Women's political participation results in tangible 
        gains for democracy, including greater responsiveness to 
        citizen needs, increased cooperation across party and ethnic 
        lines, and more sustainable peace, as emphasized in the Women, 
        Peace, and Security Act (Public Law 115-68).
            (4) Women in leadership positions are more likely to 
        resolve national crises without resorting to violence, sustain 
        peace agreements over longer periods of time, advocate for 
        social issues that benefit all, and allocate budgets to health 
        and education.
            (5) Despite comprising over 50 percent of the world's 
        population, women are underrepresented at all levels of public 
        sector decision making. At the current rate of progress, it 
        will take over 100 years to achieve gender parity in political 
        participation.
            (6) Engaging adolescent girls more in civil and political 
        activities contributes to increased political participation and 
        women's leadership around the world over time. Adolescents who 
        participate actively in their community from early on are more 
        likely to become engaged citizens and voters, with higher 
        levels of ambition for future leadership positions in both 
        politics and the private sector. Their safe, meaningful, and 
        appropriate participation is key to creating democratic 
        societies with informed and engaged citizens.
            (7) Adolescence is a critical period in a girl's life, when 
        significant physical, emotional, and social changes shape her 
        future. Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable to HIV/
        AIDS and other STDs and STIs, child, early, and forced 
        marriage, and other forms of gender-based violence, including 
        trafficking in persons and sexual exploitation, harassment, and 
        assault, which are detrimental to their futures.
            (8) School closures related to the COVID-19 pandemic have 
        pushed nearly 743,000,000 girls around the world out of school, 
        on top of the approximately 132,000,000 girls between the ages 
        of 6 and 17 already out of school.
            (9) The economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis are 
        projected to put an additional 2,500,000 girls at risk of child 
        marriage between 2020 and 2025, in addition to the 12,000,000 
        adolescent girls under 18 who will marry annually. The number 
        one cause of death for adolescent girls 15 to 19 years old is 
        childbirth, and 90 percent of births to adolescent girls 15 to 
        19 occur within a marriage.
            (10) Every 10 minutes, somewhere in the world, an 
        adolescent girl dies as a result of violence. A girl's risk of 
        dying as a result of violence increases from early to late 
        adolescence. Violence is the second leading cause of death 
        among adolescent girls globally. Girls with disabilities may 
        face up to 10 times more violence than girls without 
        disabilities.
            (11) Empowering adolescent girls and young women in 
        childhood and as they transition to become adults, investing in 
        their leadership potential, and ensuring there are established 
        pathways to positions of political leadership and civic 
        engagement contribute to ensuring a world where women can 
        thrive as political leaders and decision makers, in economic 
        spaces and across society as a whole.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It shall be the international development policy of the United 
States to--
            (1) promote and ensure that all adolescents from the most 
        marginalized populations, including both girls and boys, are 
        able to fully participate in society, and are specifically able 
        to exercise their civil and political rights as agents of 
        change in their communities and countries;
            (2) increase the capability of adolescents, particularly 
        adolescent girls, in assuming leadership roles, holding 
        decision makers to account, and influencing decision making at 
        the household, community, and societal levels;
            (3) ensure meaningful engagement and consultation with 
        adolescents, particularly adolescent girls, to ensure that 
        United States foreign assistance initiatives, including the 
        planning, implementation, and evaluation of projects, are 
        effective and responsive to this input with a focus on country 
        and community ownership;
            (4) ensure that consultation processes are transparent, 
        voluntary, inclusive, safe, respectful, and responsive to 
        structural barriers affecting adolescent girls' meaningful 
        engagement;
            (5) actively work to decrease discrimination towards, and 
        the abuses of, the rights of adolescent girls, particularly 
        among the most vulnerable populations; and
            (6) utilize evidence-based approaches and practices in 
        developing such programs, including taking into account the 
        role of family, religious, and community leaders in creating 
        supportive environments, the identification of mentors and role 
        models, and the creation of safe spaces for adolescent girls.

SEC. 4. STRATEGY TO ENCOURAGE THE CIVIC AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF 
              ADOLESCENT GIRLS.

    (a) Strategy Required.--Not later than one year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State and the Administrator 
of the United States Agency for International Development shall jointly 
submit, separate from or as part of other public strategies, to the 
appropriate congressional committees and make publicly available a 
single strategy on strengthening the participation of adolescents, 
particularly adolescent girls, in democracy, human rights, and 
governance. The strategy shall include a detailed description of how 
each agency's democracy and governance center intends to fulfill the 
policy objectives set forth in section 3.
    (b) Elements.--The strategy submitted under subsection (a) shall 
include the following elements:
            (1) A specific implementation plan from each of the 
        relevant Federal agencies that describes--
                    (A) the anticipated contributions of the agency, 
                including technical, financial, and in-kind 
                contributions, to implement the strategy; and
                    (B) the efforts of the agency to ensure that the 
                policies and initiatives carried out pursuant to the 
                strategy are designed to achieve maximum impact and 
                long-term sustainability.
            (2) Strategic objectives and activities, including social 
        accountability, research, and learning, to advance the 
        leadership, civic, and political engagement of adolescents, 
        particularly adolescent girls, including a description of how 
        such efforts will advance gender equality and reduce the 
        distinct barriers that adolescent girls and boys each face, 
        including the most marginalized adolescents, to their civic 
        participation in existing structures, institutions, and the 
        broader enabling environment.
            (3) Metrics, benchmarks, and a monitoring, evaluation, and 
        learning plan to ensure the accountability and effectiveness of 
        all activities related to the policy objectives set forth in 
        section 3.
            (4) An explanation of how such objectives and activities 
        will be aligned with existing United States foreign assistance 
        policies and strategies relevant to promoting global gender 
        equality and women's and girls' empowerment.
            (5) An explanation of how gender analysis has informed the 
        strategy and implementation plan, including the strategic 
        objectives and activities to advance the leadership, civic, and 
        political engagement of adolescents.
            (6) Plans for consultations with civil society that include 
        girl-led and women's organizations and other local civil 
        society in partner countries, United States civil society, and 
        other stakeholders to inform the development and implementation 
        of the strategy, the creation of metrics, and the monitoring 
        and evaluation of program interventions.
    (c) Consultation.--The strategy required under subsection (a) shall 
be developed in consultation with civil society in the United States 
and affected foreign countries, including adolescent girls.

SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION OF FOREIGN ASSISTANCE PROJECTS, PROGRAMS, AND 
              ACTIVITIES.

    The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States 
Agency for International Development shall implement United States 
foreign assistance projects, programs, and activities designed to 
strengthen the participation of adolescents, particularly adolescent 
girls, in democracy, human rights, and governance, including--
            (1) increasing adolescent girls' civic and political 
        knowledge and foundational skills, advocacy, confidence, 
        leadership and research skills, leadership opportunities, 
        intergenerational mentorship opportunities, data and media 
        literacy, and supporting their meaningful political 
        participation and engagement in civil society and the public 
        sphere;
            (2) addressing barriers to adolescent girls' and women's 
        civic engagement and political participation, and integrating 
        engagement of men and boys, families, community leaders, 
        religious leaders, schools, political bodies, government 
        bodies, and other stakeholders to improve the enabling 
        environment for adolescent girls' civic and political 
        participation;
            (3) identifying and taking into account other barriers to 
        adolescent girls' civic and political engagement, including 
        child, early and forced marriage, access to quality primary and 
        secondary education, unequal childcare responsibilities, 
        gender-based violence, early pregnancy and motherhood, 
        adolescent maternal mortality, mobility constraints, 
        malnourishment, displacement, lack of safe and reliable female 
        sanitation and hygiene facilities, harmful social norms, HIV 
        infection, physical, communication, and attitudinal barriers 
        faced by adolescent girls with disabilities, and discrimination 
        based on religious or ethnic identity;
            (4) integrating feedback from program participants into the 
        monitoring, evaluation, and learning processes of relevant 
        United States departments or agencies;
            (5) supporting girl-led and girl-focused civil society 
        organizations with flexible, sustainable funding and technical 
        support;
            (6) targeted efforts to increase work with partner country 
        governments, alongside local civil-society organizations, and 
        to build greater allyship among men and boys for adolescent 
        girls;
            (7) ensuring age-appropriate and gender-sensitive child-
        safeguarding provisions for all programs that engage 
        participants under the age of 18; and
            (8) ensuring adolescents, particularly adolescent girls, 
        are provided opportunities and empowering environments so that 
        they successfully enter adulthood with skills which empower 
        their leadership within their communities or governments.

SEC. 6. PRIORITIZATION OF SPENDING.

    The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States 
Agency for International Development shall prioritize foreign 
assistance funding made available for democracy, human rights, and 
governance programs in accordance with this Act.

SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of State 
and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International 
Development shall jointly submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees a report on progress made by relevant United States 
Government agencies towards increasing civic and political 
participation of adolescent girls and boys around the world, separate 
from or as part of other mandated public reporting on efforts to 
advance gender equality and adolescent girls' empowerment.
    (b) Elements.--The report required under subsection (a) shall 
include the following elements:
            (1) An estimate of the number of people reached by all new 
        United States Government-funded foreign assistance or 
        development projects disaggregated by age and sex.
            (2) A description of how adolescent girls, particularly 
        among the most vulnerable populations, are integrated into 
        existing democracy, human rights, governance, and rule of law 
        programming.
            (3) The percentage of program participants that are 
        adolescent girls in all new democracy, human rights, and 
        governance programs focused on issues, including civic 
        engagement, political participation, advocacy, research, and 
        leadership development, the percentage of funds spent on those 
        programs that focus on adolescent girls, and the countries in 
        which those programs take place.
            (4) The number of democracy, human rights, and governance 
        programs created to improve or that otherwise support civic 
        engagement, political participation, and leadership of 
        adolescent girls, the amount of funds spent on those programs, 
        and the countries in which those programs take place.
    (c) Public Availability.--The report required under subsection (a) 
shall be posted and made available on a text-based, searchable, and 
publicly available internet website of the United States Agency for 
International Development.

SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act--
            (1) the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
        means--
                    (A) the Committee on Foreign Relations and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the 
                Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
                Representatives;
            (2) the term ``foreign assistance'' has the meaning given 
        the term in section 634(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 
        1961 (22 U.S.C. 2394(b)); and
            (3) the term ``gender analysis'' has the meaning given the 
        term in section 3(a) of the Women's Entrepreneurship and 
        Economic Empowerment Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-428).
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