Title: Keeping Girls in School Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Keeping Girls in School Act
This bill authorizes the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to enter into acquisition, assistance, or financing agreements to address societal, cultural, health, and other barriers that adolescent girls face in accessing quality secondary education.
The USAID shall seek to ensure that such activities meet various requirements related to monitoring and evaluating outcomes, collecting data, and adhering to gender-equality promotion policies.
The Department of State shall periodically update and report to Congress a publicly available U.S. global strategy to empower adolescent girls. The U.S. Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls, issued in March 2016, may serve as the initial version of the strategy. The USAID shall periodically report to Congress on the activities initiated under this bill and efforts to monitor and evaluate such activities.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2153 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2153

      To support empowerment, economic security, and educational 
  opportunities for adolescent girls around the world, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 9, 2019

   Ms. Frankel (for herself, Mrs. Brooks of Indiana, Mrs. Lowey, Mr. 
 Fitzpatrick, Mr. Bera, Ms. Stefanik, Mr. Weber of Texas, Ms. Kelly of 
 Illinois, Mr. Rutherford, and Ms. Houlahan) introduced the following 
      bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
      To support empowerment, economic security, and educational 
  opportunities for adolescent girls 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS.

    (a) Short Title.--This Act may be cited as the ``Keeping Girls in 
School Act''.
    (b) Table of Contents.--The table of contents for this Act is as 
follows:

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Appropriate congressional committees defined.
Sec. 3. Findings.
Sec. 4. Sense of Congress.
Sec. 5. Secondary education for adolescent girls.
Sec. 6. Global strategy requirement.
Sec. 7. Transparency and reporting to Congress.

SEC. 2. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

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

SEC. 3. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Adolescence is a critical period in a girl's life, when 
        significant physical, emotional, and social changes shape her 
        future.
            (2) Adolescent girls 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, 12,000,000 adolescent girls around 
                the world are married before their 18th birthday, and 
                more than 650,000,000 women alive today were married as 
                children.
                    (C) Child marriages often interrupt schooling, 
                limit opportunities, and impact the physical, 
                psychological and social well-being of such girls. If 
                there is no reduction in child marriage, the global 
                number of women married as children is projected to 
                increase by 150,000,000 by 2030.
                    (D) 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.
            (3) 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.
            (4) 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.
            (5) 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.
            (6) Girls living with disabilities are less likely to start 
        school and transition to secondary school than boys living with 
        disabilities and other children, and just 1 percent of women 
        with disabilities are literate globally.
            (7) While two-thirds of all countries have achieved gender 
        parity in primary education, only 40 percent have achieved 
        gender parity in secondary education.
            (8) 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.
            (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) The United States Global Strategy to Empower 
        Adolescent Girls, published in March 2016, has brought together 
        the Department of State, the United States Agency for 
        International Development, 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.
            (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''.
            (12) 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.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) every child, regardless of place of birth, deserves an 
        equal opportunity to access quality education;
            (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.

SEC. 5. SECONDARY EDUCATION FOR ADOLESCENT GIRLS.

    (a) Authority.--The Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development may enter into acquisition, assistance, or 
results-based financing agreements, including agreements combining more 
than one such feature, for activities addressing the barriers described 
in subsection (b) that adolescent girls face in accessing a quality 
secondary education. Such activities shall--
            (1) set outcome-based targets to demonstrate qualitative 
        gains;
            (2) use existing United States Government strategies and 
        frameworks relevant to international basic education and gender 
        equality, including evidence-based interventions, to--
                    (A) integrate new technologies and approaches, 
                including to establish or continue public-private 
                partnerships or to pilot the use of development impact 
                bonds (the results of which are verified by an 
                independent evaluation);
                    (B) to the greatest extent possible, apply quasi-
                experimental and scientific, research-based approaches;
                    (C) promote inclusive, equitable and sustainable 
                educational achievement; and
                    (D) support a responsible transition to education 
                systems that are sustainably financed by domestic 
                governments; and
            (3) ensure that schools provide safe and quality 
        educational opportunities and create empowering environments, 
        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 into adulthood.
    (b) Specific Barriers.--The barriers described in this subsection 
include--
            (1) harmful societal and cultural norms;
            (2) lack of safety at school or traveling to school, 
        including harassment and other forms of physical, sexual, or 
        psychological violence;
            (3) child, early, and forced marriage;
            (4) female genital mutilation;
            (5) distance from a secondary school;
            (6) cost of secondary schooling, including fees, clothing, 
        and supplies;
            (7) inadequate sanitation facilities and products available 
        at secondary schools;
            (8) prioritization of boys' secondary education;
            (9) poor nutrition;
            (10) early pregnancy and motherhood;
            (11) HIV infection;
            (12) disability;
            (13) discrimination based on religious or ethnic identity; 
        and
            (14) heavy workload due to household tasks.
    (c) Coordination and Oversight.--
            (1) In general.--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 
        activities of the United States Government carried out under 
        this section.
            (2) Development of agreements.--In the development of 
        results-based financing agreements described in subsection (a), 
        the Senior Coordinators shall consult with the United States 
        Agency for International Development Innovation, Technology, 
        and Research Hub or any successor center that is responsible 
        for developing innovative tools and approaches to accelerate 
        development impact.
            (3) Coordination with other strategies.--Activities carried 
        out under this section shall also be carried out in 
        coordination with--
                    (A) the United States Global Strategy to Empower 
                Adolescent Girls described in section 6; and
                    (B) the United States Government Strategy on 
                International Basic Education, including its objective 
                to expand access to quality basic education for all, 
                particularly marginalized and vulnerable populations.
    (d) Acceptance of Solicitations for Awards.--The Administrator of 
the United States Agency for International Development shall seek to 
accept solicitations for one or more awards, pursuant to the authority 
in subsection (a), to conduct activities under this section beginning 
not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
    (e) Monitoring and Evaluation.--The Administrator of the United 
States Agency for International Development shall seek to ensure that 
activities carried out under this section--
            (1) employ rigorous monitoring and evaluation 
        methodologies, including ex-post evaluation, to ensure that 
        such 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, disability, and 
        urbanity, to the extent practicable and appropriate;
            (3) adhere to the Policy Guidance on Promoting Gender 
        Equality of the Department of State and the Gender Equality and 
        Female Empowerment Policy of the United States Agency for 
        International Development; and
            (4) use, to the extent possible, indicators and 
        methodologies identified by the Interagency Working Group for 
        the Strategy on International Basic Education.

SEC. 6. 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, in 
consultation with the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and 
Women's Empowerment and the Senior Coordinator for International Basic 
Education Assistance at the United States Agency for International 
Development, shall--
            (1) review and update a United States global strategy to 
        empower adolescent girls;
            (2) provide a meaningful opportunity for public review and 
        consultation on the strategy; and
            (3) submit the strategy to the appropriate congressional 
        committees.
    (b) Initial Strategy.--For the purposes of this section, the 
``United States Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls'', 
published in March 2016, shall be deemed to fulfill the initial 
requirement under subsection (a).
    (c) Consultation Required.--In reviewing and updating the strategy 
under subsection (a), the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's 
Issues, the Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women's 
Empowerment, and the Senior Coordinator for International Basic 
Education Assistance shall consult with--
            (1) the heads of relevant Federal departments and agencies 
        their designees, as well as experts on adolescent girls, gender 
        equality, and empowerment issues throughout the Federal 
        Government;
            (2) the appropriate congressional committees;
            (3) representatives of United States 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 in countries 
        receiving assistance pursuant to the strategy, including youth 
        and adolescent girls' organizations.

SEC. 7. TRANSPARENCY AND REPORTING TO CONGRESS.

    (a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and every 180 days thereafter until each 
activity initiated pursuant to the authorities under this Act has 
concluded, the Administrator of the United States Agency for 
International Development, in coordination with the Secretary of State, 
shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees a report 
describing--
            (1) the activities initiated under the authorities provided 
        in this Act; and
            (2) the manner and extent to which such activities are 
        monitored and evaluated, in accordance with section 5(e).
    (b) Availability.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be 
made available on a text-based, searchable, and publicly available 
website of the United States Agency for International Development.
                                 <all>