The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s “Impatient Optimists” blog published several posts discussing the foundation’s 10th Grand Challenge, “Putting Women and Girls at the Center of Development,” announced October 7.

Impatient Optimists: Grand Challenge: Putting Women and Girls at the Center of Development
Gary Darmstadt, senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Development Program; Sarah Henry, senior consultant with Global Health Visions; and Luca Passerini, program officer with the Gates Fellows Program, discuss the foundation’s “first Grand Challenge on gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment, [signaling] a more concerted push to put women and girls at the center of our work.” They write, “‘Putting Women and Girls at the Center of Development’ seeks to accelerate understanding of how to effectively address gender inequalities and empower women and girls, and how to better measure women’s and girls’ empowerment…” (10/6).

Impatient Optimists: Financially Empowering Women, Disrupting Poverty
Liz Kellison, deputy director of the financial services for the poor team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, discusses the need for financial services for women in the context of the foundation’s new Grand Challenge, “Putting Women and Girls at the Center of Development” (10/7).

Impatient Optimists: Measuring What Can’t Be Counted
Jodi Nelson, director of strategy for measurement & evaluation, and Ritu Shroff, deputy director of strategy for measurement & evaluation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, outline three obstacles that the foundation’s new Grand Challenge, “Putting Women and Girls at the Center of Development,” will address in order to identify ways to reach and empower women (10/7).