The Nike Foundation For Girls

RURAL BANGLADESH - AUGUST 2008: Images of rural girls who are the majority earners in their families and communities, on August 8, 2008 in rural Bangladesh, India. The Nike Foundation for Girls has made small stipends available to selected girls in disadvantaged communities based on the fact that girls prove to be a better investment in poor communities than boys do. Many of these girls have bought a single cow and parlayed that into a small herd while supporting entire families with the proceeds. They have managed to stay in school by paying for their own education and thereby avoid arranged early marriage, the usual route for impoverished girls in these areas. These girls have created their own finance systems, built beauty shops, become tutors, created successful vegetable farms all because of the micro-loans they received. The Nike Foundation believes that supporting girls is the key to a better future for everyone. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Getty Images)