Japanese authorities now want to tap this soft power for tourism, amid an ambitious drive by the Abe administration to double burgeoning foreign tourist arrivals to 40 million by 2020. [...] The association, working with industry members and local governments, wants to create a whole suite of services and products, from shuttle buses to merchandising, to boost the experience for visitors - and bring in the yen.
 

Osun State recorded an outstanding feat in its quest to promote education by sponsoring 5 outstanding female students in an exchange program in the United States. The program is in partnership with an NGO AWOW International Girls Leadership Initiative, which empowers and offers skills and professional mentorship to young women.

We’ve heard even more about data recently because of the Sustainable Development Goals. It’s good news that the international development field finally seems to be pushing past the rhetoric. The indicators that will measure the SDGs are more complex, intersecting and sophisticated than we have ever seen before, and they will help us understand the world better.

Ahead of tomorrow’s International Day of the Girl, children’s rights charity Plan International is lobbying the Government to target more of Ireland’s foreign aid budget at empowering young girls. "In a developing country, girls are the most excluded group of all and by focussing on getting girls into education and offering them an adult life beyond the domestic, they can effect enormous change in their own countries and communities,”