KANSAS CITY, Mo. (March 17, 2026) — As Women’s History Month spotlights global efforts to advance gender equity, Children International is elevating the conversation through its Multiplying Good podcast, examining how long-term investments in girls and women help break cycles of generational poverty.
“When girls have access to education, health care and opportunity, the benefits ripple outward, strengthening families, communities and local economies,” said Kristen Mallory, Director of Global Programs for Children International, a global nonprofit that equips children in 10 countries to forge a path out of poverty.
Mallory, a featured guest in Episode 2 of Multiplying Good, shares how Children International’s evolution over the past 90 years has shifted from meeting urgent material needs to advancing education, workforce development and leadership opportunities for girls and young women.
“Investing in women is one of the most powerful poverty reduction strategies we can take,” she said.
Gender inequity remains a significant driver of poverty worldwide, limiting access to education, health care, and economic opportunity for millions of girls and women. According to the United Nations, about 9.2% of women and girls across the globe live in extreme poverty — a slightly higher rate than men and boys (8.6%). Without accelerated, gender-responsive action, that gap could persist through 2030, the UN warns.
Targeted interventions can change that trajectory. In its Gender Snapshot 2025, the UN reports that expanding access to education and closing the gender digital divide could lift 30 million women and girls out of poverty by 2050 and add an estimated $1.5 trillion to global GDP by 2030.
The new episode of Multiplying Good also features Yokasta Valenzuela, a Children International graduate who offers a firsthand example of how investing in girls and women can alter their trajectories. Valenzuela enrolled in Children International’s sponsorship program at age 7, when her family struggled to meet basic needs. She is now the founder and director of a thriving nonprofit dance academy that serves hundreds of children through programming, mentorship and scholarships.
“Children International (reinforced for me) that your present does not define your future,” Valenzuela said during the podcast conversation. “Dream big and fight for what you want.”
Valenzuela credits Children International’s long-term sponsorship and community support with helping her envision a future beyond poverty — and inspiring her to create opportunities for others. Her story underscores how sustained investment in girls can translate into leadership, entrepreneurship and community-level change.
“When women prosper, everyone prospers,” Mallory said. “This is an issue we should all care about.”
“Multiplying Good” is available on all traditional podcast platforms, including Spotify, Apple podcast and iHeart, and on Children International’s YouTube channel. To subscribe, watch or listen on YouTube, visit https://tinyurl.com/MultiplyingGoodPodcast or @Children.International.
Children International, based in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, is a global nonprofit that delivers child and youth development programming to break generational cycles of poverty. From childhood through young adulthood, Children International empowers young people in Colombia, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, India, Guatemala, Mexico, the Philippines, Zambia and the United States to forge a path out of poverty through access to health care, educational support, positive role models, and the life and job skills they need to become sustainably employed. When equipped to improve their own lives, young people also transform their families and communities, for generations to come. For more information, visit children.org.
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