2026 UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education awarded to projects from Morocco, Peru

PARIS, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The projects from Morocco and Peru became the laureates of the 2026 UNESCO Prize for Girls' and Women's Education in Paris on Friday.

One of the 2026 laureates, Project Soar, was recognized for its Project Soar in a Bag initiative, which helps underserved adolescent girls in Morocco and beyond stay in school and shape their futures. Since 2017, the initiative has reached more than 8,000 adolescent girls across five countries.

CARE Peru was recognized for its "Girls with Opportunities" project, which helps rural and Indigenous adolescent girls complete secondary education and build pathways to further study and decent work. Since 2016, the initiative has benefited more than 37,000 rural girls aged 14 to 19.

Speaking at the award ceremony, UNESCO Director-General Khaled El-Enany said the winning projects were helping advance gender equality through concrete actions and demonstrating that when girls are given opportunities, support and confidence to shape their own futures, they become powerful agents of change for their families, their communities and their societies. He also thanked China for its continued support for the prize and UNESCO's efforts to promote education.

The ceremony was held ahead of the International Day of the Girl Child, observed on Oct. 11. Chen Qun, UNESCO assistant director-general for education, said that 133 million girls worldwide remained out of school, while women accounted for nearly two-thirds of all adults unable to read.

He stressed the need to use evidence to understand where inequalities persist and why, and to turn successful approaches into lasting change. Advancing gender equality in and through education is central to UNESCO's mandate, he added.

Ren Youqun, China's vice minister of education, said at an event following the ceremony that education is far more than access to knowledge: it opens doors, creates opportunities and empowers every person to realize their full potential. When girls and women are empowered through education, families flourish, communities grow stronger and entire societies prosper, he added.

On the same day, UNESCO organized a roundtable discussion on the gender-focused component of its 2026 Global Education Monitoring Report.

Since China established the prize in cooperation with UNESCO in 2015, the award has continued to exert a positive impact and received extensive attention and high recognition from the international community.