I was the middle of five children, and we were five very opinionated siblings. That probably pushed me to learn to speak up for myself.

There is no doubt that a woman's economic empowerment is very much interconnected to her health and the well being of her children.

If we taught children to speak, they'd never learn.

When I want to explain why empowering girls and women is critical to fighting poverty, I often tell a person's story. It's easier to relate to a personal story than to global data telling us that the majority of the billion people who live on less than $2 per day are women and girls. We are often told to never treat a person like a statistic.

In Nueva Esperanza, Honduras, community members pooled their resources and organized a local water committee that with CARE's technical guidance built a gravity-fed water system that now provides clean water directly to people's homes.

At CARE, a leading humanitarian organization, we recognize people live their lives in a holistic manner. Issues such as health care, education and economic empowerment cannot be addressed in a vacuum. Thus, effective programs need to tackle the multiple root causes of poverty.