Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what the cost to the public purse was of the Girl Effect Art Installation in her Departmental offices.

There is no Girl Effect Art Installation in DFID offices. The “GIRL” letters were commissioned as a backdrop for Girl Summit 2014, an event hosted by the UK Government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to help bring an end to female genital mutilation and child, early and forced marriage. They were also used as a backdrop for #YouthforChange, a youth event held at the Department for International Development on 19 July to kick-start a youth movement on girls’ rights.

Nike Foundation made a substantive financial contribution to the Girl Summit, including providing funds to cover the cost of the “GIRL” letters. These continue to be displayed in the entrance hall of the Department for International Development as a way of maintaining momentum from the Girl Summit and raising awareness of the need to end FGM and CEFM within a generation.