The Obama Foundation has announced the launch of the Global Girls Alliance, a program focussed on supporting access to education for adolescent girls worldwide.

“When you educate a girl you educate a family, a community, a country,” said former First Lady Michelle Obama, launching the program in an interview on NBC show Today.

“If we care about climate change, poverty…then we need to care about education. Right now, there are 98 million adolescent girls who are not in school.”

The program will support grassroots organisations, projects and leaders dedicated to girls’ education around the world.