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pregnant teenager walks into an Indonesian antenatal care clinic. Her body is trembling, her palms sweaty with nerves. It is clear to everyone around: she is not ready to become a mother, physically or psychologically.

But, this didn'€™t have to be her fate. This story, multiplied hundreds of millions of times, is the reason why we need to invest more '€” and smarter '€” in girls'€™ and women'€™s health, rights and well-being.

While Indonesia has made significant progress to decrease teenage pregnancy, there is still much to be done. According to Indonesia'€™s 2012 Demographic and Health Survey, 10 percent of adolescent girls aged between 15 and 19 years old are already mothers or pregnant with their first child. One of the biggest challenges is that young people don'€™t have access to the health, rights and services they need. Globally, even today, more than 225 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using modern contraception.

If we fill these global gaps in sexual and reproductive health services, education and rights '€” and provide women with the full range of pregnancy care they are entitled to '€” we could reduce unintended pregnancy by 70 percent and unsafe abortion by 74 percent according to UNFPA and Guttmacher Institute. We also know that when adolescents and women can choose when and whether to have children, they are more likely to reach their full potential '€” and so are their families, communities and economies.

For these reasons we owe it to our mothers, sisters and daughters, as well as our families and communities, to do more and do better. In Indonesia, young people are working hard to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights on the ground.

One example is a project at the Sultan Agung Islamic University (UNISSULA), which provides sexual and reproductive education to teenagers in high school. Education is the first step in making sure adolescents have access to the sexual and reproductive health services they need to make their own choices about when and if to become a mother.

More broadly, we must approach health and development through a gender lens. We must look for solutions from every region, sector and generation '€” from offering free family planning services and supplies, as in Indonesia, to implementing youth-driven solutions to increase access to sexual and reproductive education.

These solutions and many more will be explored at the Women Deliver 2016 taking place in Copenhagen in May. Global and local leaders, such as Farhan Akhtar, World Health Organization director general Margaret Chan and founder of Grameen Bank Muhammad Yunus, will stand alongside 5,000 world influencers and advocates '€” from the highest-levels of government to grassroots change-makers '€” to discuss how to deliver on promises to girls and women.

Crucially, a good 20 percent of attendees will be young people '€” and for good reason: young people aren'€™t just our tomorrow. They are the leaders of today, and must be given opportunities to drive change in their communities.

With the endorsement of the recently launched Sustainable Development Goals '€” a set of UN goals adopted by 193 countries that aim to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all by 2030 '€” we can and must ensure that the global push to end poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change starts with every girl and woman, no matter where she lives, no matter her age. As they say, it is time to translate the '€œtalk into walk'€ and turn speech lines into budget lines.

This International Women'€™s Day, let'€™s recognize the powerful solutions every young person and every generation has to offer. Let'€™s work smarter for girls and women everywhere.
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Katja Iversen is the chief executive officer of New York-based Women Deliver and Hanifatur Rosyidah is a lecturer of midwifery and public health at Sultan Agung Islamic University, Semarang, selected as one of Women Deliver young leaders.