Jill Biden, a college educator and wife of Vice President Joe Biden, will travel to Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone this summer.
Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and Catherine Russell, U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, will accompany Biden.
Biden will stress that girls' education and women's participation in government, the economy and civil society can spur economic development, improve health and educational outcomes and strengthen democracies, according to the White House.
The trio will leave June 30 and return July 7.
By Anita Kumar
McClatchy Washington Bureau