Angelina Jolie Announces Commitments to Educate One Million Children Affected by Conflict
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA 
on 09.26.07
Actress Angelina Jolie, the other half of the unfairly good-looking Jolie-Pitt juggernaut, announced at today's Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) that members of the Education Partnership for Children of Conflict, which Jolie co-founded as part of a 2006 CGI commitment, has pledged to educate more than one million children whose lives have been irrevocably shaken by conflict around the world—including young people affected by Darfur genocide, girls and youth in rural Afghanistan, and other groups across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.
"Education can transform the lives of children in conflict, giving them the tools to create a better future for their families and their nations," explained Jolie, who co-chairs the Education Partnership with Gene Sperling, Director of the Center for Universal Education at the Council on Foreign Relations. "This Partnership is putting words into action," Jolie explained, "and demonstrating that even in the most difficult circumstances, every child can and should have a chance to learn."
In total, the Partnership's commitments represent $148 million for the field of conflict education. They include:
18 commitments from 19 organizations and individuals in 15 countries
Commitments to improve educational opportunities for over one million conflict-affected children:
Partnership commitments will provide 350,000 out-of-school children in conflict-affected regions an opportunity to attend school.
Improve the learning environment, safety, materials and teacher quality of another 690,0000 children in conflict-affected regions.
The commitments will assist 200,000 Iraqi refugee children.
It will aid more than 300,000 children affected by the Darfur genocide.
Also announced were commitments by the following organizations:
The Valentino Achak Deng Foundation
contributed $1.2 million to build a boarding school in Valentino's home village in southern Sudan.UNICEF has teamed up with Microsoft, the International Rescue Committee, and Hewlett-Packard to launch a new $30 million distance-learning initiative that will help $150,000 displaced children, including children affected by the Iraq conflict and children in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The International Rescue Committee is also committing to expand its field-tested Healing Classrooms Initiative to help 70,000 children in Afghanistan and 41,000 children affected by Darfur genocide.
The Save the Children Alliance is committing to expand education programs in place like Jordan and Lebanon to serve Iraqi refugees; and in Darfur and in southern Sudan.
The Sesame Workshop has committed to launch Sesame Street Afghanistan to teach Afghan children not only to read, but to understand words such as "tolerance" and "reconciliation."
American Jewish World Service has raised $2.2 million to support education in Darfur, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Guatemala.
The Norwegian Refugee Council will expand its innovative accelerated learning programs to serve over 100,000 out-of-school youth in southern Sudan, as well as Iraqi refugees in Lebanon and Syria.
The Children's Investment Fund Foundation has committed an additional $3 million to help expand the IRC's education work in northern Uganda.
- Unbound Philanthropy has committed to funding $500,00 in education projects developed through the Partnership.
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Is School Food Harming Kids? Enlist a Labor Day Eat-In To Promote Fresh, Healthy Food
- Green Glossary: Nature Deficit Disorder
- Wa$ted Episode: A Basic Education
- Rainy Day? Entertain the Kids with Green Activities for Under $25
- Reduce Your Carbon Footprint by Half in Three Steps
- Be a Green Volunteer in Portland
This is another example of why many Americans have little regard for people like Jolie. Do good works? By all means. Advertise every work that you do so that others may praise you? Never.
That's the problem with people like Orenthal James - they think she is showing off! Angelina uses her fame in a positive way to draw attention to the issues, not herself. More famous stars should follow in her footsteps to highlight what the rest of us need to be thinking about. I don't think she is looking for praise - some people just don't get it.
By publicizing her good works she brings much needed attention to the causes she supports. Many Americans will "Zone out" when they hear or see a report about the attempts to help educate children in conflict striken regions but as soon as you say Angelina Jolie peoples ears perk up. Face it, America is a land of "Star" worshipers with short attention spans. If a little self promotion on her part brings people to a cause even if they do it just to emulate her, how is that a bad thing?
By publicizing her good works she brings much needed attention to the causes she supports. Many Americans will "Zone out" when they hear or see a report about the attempts to help educate children in conflict striken regions but as soon as you say Angelina Jolie peoples ears perk up. Face it, America is a land of "Star" worshipers with short attention spans. If a little self promotion on her part brings people to a cause even if they do it just to emulate her, how is that a bad thing?
Orenthal James makes me sad.
Your first reaction might easily have been "How can I add to this effort? I have nearly empty pockets and few opportunities myself or I am already stretched to my limits by the great responsibilities I bear. So even though I cannot donate or travel abroad, I can look around me and help the homeless and destitute children in my community. Maybe I can tutor, or offer daily transportation to school, or arrange for after school activities so their parents can get some relief, or make sure they have socks and underwear and pencils so other kids at school don't scorn them, or take care of their laundry for their parents, or work with them in a community garden."
The point is not self aggrandizement by celebrities, the point here seems to be your own self righteous criticism that prevents you from your own potential to be part of the solution instead of one of the problems.
Don't mean this to be an old fashioned flame, but a reminder to us all that we need to be less judgmental and more contributory.
I want to help Angelie and others as much as i can. I am at home and would love a project. Even Build a School
in Africa or some where, or adopt a new son,
Thank you
looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Roxana
Sharpburg,Ga.
Can you give me some websites to go to to help.....
Thanks again !