Christian Dior Supports Education in Kenya

Pledging to donate up to $250,000, the French fashion brand, Christian Dior, supports education in Kenya behind ‘WE Charity’, a benevolent division of the Canadian association ‘WE Movement’ with the “Dior Love Chain”. Their movement is in support of work for WE Schools in Kenya.

Executing their advocacy with collaborative programs both globally and domestically, WE Charity is a global charity and educational partner based in Canada.

WE Charity partners with communities to implement WE Villages, a holistic, five-pillar international development model designed to achieve sustainable growth in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Presently providing services in Kenya, rural China, Sierra Leone, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Haiti and India, WE Villages is an advocate for community development in areas where there are excessive amounts of child labor, exploitation of children and a lack of opportunities for the girl child.

Within the five-pillar model they help provide education, installations of clean water sites and health clinics. WE Villages also provides food in school gardens, for families and in schools with help from founding partner PotashCor. Finally, it assists parents, especially moms, by innovating new economic opportunities through leadership sessions, financial literacy workshops and vocational training.

WE Charity’s goal is aimed at providing Kenyan girls with an education. Each post in the Dior Love Chain will offer the opportunity to donate one dollar to WE Charity by the Dior house, Parfums Christian Dior. The Dior Love Chain campaign is using all social media networks as the platform and is up to almost $40,000 worth of uploads.

With a commercial video posted to Twitter, Instagram and Weibo, Dior supports education in Kenya by inviting all social media users to upload their own artistic expression in answering, “And you? What would you do for love?” with a video or photo.

The commercial opens with dialogue exchange as the campaign called to their muses and house friends. Stars featured to advocate the initiative include Rihanna, Carine Roitfeld, Bella Hadid, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Winnie Harlow and Jennifer Lawrence to name a few.

Each post uploaded to the listed platforms and “hashtagged” #DiorLoveChain will be considered for publishing to Dior.com by the campaign and will run up until December 31, 2017.

– Jalil Perry

Photo: Flickr

Nathan Fillion Supports the Sawla Children’s Home

Actor Nathan Fillion spent much of July 17 on Twitter personally thanking donors to the Sawla Children’s Home. In May, he announced the chance to “Win A Shiny Birthday Lunch” through a special Prizeo sweepstakes. Everyone who donated $10 or more was entered to win a ticket to Los Angeles and Facetime with Fillion on his birthday.

With true fundraising prowess, Fillion offered a slew of services to his donors, including thank you videos, voicemail messages, merchandise and personal tweets. Close to 1200 donors left comments on Prizeo thanking Fillion for supporting Sawla Children’s Home.

The International Assistance Program
The Sawla Children’s Home is one of the six main projects of the International Assistance Program, also known as iAssist. iAssist is a faith-based nonprofit which seeks to meet the needs of impoverished communities. In addition to the Children’s Home in Ghana, they sponsor a school for indigenous Guatemalans, a loan agency in Ethiopia, family services in Costa Rica and international sustainable water solutions.

Problems Facing Children’s Homes in Ghana
According to a report by the Department of Social Welfare, child care across Ghana suffers from institutional failures. Many children’s homes are unauthorized by the government, under-trained and use unreliable sources of income. They also have unreliable strategies for transitioning residents out of foster care. This is partly because Ghana lacks quality training programs and the government has an overall lack of political will to institute changes. As a result, the local communities are disinterested in supporting children’s homes. The DSW also reports cases of neglect within existing facilities.

Sawla Children’s Sustainable Practices
The Sawla Children’s Home began in 2007. Ten years later, they report well-fed, healthy residents who are excelling in school and impacting their local community. As a successful facility, the Sawla Children’s Home models unique strategies that help to overcome the institutional failures common in Ghana.

This success is largely due to its sustainability initiatives. Three main projects support the Children’s Home: farming, a tractor business and a van business.

• Van business: The Sawla Children’s Home owns a 15-passenger van. The van becomes a sort of taxi for local points of interest. In particular, the van regularly takes tourists to the region’s national parks.
• Tractor business: In addition to selling surplus crops at the local market, Sawla Children’s Home contributes to food security in the region by leasing their tractor. When it is not in use, the tractor travels to local farms as a method of generating revenue. The secondary consequence is that all farms in the region are able to produce more crops.
• Farming: The Sawla Children’s Home uses a 20-acre farm to grow maize, yams, cashews and mangoes. They use these crops to feed residents and sell the surplus. This also teaches residences basic agricultural principles that can be used when they exit the program.

How Sustainability Overcomes Institutional Failures
These sustainable initiatives are an important tactic for overcoming institutional failures common throughout Ghana. First, they provide reliable sources of income. Second, they teach residents practical life skills like farming and business. Third, they foster respect for the local community.

In turn, this means that the Sawla Children’s Home can afford trained staff members. Access to quality nutrition gives students an advantage in school. That advantage, along with the skills they learn from these initiatives, aides in transitioning into the community. Finally, as residents leave the Children’s Home successfully, they will place a higher value on their experiences. This means that when they become community members, they are more likely to promote the interests of the foster care sector and overcome stigmas preventing the community from caring for its orphans.

– Brandon J. White

Photo: Flickr

Rihanna Raises Five Million Dollars at Annual Diamond Ball

Robyn Fenty, popularly known as Rihanna, hosted the Diamond Ball with the help of Dave Chappelle on September 14th, 2017. The event occurred at Cipriani Wall Street, and this was her first time hosting the ball in New York City. The charity event raised over five million dollars for the health and education initiatives of the Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF) for the Caribbean Islands and Malawi. The CLF promotes innovative education, health and emergency response programs around the world.

The CLF actively participates in global advocacy with the goal of improving the quality of life for young people everywhere. The CLF’s current agendas are involved with the Clara Lionel Foundation Global Scholarship Program, the Clara Braithwaite Center for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Barbados and the Barbados Micro Grants Program.

The director of the Clara Lionel Foundation, Justine Lucas, mentioned at the event that they were one of the first few organizations to aid Hurricane Harvey victims. They are also planning to invest in Irma recovery.

While the charity event was by invitation only, Rihanna’s family and many notable celebrities attended in support of the pop singer’s philanthropic efforts. Young Thug, Beyoncé, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Foxx supported Rihanna’s cause. Even President Barack Obama sent in a video message where he thanked Rihanna for her work with her foundation. “You’ve become a powerful force in helping people find hope and dignity,” said a delighted Obama.

Through Dave Chappelle’s charisma and Rihanna’s ploy to get her guests influenced by alcohol (and their own compassion), the Diamond Ball raised over $5 million for health and education initiatives. “I hope that as you hear about what we are doing and what we plan to do, you too will be inspired to join our mission. The more you drink, the more inspired you’ll be to donate money … and help kids around the world,” Rihanna slyly encouraged her guests.

– Jalil Perry

Photo: Flickr

Illuminating the Humanitarian Side of Priyanka Chopra

Brought to fame by winning the Miss World title, Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra has been making waves globally. Not only has she starred in the ABC primetime show Quantico, but also she has acted in the Hollywood movie Baywatch. The humanitarian side of Priyanka Chopra, however, is one that her fans are often not aware of.

Chopra is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and has sponsored the education and medical costs of seventy children in India. Furthermore, 10 percent of her income goes toward running her nonprofit, the Priyanka Chopra Foundation of Health and Education.

Chopra was introduced to social work at the young age of nine. According to the New York Times, her parents would take her on trips to the underdeveloped regions of India to provide medical assistance. There, she witnessed the blatant discrimination between girls and boys. “Parents believed that their sons were better than their daughters,” Chopra recalls.

Her experiences as a child are reflected in her choice of working with young children, especially young girls. Recently, Chopra spent two days in Jordan to visit Syrian children. She told UNICEF that “an entire generation of children are being shaped by violence and displacement.” Furthermore, she explains that this catastrophe does not only encompass Syrian citizens but the entire world–it is a humanitarian crisis.

The Za’atari refugee camp harbors the highest number of Syrians in Jordan. Chopra spent time meeting with girls there at the school sponsored by UNICEF. While chatting and playing with the children, she faced the harsh reality of child marriage and the dearth of educational resources. There were “too many girls younger than 18 with kids,” she explained to UNICEF.

Although they are eager to learn and often hope for professional careers, there are not enough resources for these children to get a competitive education. Many doors of opportunity close to these children when they become part of the job market in the future. The Washington Post reports that over half a million Syrian refugees of school age are not enrolled in school.

Chopra, however, should not be underestimated in her mission to make sure that “no child is denied a dream.” Although she cannot eradicate poverty, she surely will do her best to encourage and support many children globally, as she has already done in her native country, India.

Other than her collaboration with UNICEF, as a producer, she has also encouraged underprivileged artists. By producing movies in Indian regional languages, she gives artists an opportunity that would have otherwise been ignored. Her latest movie, Pahuna, highlights the conditions of refugees in the Indian state of Sikkim.

Forming personal relationships with the children and posting her experiences on social media, Chopra is using her platform and reach to expose the world to the reality of many troubled countries. The humanitarian side of Priyanka Chopra is slowly coming into the view of the world.

Chopra once told the New York Times that “these young people have the potential to transform society if we invest in them.” Since then, she has proven on multiple occasions her commitment to the youth of the world.

– Tanvi Wattal

Photo: Flickr

Rihanna’s Charity Work: Fighting Poverty in Malawi

In January 2017, Rihanna visited Malawi on behalf of her foundation, the Clara Lionel Foundation. She also journeyed as a global ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education.

During her stay, Rihanna, accompanied by former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, hoped to learn more about the challenges regarding health and education in Malawi. Global Citizen uploaded a short film documenting Rihanna’s charity work. The film depicts the poverty, hunger, poor education and the lack of many basic human rights that many children face in Malawi. In addition to interacting with children, Rihanna also discussed future improvement strategies with key political leaders.

The situation regarding education in Malawi requires immediate action. This documentary and Rihanna’s charity work helped bring attention to the severity of conditions in Malawi. According to a World Bank survey, one in two Malawians live in poverty, making it the country’s most pressing issue.

Currently, the fight against poverty in Malawi has experienced little progress in the past decade. Like many impoverished countries, the rural regions of Malawi are the most heavily impacted. The issue is primarily due to volatile economic conditions, natural disasters and poor performance in the agricultural sector. The World Bank has suggested that one possible solution could be investing in secondary education for women.

These issues regarding poverty and education have a particularly profound impact on young Malawian women. Rihanna’s charity work, as shown in the documentary, addresses how issues such as poor public infrastructure put young women in danger while walking to school. In addition, cultural practices such as arranged marriages deter women from pursuing education.

Rihanna’s charity work in Malawi attempts to increase global awareness of these issues while creating connections with key leaders. The Global Partnership for Education has raised funds for global education, and in past years has focused specifically on “inclusive, equitable quality education for all by 2030.” In fact, the organization hopes to raise $3.1 billion for over 870 million children in 89 countries between 2018 and 2020. Partnering with Rihanna allowed them to combine these goals with the singer’s interest in education for girls and arts education.

In years past, Rihanna has used her fame to further her charity work. As a champion for women’s rights and access to arts and education, Rihanna established the Clara Lionel Foundation in 2012. The nonprofit fights to “improve the quality of life for communities globally in the areas of health, education, arts and culture.” The foundation creates scholarships, partners with various corporations, holds fundraising events and does much more in an effort to provide these areas with the resources they need.

– Julia Morrison

Photo: Flickr