During the World Economic Forum meeting starting Jan 16, the queen will be honered with the prestigious Crystal Award for her everlasting commitment to early childhood development and education.
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SHAKIRA
Singer and Songwriter, Barcelona
Crystal Award 2017 for her leadership in advancing early childhood education
Shakira, singer and songwriter, Grammy-winning artist and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, is also a devoted advocate of education, particularly early childhood development (ECD). At age 18, she founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation, which presently has six open-door, state-of-the-art schools providing access to quality education for displaced and underprivileged children in her native Colombia. In addition to building projects that ensure the children have safe and well-equipped learning facilities, the foundation supplies nutritious meals; educational enrichment through art, music and recreation; and economic opportunities for families. The schools serve over 6,000 students and impact over 30,000 members of the community at large.
As a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2003, Shakira has expanded her child advocacy efforts on the global level. She has made eld visits to Bangladesh, Azerbaijan and India and led two global fundraising campaigns to help life-saving supplies reach the world’s most impoverished and at-risk children. During UN Week 2015, she hosted a high-level meeting of advocates and private- and public-sector representatives to discuss the importance of additional investment in ECD on a global scale.
By age ve, children’s brains are 90% of the size of an adult brain. We must invest in this critical window of opportunity where we can enhance children’s futures by nourishing and protecting their bodies, brains and environments, helping them grow into happy and healthy individuals as well as productive adult members of society. The return on investment in early childhood education is indisputable.