The empowering message behind this video…
UK charity, Theirworld, believes that all children everywhere deserve the best start in life, and is working for a future where every child can have a safe birth, a great education and the chance to change the world.
Following their idea that being united makes a louder noise to demand change, the charity launched a global movement in 2013, ‘A World At School’. The campaign united hundreds of thousands of people from different walks of life with one shared goal: education for every child.
This week they have launched a new campaign film, ‘Safe Schools: Children Can No Longer Wait’ – a video poem composed of the voices of young people around the world, featuring actor and TheirWorld ambassador Laura Carmichael and magician Dynamo. The video highlights a powerful message, that children trapped in conflicts and natural disasters need safe schools.
Five hundred of the charity’s global youth ambassadors were asked to share words that reflected the importance of school, transformed into a powerful poem by spoken word artist Yomi ‘GREEdS’ Sode. Through just their words he managed to paint ‘a powerful and emotive picture of the value children place on returning to a school in the aftermath of a humanitarian emergency for protection, education and social support.’
It’s no coincidence that TheirWorld’s Safe Schools campaign video has been uploaded this week – in just three days the first ever World Humanitarian Summit will be held in Istanbul. The campaign will be calling on world leaders at the summit to launch an immediate fund ensuring children return to school quickly in the aftermath of a crisis.
In 2015, the education of over 75 million children was affected by humanitarian emergencies – with the children out of school being subjected to child labour, early marriage and other forms of exploitation.
‘Using the words shared by young people who may have experienced or been close to a humanitarian disaster and using their voice to develop this poem gave it legitimacy and depth in a way that could have otherwise been hard to capture’ explained artist and poet, Yomi ‘GREEdS’ Sode. ‘I wanted to develop these words to ensure the reader got a unique sense of what a school can provide in the aftermath of a conflict or disaster - not just for learning but for protection.
‘This time last year I travelled to Lebanon with Theirworld to meet Syrian children who are crying out for the chance to return to school and rebuild their lives’ explained Laura Carmichael, ‘this funding can restore some hope for the children I met, and millions more who in the future may be affected by humanitarian disasters. These children cannot wait any longer, we need to ensure their futures are prioritized, and their lives protected from a life of exploitation with the provision of a safe school.’
While the number of emergencies has been going up, the funding to get children back into school has been going down – and as a result, millions of children around the world are put at risk of being married off, being trafficked, becoming child labourers, and of course extremism.
CALL TO ACTION: In July 2015 a joint call to action, led by ‘A World at School’ (Theirworld's initiative) demanded ‘new and immediate finance’ to deliver education in emergencies – this was later agreed upon at the Oslo Summit on Education for Development.
Now, they need to pledge their money to make their commitment a reality - and they can do so at the first ever World Humanitarian Summit.
This new platform can and must reach at least 20 million children annually within 5 years, with a plan in place to reach every child by 2030.
Act now to protect the most vulnerable children in the world by signing the Safe School petition at aworldatschool.org/safeschools
