Show Notes
This is a special edition of the Better Angels podcast where we talk to iconic changemakers around the world.
This episode has been recorded for the People's Postcode Lottery – for everyone who plays it and everyone who works there supporting both the players and the charities – at Theirworld we want to say thank you and share some of our stories from our Better Angels interviews so you can hear about the impact that your support makes.
Here you will hear from global leaders from the United Nations, European Commission, Africa, and Lebanon, from the Theirworld leadership team, our ambassador Nick Sharratt and if you listen to the end how well known actors like David Morrissey, Sir Patrick Stewart and David Tennant add their voices to our campaigns and causes they care about.
Theirworld's vision is to end the global education crisis and unleash the potential of the next generation.
Five years ago, while nearly half of the world's out-of-school children were caught up in conflict, its aftermath and natural disasters around the world, big change was needed. This meant addressing large-scale structural change as well as determining what works on the ground - from school transport and nutritious meals to trauma counselling and effective teaching for refugee children. The players of the People's Postcode Lottery have enabled Theirworld to tackle new areas of involvement, push our campaign worldwide and get right up close to the decision-makers who can unlock that big change and create a brighter future for millions of children.
We believe that the trust that the players, and the team at People's Postcode Lottery, have placed in Theirworld has made a difference to our goals. And we would like to share with you some of the perspectives on how we go about addressing the global education crisis
Contributors (in order of appearance)
Sarah Brown Chair, Theirworld
Graça Machel Global advocate for women's and children's rights
Wanja Maina Global Youth Ambassador for Theirworld.
Jamira Burley Youth engagement advisor, Theirworld
Amina Mohammed Deputy Secretary-General, the United Nations
Annemiek Hoogenboom Country Director, People's Postcode Lotteries
Christos Stylianides Former European Commissioner for Humanitarian and Aid Crisis Management
Melissa Fleming Head of Communications, the United Nations
Elias Bou Saab Former Lebanese Minister for Education and Higher Education
Justin van Fleet President, Theirworld
Nick Sharratt Children's illustrator and author
Yasmine Sherif Director, Education Cannot Wait David Morrissey Actor and UNHCR ambassador
David Tennant Actor
Sir Patrick Stewart Actor
Shazia Ramzan Global Youth Ambassador for Theirworld
Kainat Riaz Global Youth Ambassador for Theirworld
Better Angels is presented by Sarah Brown. The producer is Ben Hewitt, and it is edited by Warren Borg of Worgie productions. February 2020.
More from Better Angels with Sarah Brown
This year, Theirworld launched the Act For Early Years campaign, calling on world leaders and global institutions to act to support the world's youngest children.
To celebrate the 100th episode of Better Angels on World Children's Day, Sarah handed over her hosting microphone to Andrew Jack, global education editor of the Financial Times, for a wide-ranging interview with her and her husband, Gordon Brown, about the state of global education. Andrew asked Sarah and Gordon, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, about their motivations for advocating for children's education and what actions world leaders need to take to give all children around the world a quality education. "If we could become the first generation in history where every single child had an education and where instead of developing some of the potential of some of the children in some countries, we developed all the potential of all children in all countries, then that would, in my view, make the biggest difference to our prospects and possibilities as a world," said Gordon. Sarah reflects on her career as an activist and shares her insights from working with youth activists, displaced families and global movements for change during her 20 years as founder of the global children's charity Theirworld.
In November, the world will gather in Egypt for COP27, the United Nations Climate Change Conference, to discuss ways to tackle the climate emergency. In this episode, Sarah Brown speaks with Keya Lamba, the co-founder of Earth Warriors, an organisation bringing climate education to curriculums around the world, and most recently, with the support of Theirworld, to schools in Zambia and Botswana. Keya talks about how climate education empowers students to take action to make the planet safer and greener. Sarah also speaks with Maria Mphanza, a teacher at Mnyaula Community School in Zambia, one of the schools about to begin Earth Warriors' curriculum, about her hope that the programme will help to combat deforestation in her community.
Right now, 260 million children are not in school, and many more are in the classroom but not receiving a quality education. Let down by poorly trained teachers, outdated curriculums and lack of digital connectivity, they risk not reaching their full learning potential. Next week, world leaders will debate solutions to this crisis at the historic Transforming Education Summit in New York during the United Nations General Assembly. To mark the summit, Theirworld Chair Sarah Brown spoke with Jayathma Wickramanayake, United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth, and two Theirworld Global Youth Ambassadors, Mathilde Boulogne and Yuv Sungkur, who will be attending the event. The Envoy spoke about why it is crucial for world leaders to listen to young campaigners and offered advice to young people trying to make their voices heard. Mathilde and Yuv discussed why they are supporting the #LetMeLearn campaign, and what action they hope world leaders will take to avert an education catastrophe.
In the final episode of Theirworld's 20th anniversary special, Theirworld Chair Sarah Brown talks with Beatrace Ndisha Mwanjala, a Global Youth Ambassador from Kenya, about what needs to be done to ensure we meet the United Nations goal of inclusive and quality education for all children by 2030. Beatrace shares some of her own struggles accessing education, including what it was like to walk long distances to school when faced with the threat from wild animals. Sarah also speaks with Justin van Fleet, President of Theirworld and Executive Director of the Global Business Coalition for Education, about his hopes for the future, and the power of education to fight inequality. "Education has the power to be a great equaliser," Justin says. "It can be a rising tide that can lift all boats, and I think getting equity in educational access and then the quality of education delivery that all young people deserve, that's going to be the biggest challenge we're facing."