White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of one of the most powerful clubs in America.

Office of Gordon & Sarah Brown Launch "Education for All" Initiative

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As part of their “Education for All” campaign, the Office of Gordon & Sarah Brown announced a new initiative to get the 67 million children in the world without any formal schooling into education.  (We previously reported on the Brown’s efforts when Sarah spoke at the Women in the World Summit.) Their effort will focus on the one million children in South Sudan who are not in school – a larger proportion of children out of school than almost any other country in the world.

“Education for All” will call on the World Bank’s Global Partnership for Education (GPE) who meet next week and will have the opportunity to approve the education plan for the newest country in the world.  The campaign launch includes “The Sudan Report:  Investing In A Better Future” and an Avaaz campaign to “Send 1 Million Kids to School.”

Africare Celebrates 40th Anniversary

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Some of the world’s top champions on the front lines in the fight against global poverty gathered at the National Building Museum in Washington on Friday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Africare.

The 2010 Bishop Walker Memorial Dinner, the nation’s largest annual fund raising event for Africa, honored three leaders, including a lifetime achievement award to His Excellency Nelson Mandela; the Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service award to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank, and the Corporate Award to Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of the Exxon Mobil Corporation.

The crowd cheered as the daughter and grandson of Nelson Mandela accepted his award, thanking the work of Africare and challenging those in the audience by stating Mandela’s legacy is now in their hands.

Africare is the oldest and largest African-American led non-profit organization specializing in African aid. In the last forty years, Africare has delivered over $1 billion in assistance and support to over 36 countries in Africa, in more than 2,500 projects.

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former Nigerian Finance Minster, stirred a rousing round of applause as she called for the audience to “stop thinking of aid as aid: we must think of aid as investment.”

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Christy Turlington Rock for the Adolescent Girls Initiative

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All eyes and cameras were on Christy Turlington Burns dancing in the front row with Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director of the World Bank, to Emmanuel Jal’s music. Jal is a Sudanese former child soldier turned hip-hop artist and activist who along with Christy, was at World Bank headquarters to support the Bank’s Adolescent Girls Initiative.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iwaela hosted the event marking the second anniversary of this unique initiative which co-sponsored by the Nike Foundation. The program highlights the global struggle with maternal mortality and actress Anne Hathaway, Haitian Finance Minister Ronald Baudin and girls from around the globe who have have been empowered by this special program all spoke at the event. Dr. Iwaela described how the World Bank will ultimately work with all Bank member countries to implement the Adolescent Girls Initiative.