On Tuesday, in her role as UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Shakira met with a group of adolescent girls from impoverished parts of the country to discuss the importance of educating and empowering girls to break the cycle of poverty and inequity – nationally and globally.

Shakira met the group of adolescent girls associated with the KGBV (Kasturba Gandhi Ballika vidalaya) residential educational programme in Udaipur, Rajasthan, who come from areas where the literacy level is around 5% for women and some 20% for men.

“My interaction with these adolescent girls was energizing and inspiring,” said Shakira.  “It only reminded me, once again, that girls are a precious resource of intellectual and physical ability - a resource that can help to further society. They need the chance to be educated and empowered.”

The KGBV programme addresses the need for education for the most disadvantaged girls who are marginalized and often difficult to reach.  The value of the girl child in the family is generally low, leading to boys being valued over girls – from nutritional intake to getting an education - and girls dropping out of school in order to look after the household.  In addition, the school environment is often not conducive for girls, including the lack of sanitation facilities.

Shakira called for a collective push to ensure that girls have the ability, support and availability to get a quality education.

“For too many girls, the basic human right to education is denied,” said Shakira. “Yet, educating adolescent girls and ensuring their participation in decision-making that affects them plays a significant role in enhancing their sense of self-worth.”

The meeting was part of Shakira's passionate advocacy work for global education, calling for the expansion and improvement of education, especially for the most disadvantaged children and youth.

Today 1.2 billion youth stand at the crossroads between childhood and the adult world. India is home to 20% of the world’s adolescents. With 243 million adolescents in India, about a quarter of its population are adolescents. If this group flourishes, so will communities and countries. Although progress is being made, in India almost 40% of young girls in the ages of 14 to 17 are out of school.

Here's another fascinating speech from Shakira - this time at the Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. It's well worth a watch...

Being here today is a tremendous honor for me.  I am thankful to President Obama and I am humbled that my philanthropic experience could be helpful in some measure and can be used to amplify the message and work of the President and this Commission.

Latino youth are the fastest-growing group in America, and more Latino children are living in poverty than children of any other racial or ethnic group. For a number of reasons, young Latinos in this country disproportionately drop out of school and far too few finish college.  And as I have seen in my own Foundation work, the only road out of poverty is education - of that I am convinced.

Investing in the educational achievement for Latinos will not only determine the economic future and competitiveness of this nation, but can serve as a model for the world.

I hope that through my appointment to this commission, I will be able to share what I’ve learned through the 15 years I have been involved in the education of Latino children. I am sure you will agree with me that race and ethnicity shouldn’t be factors in the success of any child.

It is my belief and its also been demonstrated that if we provide early childhood education to Latino children it would take less than a decade to reap the benefits since investment in early education is proven to generate the fastest returns to the state.

With more ECD programs there will be less Latino students being held back, less dropouts and less crime involving school-age children; and they will be more productive individuals to society.



It's proven that most Latino kids who drop out of school and perform poorly in high school didn't have access to an early childhood education and lacked essential attention, stimulation and  nutrition during the first 6 years of their lives.

Therefore, it is clear that the most powerful avenue for boosting academic achievement is improving the basic academic skills of children before kindergarten.

The Obama administration has made a point to improve Latino education and – as I spoke to the President previously – I am extremely passionate about working with the White House to plan an early childhood education summit in the coming year.

Latinos are the largest minority group in this country and as the Latino population grows, the U.S. economy becomes more and more dependent on its success. Americans must better understand the impact that the growing Latino population is having on the way we live today and on this nations future. Inevitably this country and its economic prosperity will also largely depend on our Hispanic kids.

There is no doubt that the future of the United States is inextricably tied to the future of the Latino community here and the education of its youth.

Thank you again, this is a great honor for me, I am so happy to be here.

- Shakira's Harvard speech
- Shakira's Oxford Union speech