Double Academy Award winning Hilary Swank has travelled to Ethiopia to learn more about the importance of education and the opportunities that it brings in some of the more disadvantaged communities in the world.
Partnering with UNICEF and Montblanc, Hilary shares a commitment to give every child the opportunity to learn how to read and write, making a crucial contribution to breaking the poverty cycle, one step at a time.
Visiting a countryside beyond the Ethiopian capital, Hilary Swank and Lutz Bethge, Montblanc CEO witnessed the success of the Child-to-Child (CTC) pre-primary education in providing preschool-aged children with early learning at the Dima Guranda Primary School in the Sebeta District, Oromia Region.
Through the hard work of young facilitators, usually older students, CTC has become a winning model to prevent children from dropping out of primary school.
While at Mekdella Primary School, Hilary Swank was particularly moved by the “Gender Club”, a school supported activity programme promoting gender equality in education giving girls and boys practical knowledge to overcome inequalities and violence, as well as achieving a better understanding of health, hygiene and environmental issues.
Empowered with better knowledge provided by teachers; these self-confident young women and men have a fighting chance of improving their situation.
In Ethiopia alone, support from Montblanc has contributed to the establishment of 2,400 and rehabilitation of 800 Alternative Basic Education Centres reaching 846,000 children including many orphans and pastoralists. Providing children with quality basic education will in turn give them significantly better chances in life.
For every piece in the “Signature for Good” Collection sold between 1 March 2013 and 31 March 2014, Montblanc will donate part of its proceeds to raise at least $1.5 million dollars to UNICEFʼs education programmes, focusing on the most vulnerable children, through the Schools for Africa and Asia initiatives, and programmes in Latin America.
For more information please visit www.signatureforgood.montblanc.com.
