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. In March, Theirworld brought together a panel of experts to discuss at the critical issues around providing quality care and early learning for young children - and the burden that falls unfairly on women to plug the gap. Sarah Brown, Theirworld Chair, was joined on an Instagram Live by Professor Dame Leslie Regan, the first women's health ambassador for England; Janet Mbugua, Kenyan media personality and gender equality advocate; Sara Pascoe, a comedian, writer and actor, and Sanjana Sanghi, an Indian actor and Save the Children India's Youth Advocate for Education. In this episode, the panellists share their own experiences balancing their careers with motherhood and discuss why affordable high-quality childcare is more important than ever.

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.

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."

In the second episode of Theirworld's 20th anniversary special, Theirworld Chair Sarah Brown talks with Benedict Joson, a former Global Youth Ambassador (GYA) who supported Theirworld's 2015 #UpForSchool petition calling on world leaders to prioritise education. The petition gathered 11 million signatures, making it the largest petition for education in history – and Benedict took a starring role, delivering the petition with global pop sensation Shakira to Gordon Brown, the UN's Special Envoy for Global Education. Sarah also speaks with Ben Hewitt, Theirworld's Director of Campaigns and Communications who spearheaded the campaign, about how supporters travelled to some of the remotest parts of the world to collect signatures for the petition. Sarah also catches up with June Sarpong, author, broadcaster and Theirworld Advisory Board member, who was an ambassador for this campaign. She recalls the optimism of the GYAs and their determination to bring about change.

In this episode, we hear some highlights from Theirworld's International Women's Day event and speak with some of the event's attendees about girls' education and gender equality Theirworld hosted its 7th annual International Women's Day event on Thursday 4 March - but went virtual for the first time ever, due to Covid-19. Covid-19 has put the issue of girls' education firmly in the spotlight. Now more than ever, it's important that we come together to hear from those who are campaigning to break down the barriers facing girls and discuss how we can act to unlock big change in the coming year. Hear from inspiring women, including Maysa Jalbout, Global Business Coalition for Education Advisory Member. Hiba Zakka al-Jamal, Head of SKILD ; Zarlasht Halaimzai, Director and Co-Founder of RTI. And Unlock Big Change Award winner - Theo Sowa, Former CEO of The African Women's Development Fund. As well as Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Barrister and Director of the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute. Jasvinder Sanghera CBE, Activist campaigner and founder Karma Nirvana. Tamara Box, Managing Partner, Europe and Middle East, and Senior Management Team, Reed Smith. Lorraine Candy, Journalist, Podcaster and parenting Author. Lorriann Robinson, Founder and Director, The Advocacy Team. Angela Saini, science journalist and author.

Rangina Hamidi, the Minister of Education in Afghanistan, talks to Sarah Brown about growing up as a child refugee in Pakistan. She says she was faced with threats of acid attacks just because she went to school. Her parents decided to flee to America to enable her and her sister to have an education. She says the struggles she faced as a child made her determined to fight against the injustices in the world.

Danielle Green, a Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador from the United Kingdom, speaks to Sarah Brown about the importance of children receiving a good quality education. Danielle says: "It really matters that children have not just an education or appear in an educational space, but that what they're being taught is really, really relevant and important." She tells Sarah that a good quality education helps children "take charge of their own destiny."

Marianne Bitar Karam, Country Director at DOT Lebanon, a non-governmental organisation, speaks to Sarah Brown about the challenges facing children in her country during Covid-19. She says that the digital divide in Lebanon meant that many children were excluded from education because they were unable to access online learning materials during the pandemic. She also says that children in Lebanon were missing out on important lessons in social cohesion. "We've lost something important," she says. "School or the formal education setting was a reason for students and adults to come together and to accept each other, to listen to each other, to create connectors between refugees." Asked what motivates her, Marianne said it is her passion for her job, country and people that drives her to do what she does.

Theo Sowa, CEO, The African Women's Development Fund, talks to Sarah Brown about the rampant inequalities around the world which are depriving children of a better future. She says that in the current situation, children who have benefited the most are those "who are wealthier and who are in economically secure situations." To help the most marginalised children across the globe, she says it is time to get "radical about our inclusiveness." Theo says that good quality education for all children should be seen as just as important as basic needs like food, sanitation and shelter.

Sarah Brown talks to Emanuel "Boo Milton", about his work as a community organiser and youth advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. When Covid-19 struck, Boo created activity packs - called Spark Boxes - for children to ensure that they were able to continue their learning during the pandemic. Talking about the power of learning, he says: "Education unlocks that special light that is inside all of us. I feel like all of us have a greatness that lies within us and education helps us articulate that."

John Goodwin, CEO of The LEGO Foundation, talks to Sarah Brown about the need to "redefine" play and "reimagine" learning. He argues that play is often overlooked by society when in fact it helps children to develop important skills for adult life, such as critical thinking and problem solving. "Play is the way that children are naturally wired to learn and by subjugating it to the end of line means that children are really inhibited from having the opportunity to get the maximum learning opportunity," he says. John also talks about the important role that education played in his own life, particularly teachers, who helped him to develop self-belief, confidence and resilience.

Refugee camps in Greece remain overcrowded and unhygienic beyond imagination, but until Covid-19 struck new education centres were a daily lifeline for children who had fled conflict and persecution, many arriving after perilous journeys from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq. This episode provides a glimpse into life in those camps and talks to the team behind Theirworld's new report that offers a way forward out of the refugee education crisis. Sarah talks to organisations making a difference there, and to two refugees who shed their personal light on what those on the islands are going through. Sarah talks to Maysa Jalbout, author of the report 'Finding Solutions to Greece's Refugee Education Crisis'; Justin van Fleet, president, Theirworld; Abi Hewitt, CEO and co-founder of Love Welcomes; Tanko Doris Laure, refugee from Cameroon; Sanda Leslie, refugee from Cameroon; Josie Naughton, chief executive officer, Help Refugees; Naoko Imoto, education chief UNICEF Partnership Office in Greece. Theirworld is a major funder of education on the Greek Islands – with the support of the People's Postcode Lotteries and our many individual supporters – in partnering with Education Cannot Wait, UNICEF, UNHCR and many local charities and groups.

Sarah Brown talks to guests at Theirworld's sixth International Women's Day event, where women from all walks of life, with a few men dotted around, gathered to talk and share their experiences, contacts and ideas on how to unlock big change for girls and young women. We hear Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Nigerian finance minister and World Bank managing director, nearly moved to tears as she accepted our first Unlock Big Change award. We hear from other inspiring women, including Jo Brand, self-proclaimed 'comic, writer, mother and super-model'; Amrit Kaur Lohia, musician and Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador; Sophie Walker, chief executive of the Young Women's Trust; Yvette Cooper MP, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee; Leena Nair, Chief HR Officer at Unilever; Rosemary Leith Berners-Lee, co-founder of the Web Foundation; Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, mathematician and co-founder of the Stemettes, and not forgetting, of course, Theirworld's very own Jamira Burley, who hosted the event.