Madonna Launches Digital Learning Programme

Madonna has launched an exciting new global education initiative called Connect To Learn.

Madonna, Connect to Learn’s global spokesperson, was joined at the launch by Millennium Promise co-founder Prof. Jeffrey Sachs and Ericsson CEO and President Mr. Hans Vestberg, during a visit to Malawi.

The initiative, a collaboration between The Earth Institute, Ericsson, and Millennium Promise, will focus on advancing the global breakthroughs needed in secondary education, especially for girls, and the extraordinary opportunities that new information and communications technologies are making possible for improving educational quality around the world.

The power of secondary education is vividly portrayed by Smret, a young woman from the Millennium Village of Koraro, Ethiopia, whose story is captured in the adjacent video link. In recent years Smret has received a scholarship to support her secondary education in the nearest town of Hawzien. Later this year she will become the first girl from Koraro to graduate from secondary school and apply for university. Today Smret aims to become a doctor, and she is inspiring other girls from Koraro to follow in her footsteps.

As part of a broader global call to action, Connect To Learn will directly fund secondary scholarships for girls and boys, while also fostering school-to-school connections using modern information and communications technology. Connect To Learn’s initial programs will support students from Millennium Villages, which reach nearly 500,000 people across ten countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

You can learn more about these initiatives and sign up for future updates at www.connecttolearn.org. You can also read the full Connect To Learn press release and ongoing Millennium Villages updates at the new Millennium Promise website www.millenniumpromise.org.