Day 2: MDG 2 - Achieve universal education

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The second day... it was a toughie let me tell you. Today I went to the Global Poverty Project's presentation to MPs in Westminster. With food and wine around it was desperately hard not to have some. I resisted, but the lady I was chatting to was probably a touch concerned at my salivating over a tray of crisps. Simon was speaking to Frank Field MP (Cameron's poverty tzar) and told him what I was doing - he replied "He's at the start of the challenge right? He doesn't look like he's lost weight" Thanks Frank. Thanks very much.


Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development, introduced the event. My experience of Andrew had been a meeting when I was helping run GPP in the UK - possibly one of the tensest but ultimately most productive meetings I've ever had. He and I had a fierce debate about the importance of educating the British public to a greater extent around extreme poverty. But we agreed then, and I passionately agreed with him today when he concluded that education is vital to lifting people out of extreme poverty and then towards opportunity. Fittingly on Day 2 of my challenge - that's what MDG 2 is about.

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

"Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world." Nelson Mandela just about sums it up to perfection. Everything I've had, have and ever will have is down to the opportunities that my education gave me. That probably rings true for every anyone reading this. A lot of other factors of course come into play depending on where you end up, but without education they probably wouldn't have mattered.

Made by the 1Goal campaign and shown at the opening ceremony of the World Cup in South Africa, this powerful video shows the difference that education can make:

Having briefly worked in Tanzania as a teacher - I was stunned by the thirst and desire for knowledge that the kids had. Even though it was desperate to see the fifty, sixty kids crammed into a basic brick classroom with barely any writing materials, at least they had access to an education.


72 million children around the world don't have the chance to learn to read and write - to be a part of society and to lift their futures out of extreme poverty. We have however made a huge amount of progress - the number of children out of school has dropped by 33 million worldwide since 1999.


That's impressive - but it's also an incentive to aim higher, strive further and work harder to continue and extend that success. And as we try to increase the numbers, we have to remember its not just about quantity, though it's better than nothing, but also about quality. Education has to be useful - applicable in the real world. Children from farming communities should eventually learn about how to get the most money for their products - it's about relevance to their lives so that they can make the most of the limited opportunities ahead of them.


And the one thing that makes investing in education so compelling is that it works in lowering extreme poverty for the entire community. When a girl in Africa receives an education she

• earns up to 25% more income and invest 90% in her family
• is three times less likely to contract HIV/AIDS
• has fewer, healthier children who are 40% more likely to live past the age of five.

That's the work of the charity I'm raising money for - Camfed - who have a series of videos that you can watch to see how powerful the impact of their work is.  Watching them made me incredibly proud to think that with your help, together we could give that future, that hope, to more children currently living without it.


Thanks for your support


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