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...

To celebrate the 100th episode of Better Angels on World Children’s Day, Sarah handed over her hosting microphone to Andrew Jack, global education editor of the Financial Times, for a wide-ranging interview with her and her husband, Gordon Brown, about the state of global education.   Andrew asked Sarah and Gordon, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, about their motivations for advocating for children’s education and what actions world leaders need to take to give all...

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...

Right now, 260 million children are not in school, and many more are in the classroom but not receiving a quality education. Let down by poorly trained teachers, outdated curriculums and lack of digital connectivity, they risk not reaching their full learning potential.  Next week, world leaders will debate solutions to this crisis at the historic Transforming Education Summit in New York during the United Nations General Assembly.   To mark the summit, Theirworld Chair Sarah Brown spoke...

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...

In the third episode of Theirworld’s 20th anniversary special, Theirworld Chair Sarah Brown talks with Motunrayo Fatoke, a Global Youth Ambassador (GYA) from Nigeria, about how forging powerful partnerships has helped to get some of the world’s most vulnerable children back into school.   We also hear from Maysa Jalbout, Senior Advisor on Education in Emergencies for Theirworld, about her work supporting refugee education in Greece.   She is joined by Elias Bou Saab, former Lebanese...

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...

To celebrate Theirworld’s 20th anniversary, we have produced a special Better Angels podcast series about the history and evolution of the charity.  In the opening episode of this four-part series, Theirworld Chair Sarah Brown talks with Dr Taha Khan, a former Global Youth Ambassador who was selected to support many of Theirworld’s early campaigns.  Sarah shares how her daughter Jennifer, who died just 10 days after being born prematurely, inspired her to establish the Jennifer Brown...

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...

In this episode, Jamira Burley talks to Simbiat Oladoja and Bushra Farooq, two remarkable young women who are doing incredible work on the ground to open up education to the next generation of female leaders.  Together we explore what the global recovery should look like, and why girls’ education needs to be front and centre.  Educating girls creates not only greater equality for women but fairer, healthier and wealthier societies with benefits for everyone.

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.  

Sanda Ojiambo, Executive Director of the United Nations Global Compact, talks to Sarah Brown about how businesses can take positive action to address some of the world's biggest challenges. Talking about climate change, she says that businesses have a choice: they can grow in a "GDP-led way" or follow "a green model of growth". "If [these decisions] are made correctly, we can avert what looks like a very bleak future in terms of climate," she says. She says that the Covid-19 pandemic has...

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.”

Palak Sharma, a Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador from India, talks to Sarah Brown about the challenges facing the education system in her country. She says that if the country is serious about advancing education for children, they must address issues around sanitation at the same time.  “The important task right now is to ensure that these two goals of education and sanitisation start working together in collaboration," she says.

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...

Obakeng Leseyane, a Theirworld Global Youth Ambassador, talks to Sarah Brown about the transformational impact of education on others. He says that educating even just one child has a "ripple effect" on their community.  Growing up in Rustenburg, South Africa, Obakeng was told that the only way to be successful was to become a platinum miner. He changed his fortune after receiving the highest educational scholarship in South Africa, something his family could have never dreamed of.  He...

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...

Annemiek Hoogenboom, Country Director, People's Postcode Lottery, tells Sarah Brown that "radical goals, patience and execution" are the building blocks for change. She also says that luck has a big part to play. She says: "When we admit that a big part of our success is pure luck, it makes us want to help other people more.“ Annemiek also touches on her mission to improve the plight of girls by advocating for their education. 

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...

Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares, talks to Sarah Brown about the importance in developing countries of providing parents with incentives to send their children to school.  He says that health and sanitation programs which ensure children are fed and kept clean in the classroom help to persuade parents of the benefits of sending their children to school. Al Gurg said that instead of going to school girls in poorer countries are often made to stay at home to help with the domestic...

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...

Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, speaks with Sarah Brown about the need for young people to vote - and to vote well - if they want to make a difference to people’s lives.    In the inaugural episode of this Better Angels podcast series, he argues that voting  is “the most basic and fundamental form of engagement” in democratic countries.   He also discusses the education crisis facing millions of child refugees around the world - a crisis which has been...

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...

Sarah Brown explores the themes of the new Penguin paperback How to Go Work, and its subtitle, the Honest Advice No Else Ever Tells You, with authors Lucy Clayton and Steven Haines. Initially recorded just before lockdown for young activists and those starting out on their careers, Steven and Lucy then added an interview about how the coronavirus crisis is requiring all of us who are lucky enough to still be working to re-evaluate the value and impact of what we are doing. Steven draws on...