Global Citizen has debuted a new short documentary starring
Rihanna, founder of the Clara Lionel Foundation and Global Ambassador for the Global Partnership for Education. The film, titled Inside Rihanna's Trip to Malawi for Education, shows the singer's January 2017 visit to schools in rural Malawi, and her advocacy for education reforms benefiting the world's poorest children.
The film focuses on Muzu primary school. Students, local politicians, and activists discuss the problems they face and the improvements that would give each child access to schooling. These issues include hunger, class size, women's rights, and the psychological as well as practical effects of poverty.
In one scene, Rihanna leads a math lesson using song and rhythm to arrive at an answer. "I love that they learn in melody," she later remarked. "That's like my favorite thing because kids, they adopt melody really, really quickly. And so if you can use that as a learning tool, I think that's the most brilliant, brilliant thing."
The film ends with a request for viewers to lobby their governments "to increase their education budgets and funding to the Global Partnership for Education to help it reach $3.1B between 2018 and 2020." Visit Global Citizen to learn more.
In February, Rihanna was named Humanitarian of the Year by Harvard University.
