{Pies Descalzos

By: Miguel Gonzalez

• Barefoot or Pies Descalzos is a US non-profit organization whose mission is to make education universally available to every child no matter the circumstances.

• It is our duty to support sustainable and innovative education programs while working to educate policy-makers about the importance of education.

• The mission is inspired by our founder Shakira, who is not only an international recording artist, but as well a leader who is changing the world through her humanitarian work. Back when she was 18, Shakira was able to investigate her own community and promised herself to help children who have been victimized by poverty and displacement like the ones she would see in her native Colombian’s streets. She began to make that promise to become real, when she launched Pies Descalzos Foundation in 1995. With the help of her partnership with UNICEF, the Global Campaign for Education, Shakira was able to planned and launched Barefoot Foundation in 2008 which is a separate entity from her Colombian-based Pies Descalzos Foundation, but both organizations support the same mission which is to ensure that every child can exercise his or her basic right to a quality education.

ABOUT BAREFOOT FOUNDATION

Pies Descalzos – or Barefoot – has a double meaning.1. It is the name of the record that

made Shakira’s music internationally known.

2. It also recognizes the thousands of children living in poverty that they cannot even afford shoes and walk through the streets barefooted.

BAREFOOT FOUNDATION SYMBOLIC ARTIFACT

Values/Mission Our mission is to make

education universally available to every child.

Values

- We value education because

we believe education is the

key to a better world for

everyone, not just

underprivileged children.

Education is not just books

and facts; it is also social and

emotional growth that will

help us to seek meaning and

potential in life.

- We value basic rights and we

help children exercise and to

understand their basic right to

an education, paving the way

for their growth in society;

thereby unlocking their

intellectual, emotional and

social potential.

We value learning therefore we believe that simply providing teachers and schools is not enough when children are faced with extreme poverty, so we work to ensure that they do not have to learn with empty stomachs and broken homes.

We support worldwide education and encourage governments to increase spending on universal education programs in developing countries.

• As our founder Shakira gained international success with her album, Pies Descalzos, in 1995 she began to make a difference in the lives of Colombian children.

• In the year 2003, the first Pies Descalzos School was built in Quibdó, a city along the Pacific coast where displacement rates are 35%.

• Since 2003, our foundation, Pies Descalzos, has opened six schools serving disadvantagedchildren and their families througheducation, nutrition, income-generatingprojects and counseling.

• Our founder continues to make a difference as she brought her education advocacy toUNICEF as a Goodwill Ambassador and became the Honorary Chair of the GlobalCampaign for Education.

Shakira’s Impact with Pies Descalzos

{

More of our Founder• In 2006, she helped to create ALAS Foundation(Latin

America in Solidarity Action) an organization that promotes early childhood development in Latin America. She continues supporting actively to date.

• After the earthquake that hit Haiti, Shakira visited Port au Prince and pledged to work on strategies to help the country in its educational environment. A school is destined to be built there in the near future.

• In 2011, Shakira was appointed by the President of the United States, Barack Obama, as Member of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for the Hispanic population.

• In the present, Shakira continues to participate in various events about education around the world where she propagates and sends the message of the importance of providing quality education to all children where a better future awaits them all. She continues to take inform action by being knowledgeable of the importance of her message of education to the world. By doing so, she is able to make well-reasoned judgments about what to do next in her foundation and believe that education is a priority.

With our program Education Advocacy, we make education a top priority around the world. Unfortunately, millions of children believe that education is a far to reach dream in their lives even tough education is a fundamental right. Their way of thinking makes them have fallacious conclusions about their potential in life.

We work with international organizations like Global Campaign for Education in order to keep our priority of education being a top priority.

With our program and the support of many supporters who donate and have their companies sponsor our programs such as Education Advocacy, we have inaugurated schools that within each community the program adapts to serve it with unique sub-programs within the program.

Education Advocacy Program

We raise public awareness about education being a fundamental right. To be informed about education being a fundamental right, we start to start making a difference.

We educate policy makers about the importance of education and make them aware about how important it is for them to reflect on decisions they make because they are the one’s that can help to shape society.

We seek to influence donor governments to live up to their promises and close the $10 billion annual education funding gap.

We support the establishment of a Global Fund for Education to ensure that there is unified and to aggrandize international support for education.

Inputs

We are fortunate to have a distinguished, talented and committed staff whose contributions make our work possible. Our staff includes:

Howard Buffett Ceci Kurzman Haim Saban Claude Wasserstein

Our Colombian partner, the Pies Descalzos Foundation's staff includes:

Bruce MacMaster Antonio Celia Samuel Azout Alejandro Santo Domingo Maria Emma Mejía Patricia Sierra Beggy Gómez Alexandra Sánchez Obeyls V. Suárez Lozano Adriana Cecilia Benítez Sánchez

Our staff and our Inputs continue…

We work with boys and girls whose lives have been disrupted by violence and poverty. By doing so, we educate children with municipal teachers. These teachers undergo training to improve their professional skills.

We teach children dressmaking, ecotourism, arts, crafts, and bilingual education.

We work with the community and the schools with comprehensive projects such as Project “Open School Doors” which allows students and young people to participate in activities, and other Youth and Literacy Programs.

With the schools that have been built, we help the community by offering vocational training, health services and other programs for the entire community.

Process

The schools that have been built are improved facilities that provide enough space for the children to continue to engage actively and continue being enrich with education with the use of art, music and recreational activities that are offered within our program.

Children get help with extended school days and homework assistance.

We also provide children with psychological counseling and support for themselves and their families. We help them to overcome emotional barriers that they might have had suffered through violence in the streets.

We fight child labor by providing economic opportunities for families.

Process continue…

We currently support six schools which are run by our Colombian partner, the Pies Delcazos Foundation, in different Colombian regions of Barranquilla, Altos de Cazucá and Quibdó.

More than 30,000 children, their family and community members benefit as more than five thousand children receive nutritious meals, education and psychological support services from our schools.

Outputs

“The Barefoot Foundation, which I created when I was eighteen years old, is currently implementing a program to help 28,000 victimized children, their families and their community in my country, providing them with nutritious meals as an incentive so that their parents allow them to attend school. By doing this, we help to reduce the number of children ages ten through twelve who are forced to work in the streets, enter prostitution, or join the guerrilla groups and become criminals. No child should be excluded from a quality education.”

– Shakira

*

OUTCOME: Words of change through education

We have helped both children and parents with income-generating programs with the methods that are being involved in the program.

We are helping to transform societies such as Colombia into peaceful societies that are committed to its most vulnerable citizens by helping children through education.

The families that we have helped have improve their socio-economical conditions.

We are positively affecting children’s lives by making them aware about their human potential and intellectual.

Through education, children begin to be active in shaping their own world and start thinking about ways they can help their communities as they learn about themselves and their potential.

We have created 250 new jobs as we transformed our income-generating initiatives into parent cooperatives and many other jobs with our vocational training we provide to the communities.

Communities are being aware about their health through our health services that we provide.

Children become educated and their future is brighten as they learn about art, music, and many other subjects when they are in our schools. They smile more as their skills are being refined through our program because they have a more positive attitude about striving to improve in order to enjoy and reach success.

Outcomes continue…

Every human being has the basic human right to education. Unfortunately, obstacles such as poverty, violence and mal-nutrition can become a problem in people that have the potential to succeed in life and to make a difference.

In 2008, nearly 43.6 million people Americans lived in poverty (about 13.2% of the population); 12.9 million were under the age of 18 (11 Facts about Education and Poverty in America).

Children in societies such as Colombia are more likely to be homeless. If they are homeless, their lives will be lost forever and their human potential will be lost as well. They must attend school in order for their lives to succeed and become more skillful and mentally disciplined.

35,000 children are homeless and living in the streets of Colombia (Barefoot Foundation).

Community Need

We, the Barefoot Foundation, are devoted to ensure that no child is left behind and they can exercise his or her basic right to the education they deserve. We are also devoted to improve the education and quality of life for the millions of children that are not given the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Step by step we are and will continue to make a difference together in the world and set EDUCATION a priority for every society.

Community Need

“We know how to address this, and it is within our reach. And we can truly be the cause of change and be the first generation in human history to bring education to all children everywhere so no child is left behind.”

Shakira -

A word from Shakira to the Community’s Need

Shuttleworth Foundation Shuttleworth Foundation is

committed to…

1. To adopt projects and award fellowships that carry the common focus of defending the rights of individuals in terms of information access and knowledge while providing policy formulation.

Barefoot Foundation values…

Barefoot Foundation defend the right for an equal education to all no matter the circumstances. It provides the fundamental space (schools) in order for children and other people to gain knowledge and become educated. Children become aware of their intellectual, emotional and potential in life and seek to change the world while growing in society. They start to seek the truth about the benefits of education with intellectual energy and with integrity and start to seek success in life.

Shuttleworth Foundation

Shuttleworth Foundation is committed to…

2. Innovation

3. Leaders that are willing to help to change the world for the good.

Barefoot Foundation values… The foundation itself is an

innovation to fight for those who are disrupted by poverty, mal-nutrition and violence and allow them to become discipline in their education and the bright stars they are meant to be in life.

Our founder Shakira is making a difference in the world by spreading the word of education through all the world, making others see that education is a human right and it is the key that will foment success.

Together as a foundation we are educating the next generation, the future for the world.

We know that educating takes time and patience. Take the chance to change a child’s live and see how you can help a star to shine. You will see that with your help, we will educate children in order for them to become productive members of society. We know that without your help, we wouldn’t be standing right now! In the following we explicate ways you can start making a difference and become a committed and responsible learner about our foundation.

1. Donate- You can support one of our programs with a donation of money or much needed supplies by doing so, you will help us build a brighter future for others.

2. Spread the Word- Spread the word about our Foundation , doing so will make others to hear about our great mission about education. Shakira’s voice will be spread as well.

3. Volunteer- We welcome all passionate, enthusiastic volunteers who are willing to make a difference.

4. Sponsor a Child- We give you the chance to become a Godparent to reflect the supportive, encouraging nature of the relationship and make a difference not only to the child’s life you would sponsored but to yours as well.

How you can start making a difference

We, Barefoot Foundation, with our mission and initiative to educate the world about the importance of education we are making people to start to think critically. We have began our mission since 1995 and have helped people to understand education as the key to success. The schools that have been inaugurated throughout Colombia and our future schools will sure continue to help children to overcome emotional barriers that are preventing their potential in life. As they become informed and educated with our programs within our foundation, students are becoming aware about the need to change their lives. This awareness enables them to seek truth with intellectual energy and with integrity with the help they are receiving through the education they are receiving from the foundation. The education being received makes them discipline in their learning thus creating committed and responsible learners. Another great thing being promoted through the foundation is their attitude in general, but better yet, they start to have a more positive attitude about striving to improve in order to enjoy success in life. Overall, they learn what to do with their lives as they gain intellectual knowledge and start to make well-reasoned judgments about what to believe.

Barefoot Foundation Promoting CRITICAL THINKING

I relate with the mission of Barefoot Foundation. I strongly believe that everyone is destined to make a difference in the world. In order to make that difference, one must be educated. Education plays a great part in life when it comes to be successful. Education undergirdssuccess. I have been faced with poverty back when I was younger and lived in Mexico. I still remember when my family at times didn’t had enough money to buy food. I did went to school when I was living over there, but I was mistreated by those who called themselves “teachers.” Those unscrupulous “teachers” were my violence back then because I was not allowed to learn if I was hit if I did not learned. Things started to change when I moved to California and was able to see and deciphered that I can become the person I want to be with education. I understand that education is the key for success but I am also aware that it takes time to see results. I must be strong and continue with my education because I want to make a difference in the world.

Personal Connection