Better Angels with Sarah Brown

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 Bro...

To celebrate the 100 th 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...

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...

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 Let down by poorly trained teachers, outdated curriculums and lack of digital connectivity, they risk not reaching their full learning potential.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...

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 lo...

In the third episode of Theirworld's 20 th 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 su...

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 rol...

To celebrate Theirworld's 20 th 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 d...

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. No...

In this episode, Jamira Burley, Theirworld's Head of Youth Engagement & Skills, talks to 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 wom...

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...

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...

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...

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 t...

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 we...

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 educ...

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...

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 a...

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...

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 scho...

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 me...

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 educat...

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...

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 eno...

Sarah Brown talks to guests at Theirworld's sixth International Women's Day event, where women from all walks of life, with a few men dotted around, gathered to talk and share their experiences, contacts and ideas on how to unlock big change for girls and young women. We hear Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, former Nigerian finance minister and World Bank managing director, nearly moved to tears as she acc...