"Ahhh! Yes! I am glad you brought that up! You being one of our, finest and oldest investors, have every right to know about our future plans and prospects." Jacob smiled and looked at the man straight in the eye.
The man too smiled back, being praised in front the cream of the business world.
"Well, I shall try to answer your question, in my dad"s words as he has laid the foundation of these ideas, which I am going to implement.
With UNICEF we have agreed on a contribution of 166 million euros for education in emergencies. That will be the single largest donation UNICEF has ever received in its 60-year history, all thanks to our investors too. It is an investment in education programmes in 40 countries in crisis. In practical terms this means schooling for 25 million children in countries like Sudan, Congo, Afghanistan, Somalia and Uganda, of whom 10 million currently receive no educational input whatsoever. The programme will also improve the quality of education for another 15 million children living in crisis situations and will seek to improve the overall functioning of education systems.
In Southern Sudan a "Go to School Campaign" will be launched next month to help children go to school, train teachers and set up "child friendly schools". In Northern Uganda the programme is focussed on curriculum improvement to make education more relevant for out-of-school children such as child labourers.
Last but not least, in response to the persistent funding gap in countries endorsed under the Fast Track Initiative, we have increased our support to the FTI Catalytic Fund to a total of 150 million euros a year. As a leading contributor to the FTI we welcome what has been achieved and strongly support it as an effective mechanism in providing more, better coordinated and more effective support."