Gordon Brown Urges Content Companies to Join Education Initiative

CANNES: Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, sat down with World Screen Newsflash in Cannes today to reflect on how the international content community can participate in efforts to make sure that all children around the world have access to a proper education.

Brown was in Cannes to host the United Nations Global Education First Initiative at MIPTV’s 50th anniversary event. The panel this morning featured Discovery’s David Zaslav; Room to Read’s John Wood; Gucci’s Robert Triefus, discussing the Chime for Change campaign; Ziauddin Yousafzai, Brown’s adviser on girls’ education and the father of Malala, the young girl who was almost killed by the Taliban for trying to go to school; and youth ambassador Tirivashe Simango.

Following the session, Brown met with World Screen Newsflash to discuss the U.N.’s efforts to make sure that the 61 million children across the globe who currently are without an education are enrolled in schools by the end of December 2015. The content community, he said, is an integral part of this campaign.

"People know that there are more stories to be told about what’s happening and why girls are not getting an education, why children are forced into child labor, why girls are getting married early, and how girls are fighting back," Brown said.

"Since the attempted assassination of Malala in Pakistan, there has been a movement of girls to speak up for themselves that the world has got to listen to. We are at a turning point, because in 2013 we’re seeing a far stronger empowerment movement and we’ve got to back that up. We’re two and a half years from the end of the Millennium Development Goal, so there’s an urgency. Governments are cutting back on aid, that is not acceptable, we’ve got to expose that. It’s unacceptable for us not to have the urgency that we’re calling for. What is making this urgent is that girls and boys are actually calling for these rights."

In his speech at the panel, Brown offered up some suggestions for content producers. "Support a global hotline for any girl or boy in bondage. Run a campaign to support child-marriage-free zones, which are being set up in many countries. Think about how we can raise awareness and raise cash for education. How perhaps together we can create a billion-dollar fund that would secure ten million placements at school for boys and girls. Television is an endless source of new ideas. How about a global variety show to be broadcast in every single country at the same time? A global talent show open to everyone in the world? A global Children’s Day that matches the Mother’s Days and the Father’s Days we have in most countries. What will be the brilliant ideas that could both raise awareness and cash?"

The panel also included a recorded message from U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in which he said, "We want all children in school so they can learn and become global citizens. We need [the TV industry’s] help over the next 1,000 days of action to reach our goals by the end of 2015. You have the tool to tell stories far and wide. I urge you to join us."