This Year’s Sabanci Foundation Philanthropy Seminar Addresses the Theme “Philanthropy for Education: Innovations and Opportunities”

- Güler Sabanci: “The Right to Education is not Solely Confined to Access to Education. Quality And Content Are Other Inseparable Elements Of Education As Much As Access.”

- Güler Sabanci: “We Need to Support the Participation of Girls and People with Disabilities in the Education Process as much as We do for Boys.”

- Founder of Innovation Development ProgressFoundation, Irene Pritzker: “There is an Estimated 250 Million Children Without Literacy Skills in the World. Education is a Universal Human Right.”

- Founder of Al Jisr, M’hammed Abbad Andaloussi: “By Investing in Education, You Invest in Your Future. With One or Two Hours a Week of Involvement, the Businesses Can Create a New Generation of Entrepreneurs by Stimulating the Entrepreneurial Spirit of Youth.

Discussing new approaches in the field of foundations and civil society, and bringing together representatives from the public, private and nonprofit sector, the sixth “Sabancı Foundation Philanthropy Seminar” was held under the theme of “Philanthropy for Education: Innovations and Opportunities” this year.

This year’s guest speakers were M’hammed Abbad Andaloussi, founder of the NGOAl Jisr whichworks towards the improvement of education system via cooperation with private sector, foundations and the public sector; and Irene Pritzker, founder of IDP (Innovation Development Progress) Foundation. Andaloussi and Pritzker shared their experiences about the innovative methods and approaches of foundations and NGO’s in an environment of multi-sectoral cooperation (private, public, and nonprofit sector) to support and improve the education system.

 “Investment in education is an essential investment in social development”

During her opening speech, Chairman of Sabancı Foundation Board of Trustees Ms. Güler Sabancı remarked that philanthropy is a phenomenon regarding people and it adds value first to the person, then to the society by making significant changes in their lives. In her speech, Ms. Sabancı also underlined that this year’s theme in Sabancı Foundation Philanthropy Seminars was “education” which is a fundamental human right: “Education has always been one of the most fundamental fields of operation for both foundations and civil society in Turkey, because social development is possible through the development of individuals. And this is only possible through education”.

Ms. Sabancı remarked that the philanthropy approach of the past aimed at social contribution through building schools or offering scholarships and awards for the youth:“Although this approach is still in place, education is tackled from a variety of perspectives today. The right to education is not solely confined to access to education. Quality and content are other inseparable elements of education as much as access. Furthermore, we should constantly take into account equality of opportunity in education. In order to attain full equality of educational opportunity, we need to support the participation of girls and people with disabilities in the education process, as much as we do for boys.”

“Solving social problems requires uniting our power and thinking globally”

Underscoring that investment in education is an essential investment in social development, Ms. Güler Sabancı informed the audience about the activities Sabancı Foundation carries out in the field: It is, undoubtedly, impossible to measure support for education in monetary terms. The outcomes of our support are priceless… “Considering all our initiatives in the field of education, Sabancı Foundation, in current value terms, has invested in education more than 2 billion TL so far. Through cooperation and partnership initiatives we offer major contribution to social development. We should not neglect this fact in the field of education either,” said, Ms. Sabancı.

In the seminar titled “Philanthropy for Education: Innovations and Opportunities” Ms. Güler Sabancı asserted that the solution of all social problems around the world requires uniting powers and thinking globally, and affirmed their commitment to emphasize the significance of partnerships in support of education.

“Rising Schools Program” kicked off with 105 schools, and 1200 new schools are about to join the program

One of the guest speakers at the event, Ms. Irene Pritzker, shared information about the Rising Schools Program launched by IDP (Innovation, Development, Progress) Foundation, targeting the development of economically disadvantaged private schools and improvement of quality of education in Ghana. “It began as a pilot study with 105 schools serving 27,000 children. Our goal was to develop a sustainable scalable model based on microfinance to empower existing private schools serving the very bottom of the economic pyramid, and we managed to do so” said, Ms. Pritzker. She added that the model was applicable in other developing countries of the world and that the financial partner had kicked off the process of adding1,200 more schools into the program.

Ms. Pritzker asserted that, despite the education investments in the past 60 years, there were an estimated 250 million children without literacy skills around the world in addition to at least 61 million children who were not enrolled in any kind of school. “Education is a universal human right”, remarked Ms. Pritzker.

Education system was improved through private sector support

Founder of the NGO Al Jisr, Mr. M’hammed Abbad Andaloussi, shared their practices for the improvement and modernization of the education system in Morocco. Mr. Andaloussi talked about the Al Jisr Project, which is run in coordination with the private sector representatives to prepare young graduates for business life while meeting the employment need in the labor market in Morocco: “The aim is to use the expertise of the business sector to improve the educational system ensuring international standards of school graduates who can compete in global markets.We have succeeded in involving hundreds of businesses through their financial and technical contribution. To date, we have adopted more than 300 schools and we hope to reach 500 by 2015.”

Mr. Andaloussi addressed the leaders of the business world as follows:  “By investing in education, you invest in your future. This rising generation can increase your competitiveness if they are well prepared thanks to your financial and technical contribution.Together we can reinvent the school, build the future and change the world.”