Discurso de Shakira en la Cumbre de las Américas

After the Presidents' speech, we are going to welcome our compatriot
who we are very proud of. Famous not only by her songs
but also by her philantropic work
She is an education activist. She founded Pies Descalzos & ALAS
Two foundations that have left an impressive record in our country
and to our continent.
I want to welcome Shakira Mebarak Ripoll
Good afternoon Shakira.
Good afternoon. I sincerely appreciate this opportunity to be a part of this
First CEO Summit of the Americas.
Today, we gather here to discuss the future of our Latin American region
a region that still has serious social gaps that hinder the full development of our countries
I am convinced that by far the best way to close these gaps
is to invest in the education of all our young people
is to invest in the education of all our young people, and to do so even in the months
before they are born.
And I believe that this social investment must come
not just from government, but from all of us.
Including those in the business community.
This belief is purely based on the magnificent experience I have had
by investing in education for several years,
an experience I want to share with you today.
Inequality in Latin America is among the worst in the world
that such high levels of inequality are an indictment of that failure of generations
of Latin American political and business leaders
to deliver inclusive economic growth.
But I am not here to cry over spilled milk or to reflect upon the past
but rather to talk about the steps that we can take facing the future to ensure
that our nations do not fail again but instead fulfill the enormous potential
reflected in their hundreds of millions of young people.
I know that each of you work with your own foundations
I’m not here to talk about charity initiatives, but about social investment
All here in this room are amongst the most powerful
men and women in Latin America people with leadership
the resources & wit; so why not use that enormous opportunity
that lies in your hands to fight poverty finding together
intelligent solutions to our regions common problems.
There is now a huge amount of evidence that educating its young
is the best investment a nation can make with the fastest returns.
Why? because kids grow fast.
In some of the world’s fastest growing economies, such as China
education is one of the highest national priorities.
And precisely on April 10, the Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan,
announced another 133 million funding in addition to 533
in high-quality early education programs.
Now, while all education is a good investment
some education I would particularly like to place emphasis on today is early education
Academic evidence shows that the highest rate of return for society from education
comes from investing in the years before a child enters kindergarten.
Numerous studies have shown that the skill level
that a child has at that age is the single best predictor of how
they will do at high school and beyond, as well as in their work as adults
That is why I believe that in Latin America we cannot stay behind
and that both the business sector and the government
should make the top priority to create and fully fund effective programs
for Early Childhood Development.
It is proven that per every dollar invested in a child’s early education
hat same child returns 17 dollars to the state in his adult life
For 1 dollar invested, 17 dollars back.
You are the business experts, ladies and gentlemen; clearly, that is good business for all!
A child’s first six years of age determine their future,
because during these years they shape their brains, their learning capabilities
their psychomotor abilities and their ability to relate to others.
That is why adequate nutrition, stimulation and support
Now, a few years ago, you would have said that investing in education
is the entire responsibility of government and is not the business of business
But as a student of the subject of education, I have been pleased to see
that sort of thinking is increasingly old and out of fashion
among the world’s top companies and business leaders of today
have a philosophy called “shared value”, which aims to do only those things
that simultaneously create profit and value for the communities in which they operate
I have also been much encouraged by the way that the commitment
to personal philanthropy by business leaders is spreading
around the world, inspired by the example of Bill Gates,
who as you know, has made improving the US school system the main focus
of his foundation’s giving.
For me, the best thing about shared value and the sort of “philanthrocapitalism”
(by the way it’s also a title of a great book that I highly recommend to you)
practiced by Bill Gates is that is viewed as an investment, rather than traditional charity.
Academic evidence shows that the highest rate of return for society from education
It is about applying the brain and strategies of business
to solving social problems. Traditional charity typically
aims to ease the symptoms of social problems, which is important but not as important
as solving those problems, the root of those problems
I believe we have a huge opportunity in Latin America to evolve
much our great traditional charity through the so-called charity foundations
into something even bigger than that, world leading social investment
And this will happen, I’m sure, particularly if we focus on education
Especially early education.
Of all the social problems worth fixing, education is most in the long-term
enlightened self-interest of business. After all, it is the best way to ensure
a good supply of the qualified workers that will be needed in the decades ahead
That is why in the US, for example, a company like ExxonMobil
invests millions of dollars a year in grants to improve math and science teaching.
And, of course, helping a person get out of poverty,
which is what an education usually does, creates a potentially valuable customer.
So, this type of investment in a society, along with many other benefits,
is better for you and your businesses.
Shared value is about using all the assets of the company,
where possible, to do social good
That is what, in my opinion, would make a radical change in our society.
a modern society in Latin America.
Last October, I was honored to be appointed by Barack Obama
to the US President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics
I am working there, alongside many outstanding individuals
including business leaders from companies such as AT&T and Univision.
I truly believe it is vital that business leaders get involved
in similar public service in Latin America, not least because of the expertise
they can bring about what skills the education system should provide
to equip young people for work in the modern global economy.
in similar public service in Latin America,
Another way of philanthrocapitalism may be putting your best product
designers to work to create affordable ways of serving
people who are currently excluded from the marketplace,
using the physical infrastructure controlled by a company
For instance, making available bandwidth on mobile phone networks
in similar public se to deliver educational materials cheaply.
I understand Telecom Argentina is now exploring how
to do this for remote rural communities, in partnership with Stanford University.
Companies that sell food and drinks to poor people
have an opportunity to improve their physical capacity to learn
by building proper nutrition into their products and marketing
not just by promoting healthy diets but by including essential micronutrients
in their products
The World Food Program believes that partnerships
between governments, charities and businesses—such as CocaCola,
which piloted NutriJuice, a fortified drink specifically focused on providing
in similar pu iron to iron-deficient children in the Philippines
—mean that child malnutrition can be ended globally
within a decade. So, I urge any of you that can help
make this happen to play your part.
For those here who have food companies, you can cooperate to put an end to malnutrition
This would result in better-formed children
with a more developed learning and mental capacity.
I wonder, what return on investment could be better than that?
It would also be great to see more of our successful Latin American business
leaders embrace philanthrocapitalism with the same enthusiasm
as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, his son and my dear friend Howard Buffet
t and a growing number of others. I personally think that the spirit
behind the “Giving Pledge” launched by Gates and Buffett
where they ask their fellow billionaires to publicly promise
to give away half their wealth is great
and hope that we can come up with a Latin American version
“Giving Pledge”
Imagine if Latin America’s business leaders were encouraging each other
to give more, and competing with each other not just
to write the biggest checks but to be recognized as making
the greatest difference with their giving.
Even though I know that you are people who give every day to the society
I think we can still give more.
ased on my personal experience of these 17 years investing
and advocating for education, I can tell you that working
in education has given me the time of my life, seeing how every
dollar and every effort invested ' in schools and educational programs
simply gives results. Nobody likes to lose time or money
myself included. I love dedicating my time, money and efforts
to promoting education, just as much as I love making music
Because investing in education has never disappointed me!
I have learned that each of us can make a significant difference,
if we go about our philanthropy in a serious, thoughtful, and a strategic way
In my own country, Colombia, with the Barefoot Foundation we have built and managed
a network of schools in collaboration with the government
to provide children of displaced communities with basic
nutrition and high quality education.
Our schools are more than schools, they are community centers
where families can rebuild their lives and provide
heir children with a better future. With the Barefoot Foundation, we have built
and continue to manage 6 schools that provide education from
early childhood to secondary, having benefited more than 6,000 children
and young people, and 30,000 people in their communities.
We’ve provided support to children who could have been recruited
to become guerrillas or paramilitaries simply because of the conditions of extreme poverty
and conflict within which they were living and who today
are now on their way to university, preparing themselves to become citizens
who make contributions; that is the exciting part of investing
in education! That power to change things,
the power to change what isn’t right.
With the ALAS Foundation, our goal has been to mobilize
and raise awareness among different sectors of society
about the importance and the urgency to invest more
in early childhood development.
And if I have learned anything, it is that the only way
any of us can bring the full potential of our ideas in today’s world
is by working jointly and building alliances between
the public and the private sectors.
We are in the process of inaugurating the “First Things First” Alliance
together with the Mario Santo Domingo Foundation, the Carulla Foundation,
the national government and 22 other public and private partners
to build 13 new centers for early childhood in Colombia, thus expanding
coverage to more than 6,200 children. We are passionate about this project.
But there is so much more to do in Mexico, Brazil, Central America… and we need more alliances
between you and local governments to cover the basic needs
of those 35 million kids in Latin America who don’t have access
to a decent nutrition stimulation and education in the first years of their lives.
With Alas in Argentina, we supported the Government of the City of
of Buenos Aires with 2 million dollars for their Early Childhood Centers.
In Brazil we have forged an alliance with the Federal Government
and President Rousseff to advance in improving quality for early childhood education
and so that they build 100 centers by 2016.
and so that they build 100 centers by 2016. In Mexico, we began work in Quintana Roo
with two early childhood centers that will open this year.
Together with the State Government of Quintana Roo we are going
to build a total of 10 early childhood centers for more than 4,100 children
and train personnel involved in providing high quality early childhood education.
This is what I go to sleep at night dreaming of —and I know it’s possible because
I don’t believe in dreaming in vain. To achieve this, we intend to build alliances
with at least 15 leading companies, because through these efforts
we have seen how much we can accomplish if we work together.
So I’d like to invite you all to be a part of this movement for early childhood.
I specifically propose that through Luis Alberto Moreno
and together with entrepreneurs like Alejandro Santo Domingo who is here today,
that we design an intelligent strategy to help cover the basic needs of our
Latin American children forming alliances to build new ECD centers all over
the region and financing programs directed to the population aged 0-6.
Early childhood care is calling for us urgently, and on a far larger scale
If this cause is to succeed, it will require us all to be involved.
From our different areas—from the public sector, from civil society and from the private sector
So, today I want to urge all of you in the world of business sector to work together
with civil society and the public sector, to engage together and invest
in the future of our children, which is the economic future of our nations
and the future of your companies
I invite you all to join hands so that we may take this great historic
step together, so that we mark a before and after point
in Latin America, and that you come aboard with me in this experience
that I promise will be a fascinating one!
This is the moment to build a prosperous Latin America
secure and strong, which is both deserved by us
and something we have always wanted.