ENGLEWOOD, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Western Union Company and the Western Union Foundation today announced the official kick-off of the next phase of its Education for Better program, committing to invest US$1M to train 50,000 women and youth across the Americas, Europe Union, Africa and Asia over the next five years.
The financial commitment fulfills a pledge made in September 2012 during the launch of the United Nations Education First initiative. The program will leverage Western Union® and Western Union Foundation services, advocacy, cause marketing, philanthropic investments and employee engagement to support education programs worldwide.
“We are proud to continue the Education for Better campaign, leveraging the strength of The Western Union Company’s global network, the Western Union Foundation and its NGO partners, to provide meaningful educational opportunities and positive social impact throughout many of the communities Western Union serves,” said John Dye, Board Chairman, Western Union Foundation.
Following a week that celebrated women globally during International Women’s Day, the Western Union Foundation named six global non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to help meet program goals across the world:
- SOS Children’s Villages (Africa) will receive funding to support vocational and life skills training for orphaned and abandoned youth, especially young women, in the DRC, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and South Africa (video).
- Save the Children (Asia) has developed the ‘Skills to Succeed’ program, providing at-risk youth with vocational and technical training, financial literacy, and entrepreneurship training. The Western Union Foundation will focus its funding in China, India, and the Philippines.
- Teach For All (Europe). Through Teach for All partners in Austria, France, Germany, Lithuania, and the UK, the Foundation will help address youth education inequities that contribute to worldwide challenges such as high unemployment and weak economic development.
- Education For Employment (EFE Middle East). With a focus in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, the Foundation will support EFE Middle East’s efforts to empower youth, especially young women and girls, to build careers that create a better future for themselves and their communities.
- Junior Achievement Americas (JA - Americas/Caribbean) inspires and prepares young people to succeed in a global economy. With Foundation support in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, Jamaica, and Mexico, JA Americas will support training that lead to career readiness, with a particular focus on Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) education.
- National Academy Foundation (NAF - United States) will receive support for its career academies that are focused learning communities within public high schools and serve at-risk students in the U.S. with a STEM-infused curriculum developed in partnership with local industry. These career academies enable students to be career/college ready. With Western Union Foundation funding, NAF will focus on increasing enrollment and retention of female students in STEM studies.
Just last week, Western Union recognized women in the work force as agents of economic change. The company also saluted developed and emerging economies for paving the way for these women to cross borders and called for greater recognition and integration as women emerge as powerful drivers of economies.
Women account for nearly 50 percent of the 247 million migrants around the world and are set to move half of the estimated US $610 billion that will cross borders in 2016.1 More than 75 percent of these remittances flow into developing countries, underpinning a powerful economic dialogue between families from one side of the globe to the other.
The Solutions for Youth Employment Coalition (S4YE) states one third of the world’s 1.8 billion young people are currently neither in employment, education or training – most of them women. Of the one billion more youth that will enter the job market in the next decade, only 40 percent are expected to be able to get jobs that currently exist. The global economy will need to create 600 million jobs over the next 10 years – five million jobs each month - simply to keep pace with projected youth employment rates.2
To date, the Western Union Foundation has pledged more than 76 percent of the US$104 million committed to advance education and economic development.
About Western Union
The Western Union Company (NYSE: WU) is a leader in global payment services. Together with its Vigo, Orlandi Valuta, Pago Facil and Western Union Business Solutions branded payment services, Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. As of December 31, 2015, the Western Union, Vigo and Orlandi Valuta branded services were offered through a combined network of over 500,000 agent locations in 200 countries and territories and over 100,000 ATMs and kiosks, and included the capability to send money to over one billion accounts. In 2015, The Western Union Company completed 262 million consumer-to-consumer transactions worldwide, moving $82 billion of principal between consumers, and 508 million business payments. For more information, visit www.westernunion.com.
About The Western Union Foundation
The Western Union Foundation is dedicated to creating a better world, where the ability to realize dreams through economic opportunity is not just a privilege for the few but a right for all. Through its signature program, Education for Better, and with the support of The Western Union Company, its employees, Agents, and business partners, The Western Union Foundation works to realize this vision by supporting education and disaster relief efforts as pathways toward a better future. Our combined social ventures efforts make life better for individuals, families and communities around the world. Since its inception, The Western Union Foundation has paid more than $106 million in grants and other giving. These funds have been pledged to more than 2,794 nongovernmental organizations in more than 137 countries and territories. The Western Union Foundation, is a separate §501(c)(3) recognized United States charity. To learn more, visit www.westernunionfoundation.org, or Follow us on Twitter @TheWUFoundation.
WU-G / WU-F
1 WORLD BANK MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES FACTBOOK 2016 /
MIGRATION DEVELOPMENT BRIEF
2 2015 Toward Solutions for
Youth Employment, S4YE
