Brighter future for girls through education

UNESCO and CJ Group launched the “Bright Girls, Brighter Future!” global education campaign in November 2014, as part of UNESCO’s Global Partnership for Girls’ and Women’s Education “Better Life, Better Future”. The campaign aims to address the lack of access to quality education faced by girls in developing regions by using CJ’s significant media outreach and influence.

The objectives of the partnership are to:

• Widen girls’ access to education and learning opportunities
• Improve girls’ completion rates by enhancing quality of education
• Empower communities to meet girls’ specific needs

About CJ Group

CJ Group is a South Korean conglomerate with four core business areas: food and food services, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, home-shopping and logistics, and entertainment and media (E&M). In line with its vision to ‘Create a New Culture for Healthy, Happy and Convenient Lifestyles’, CJ Group established two philanthropic organizations: CJ Welfare Foundation (2005) and CJ Cultural Foundation (2006). CJ Welfare Foundation aims to foster quality educational opportunities and help children build on their dreams, and CJ Cultural Foundation supports young talented artists and creators in the fields of music, screenplay, and performing arts.

Highlights from the “Bright Girls, Brighter Future!” campaign

• Addressing gender stereotypes

Rainbow Ruby is a 3D animated series featuring a six-year-old girl named Ruby who explores various professions. In doing so, she breaks down the traditional notions of what girls can do and what they can become. In 2016, UNESCO, CJ E&M and CJ Welfare Foundation signed a partnership agreement to promote girls' education through the series. Rainbow Ruby is currently broadcasted  in more than 80 countries around the world including  in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America.

• Raising awareness on the importance of girls’ education

UNESCO and CJ are promoting girls’ education through CJ’s major cultural platforms among which are KCON, MAMA (MNET Asia Music Awards) and Asia’s No.1 fashion festival Style Icon Asia (SIA). CJ engages celebrities in sharing messages that expose young audiences to the importance of girls’ education and the reality that millions of girls around the world still lack access to basic education. At KCON LA 2018, CJ together with UNESCO held a Girls’ Education Campaign booth to sensitise attendees to the challenges hindering girls’ access to quality education through on-site activities and a comprehensive online campaign “CJ-UNESCO Girls’ Education x KCON”. Wanna One, a popular K-POP idol group in South Korea, also engaged in a high impact social media campaign to support UNESCO’s work in promoting and improving girls’ education with a video message(link is external), reaching over 1 million views as well as 3 million likes and comments just one month from the campaign’s launch. Other artists such as Demi Lovato(link is external) and Forest Whitaker(link is external) who is also the UNESCO Special Envoy for Peace and Reconciliation, have shared video messages at these events, reaching over 2.4 billion people in over 160 countries via media broadcast. Several videos highlighting the UNESCO-CJ cooperation were showcased at KCON, at MAMA Hong Kong, generating over 10 million viewers online, and on occasion of the CJ Cup at the PGA Golf Tour issued specially by UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Education, Stefania Giannini, reaching an estimated one billion households in over 225 countries.

• Mobilising funds to support UNESCO projects on girls’ education

CJ Group is a major contributor to the UNESCO Malala Fund for Girls’ Right to Education, which expands girls’ access to quality education, especially in countries affected by conflict and disaster. It supports UNESCO’s projects on girls’ education in countries around the world: from empowering girls to be female champions and lead projects in their communities in Nepal, to expanding education opportunities for indigenous girls and women in local communities of Guatemala, to improving access to education and employment for ethnic minority girls and women in Viet Nam. In 2018, CJ renewed its partnership with UNESCO through 2021. Contributions from CJ are mobilised through proceeds from artists engagements, such as Wanna One who joined the campaign by donating US$100,000, Rainbow Ruby, TV shows with charity auctions such as the ‘GiveBoutique’ TV show and the purchase of promotional items at Olive Young, a health and beauty store. Olive Young’s viral video campaign(link is external), "Beautiful Mind, Beautiful Change", not only mobilised funds for the programme but also engaged more than 4 million donors and received 6 million views in only two months. CJ Group also supports UNESCO through its events. In particular, CJ was a core funder of the UNESCO International Symposium and Policy Forum “Cracking the code – Girl’s education in STEM”, which took place in 2017 in Bangkok, Thailand.