Rihanna is stepping up her philanthropic efforts in Malawi by throwing her support behind bike-share platform ofo.
The Diamonds hitmaker travelled to the country in January (17) with her anti-poverty organisation, the Clara Lionel Foundation, to learn about the difficulties facing school children and educators involved in Malawi's schools system. Rihanna and her charity partnered with the Global Partnership for Education on the trip and now she has teamed up with ofo to provide bikes to students in a bid to help them get to school.
The new 1 KM Action partnership will last five years.
"I'm so happy about the Clara Lionel Foundation's new partnership with ofo because it will help so many young people around the world receive a quality education, and also help the young girls of Malawi get to school safely, cutting down those very long walks they make to and from school all alone," a press release from the singer reads.
Rihanna recently released a short documentary chronicling her time in Malawi's Muzu primary school. The film, posted on YouTube, showed her helping kids with musical maths lessons in which they sing to learn sums.
She also met with French President Emmanuel Macron last month (Jul17) to discuss global educational initiatives. After the meeting, Rihanna revealed she and Macron have agreed to work on a secret initiative set for later this year (17).
"I was so inspired and impressed with his (Macron) leadership and I can't wait for you guys to hear where this is going to go, but I think this is the year for education," she said in a video filmed by ABC News. "Thank you so much, and stay tuned."
Rihanna's organisation hopes to raise $3.1 billion to provide more than 870 million children in 89 countries with a full education.
