Here's a snap taken during Shakira's visit to Oxford University today. Her speech about Barefoot Foundation seems to have gone down a storm with the UK media. Click here to read a report from the Oxford Mail.

We hope to post more pictures soon...

We're pleased to report that Shakira will speak about the work of her charity, Barefoot Foundation, at Oxford University's world-famous Oxford Union on Monday, 7th December.

The Oxford Union is a debating, educational, and social society, membership of which is open to all matriculated members of Oxford University (and many other notable educational establishments).  Over the years countless actors, writers, film stars, musicians, celebrities and politicians have spoken there. These past guests of The Oxford Union include the Dalai Lama, Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, Presidents Nixon, Carter and Reagan, Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Michael Jackson, Jon Bon Jovi and Albert Einstein to name just a few.

While in  the UK, as well as speaking at Oxford, Shakira will be performing at Capital Radio’s Jingle Bell Ball in London on Sunday, 6th December.

We're very pleased to report that, at yesterday's XX Ibero-American Summit in Portugal, ALAS received the support of the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández, who will chair the XX Ibero-American Summit in 2010, to include Early Childhood Development in the Agenda of this diplomatic event.

In a press conference, the President accepted Shakira’s petition to contribute to change the history and destiny of the children of the region, by setting the topic of children between 0 and 6 and the one of early education as the core topic of her forthcoming Summit.



“Early education is to human life what a foundation is to a building; if the foundations are not built strong enough, we will be always repairing it," declared Shakira, who is founder and activist of ALAS together with fellow Latin American artists such as Alejandro Sanz and Fernando Olvera from the Mexican group Maná, among others. "This is how for decades the Governments in Latin America have been spending billions, rather than investing, repairing and finding temporary solutions to foundation problems. Why not invest since now in the foundation of our future: our children in their first 6 years of life, which is when their brain and basic functions develop."

The Mexican President Felipe Calderón ratified his country’s support to ALAS Foundation and assured, modifying a popular Mexican saying that “Every child should come with a medical insurance under his arm”. Álvaro Uribe, President of Colombia, also spoke about his country’s efforts towards early childhood through the Colombian Institute of Family Welfare and the Community Mothers Program.

The President of Chile Michelle Bachelet concluded by saying, “I am convinced that investing in our children is fundamental from the ethical, social, and even economical point of view. Every resource invested in our children is what will allow us to make a difference”.



In front of an audience of international media, ALAS and the Secretary general of Iberoamerican Secretariat, Enrique Iglesias, signed the agreement to promote the early childhood component of the program “Educational Goals 2021: the Education we want for the Generation of the Bicentenaries”, which seeks to achieve universal coverage in education by 2021.

It was a momentous day, in which Early Childhood Development gained prominence among the Latin American Presidents, and constitutes a promise for the region’s human, social and economical development.

Click here to check out more pictures from the summit.