Lessons for Life Merges with Street Child
The educational charitable foundation Lessons for Life, founded and supported by Liberty Global, is merging with Street Child, the NGO that works in the world’s toughest places to help some of the most vulnerable children have access to education.
As a result of the merging of the two charities, the Lessons for Life Foundation becomes a subsidiary of Street Child with all staff being retained. A number of former Lessons for Life trustees will also join the Board of Street Child.
The newly merged organisation will drive greater impact providing educational opportunities for even more children globally. Street Child will continue with all of Lessons for Life’s key projects, which are primarily focused in Uganda and Rwanda.
Liberty Global, one of the world’s largest international TV and broadband company, have supported the foundation for over ten years. Lessons for Life was founded by Liberty Global’s former Chief Strategy Officer Shane O’Neill who created the charity in 2008 to improve life prospects for vulnerable children in Africa.
Supporting communities
Since Lessons for Life was founded, Liberty Global has supported the organization in raising income of £23m, helping nearly 90,000 children, families and communities in Africa. The joint venture will continue to benefit from Liberty Global’s unrestricted yearly core grant of over one million euros, as well as numerous fundraising initiatives such as the Big Ride for Africa and Gala dinner, which together last year raised over two million euros.
Andrea Salvato, Co-Chair of Lessons for Life and Chief Development Officer at Liberty Global, will co-chair the new board of Street Child, alongside current chair Anthony Wallersteiner.
Andrea Salvato comments: “We are hugely excited by, and committed to, the merger with Street Child. The combination of the two charities is going to be incredibly powerful, helping even more children in Africa get a decent education and go on to realise their full potential.”
Tom Dannatt, Street Child CEO and Founder adds: “To bring on board Lessons for Life and a corporate partner of the caliber and scale of Liberty Global, with the commitment they have shown to African children’s education year-on-year for 10 years, is a fantastic step forward for our mission.”
Throughout the merger process, Liberty Global will lend their business expertise to both charities as they transition into one entity to help continue Shane O’Neill’s legacy of ensuring children have access to the opportunities provided by a good education.
ENDS.
About Street Child
Street Child is an NGO that works in the world’s toughest places to help some of the most vulnerable children have access to education. Street Child’s projects are designed to help ensure that children whose educational opportunities are at risk can sustainably access their right to a seat in the classroom.
Street Child is dedicated to empowering vulnerable children through education in some of the world’s toughest places. Since the launch in 2008, Street Child has given more than 200,000 children access to education. Street Child currently operates in 10 countries across Africa and Asia.
Whether working with children on the streets, those in rural communities that have no schools, or in crisis areas where children’s ability to learn has been adversely affected, Street Child is committed to transforming lives through child protection and increased access to education with a core focus on sustainable responses.
About Lessons for Life
Lessons for Life are a children’s charity that funds education projects in Africa under the belief that every child, no matter where they live, has the right to an education. Lessons for Life was founded in 2008, by the late Shane O’Neill, then Chief Strategy Officer of Liberty Global. Over the past ten years, underpinned by enormous support from Liberty Global, Lessons for Life have gone on to assist tens of thousands of children in their quest to gain an education, mainly in Eastern and Southern Africa.
