O’Donnell announces K.I.N.D. scholarship initiative for girls

>>> help last week in getting out the word about the k.i.n.d. fund, kids in need of desks, with your contributions we have raised $206,490. that's enough to buy about 230 desk made by workers in malawi . about 9,000 students will be using those desks when they arrive at classrooms and they will stay in classrooms for many years. so those 9,000 students will easily become 50,000 student and that's just what we've been able to do in the last week alone. better tools, a better education, that most basic tool, a desk, a place to sit, a place to read, a place to learn. since i partnered with unicef with the k.i.n.d. fund, we have raised $4,734,944. you have filled me with awe each year and i am getting hesitant to tell you how much we have raised because it might sound like we have all the money we need. we don't. if i could bring you with me to see schools without a single desk, you would know that we need every desk we can possibly pay for. every one. and at the pace we're going, more r we're more than a generation alone for providing desks for every classroom in malawi . i will be asking for your help for kids in need of desks. tonight, i want to introduce a new option you will have in contributing to the can k.i.n.d. fund and that is a tuition program i've been working on with unicef for over a year now. some of the better schools in malawi charge a tuition, a small tuition, which means that some of the student who would thrive in those schools cannot attend those schools. it's especially difficult for girls to attend those schools. a family is more likely to spend it on a son than a daughter. only 7% of girls in malawi complete their high school education. in the rural areas of the country, girls are only 9% of all secondary school student. we've decided to do what we can to help girls stay in schools and stay in the better schools and so the new option you will have when you go to our website will be the option of donating to our girls ' tuition program in malawi . and joining me now to discuss our hopes for our new k.i.n.d. tuition fund is my senior partner, carol stern, president and ceo of the u.s. fund for for unicef . thank you for joining me.

>> it's great to be back.

>> this is something that we started in your conference room in the unicef offices in malawi almost a year and a half ago and the girls ' education issue is really critical there. i think what happened in pakistan shows how important it is for education.

>> only 7% of girls complete secondary school there and we know a girl who finishes her education is less likely to contract hiv, less likely to be forced into prostitution or trafficked or even forced to marry early. it's an investment in a girl's entire future. it really is.

>> it's one of the best schools that i saw in the capital city was the highest and we've calculated that the package that they need is roughly $177 a year.

>> for the year.

>> yes. and that includes room and board. that includes a lot of these kids -- they are not necessarily boarding schools but they live so far away , their village is so far away , they have to rent little rooms in these other villages to stay in and so we're incorporating that.

>> which is actually really critical because oftentimes if a girl gets the privilege to go, the only way she has to make money is to sell herself. so you are giving them a full life.

>> yeah. and the -- i want to get it started tonight and i want to get it started with a check from me that i will fill out, finish filling out right here. i'm going to get the tuition fund started with $25,000.

>> thank you so much.

>> and that will give us 150 tuitions for the coming year and we'll go up from there.

>> well, you know, i don't even know what to say to you. the campaign to date has been so phenomenal. i've had the privilege to go to malawi to see the children and had the privilege to see the children whom this will make a big difference.

>> i'm hoping some of the girl schools in this country where they have annual tuitions more than $25 thou,000 a year, some of them will jump in and help, the schools around the country that can do it.

>> that and what we spend on clothes for children --

>> and we'll take any amount.

>> absolutely any amount.

>> caryl stern gets tonight's last word. thank you, caryl "the