French President Emmanuel Macron and Rihanna attend the conference 'GPE Financing Conference, an Investment in the Future' organized by the Global Partnership for Education in Dakar on February 2, 2018, as part of Macron's visit to Senegal.
Photo credit should read PHILIPPE WOJAZER/AFP/Getty Images
Rihanna joined French president Emmanuel Macron as a speaker at the Global Partnership for Education's conference in Dakar, Senegal on Friday, the Washington Post reports. It's the second time the world leaders have come together to fight for worldwide access to education, following a small summit Marcon hosted in July 2017 at the French presidential palace.
In 2016, Rihanna was named GPE's first-ever Global Ambassador; her role is to "encourage world leaders and policymakers to boost their support for global education and education in emergencies through GPE." She's spent much of her time with the organization rallying world leaders to donate funds and encourage research; this year's funds have nearly doubled. She was chosen for the role after founding the Clara Lionel Foundation, which also focuses on breaking down barriers preventing education throughout the world.
In Senegal, she reemphasized her commitment to what President Macron called “the only single response” to problems facing West Africa, telling the crowd "We’ve made tremendous progress today but our work is never done. We are not going to stop until every boy and every girl has access to education."
