This year’s ‘Road to Awareness’ campaign raises
money for UNICEF’s Early Childhood Care and Education programme in Ethiopia. The
aim of the project is to provide the most disadvantaged children in rural
communities with pre-primary education so they are better prepared to start
going to school. Indeed, in Ethiopia, over 80% of the population live in rural
communities and many children have to survive on less than US$1 a day. A lack
of education and no access to pre-school is seen as one of the key barriers to
a child not being able to reach their full potential and escape a life of
poverty. The money raised through Starwood’s ‘Road to Awareness’ campaign - which includes local fundraising initiatives across hotels in Europe, Africa and the Middle East as well as an annual fundraising bike ride - will help tackle this by giving thousands of the most vulnerable children in Ethiopia access to pre-school and the chance of a brighter future. Starwood’s support will contribute to the construction of 10 pre-schools, provide pre-school education to up to 50,000 children aged six and enable UNICEF to train 10,000 young instructors to aide their learning.
