Rihanna Is Yet Again Changing the World With Her Latest Education Initiative

After a trip to Malawi in January 2017, Rihanna is committed to making a difference for young girls in the African country—and just announced a big initiative to do just that.
The singer's Clara Lionel Foundation (CLF), which she founded in 2012 in honor of her grandparents, is teaming up with bicycle sharing company Ofo for a new educational partnership. The five-year collaboration, called 1 KM Action, will provide scholarships for Malawian girls through the CLF's Global Scholarship Program. Perhaps even more significantly, recipients of the scholarships will also be given bicycles through Ofo.

Estimates suggest primary schools in Malawi have more than 4.6 million students, with only 8% actually completing the schooling. Drop-out rates in Malawi have increased in recent years due to transportation challenges in the region; the idea is that the bikes will help girls get to school. And the initiative is off to a rolling start, with a first batch already donated.

"I'm so happy about the Clara Lionel Foundation's new partnership with Ofo because it will help so many young people around the world receive a quality education, and also help the young girls of Malawi get to school safely, cutting down those very long walks they make to and from school all alone," Rihanna said in a statement.

The CLF supports and funds education, health and emergency response programs worldwide. Other programs backed by CLF include the Clara Braithwaite Center for Oncology and Nuclear Medicine at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and a Micro Grants Program, both in Rihanna's home country of Barbados.

Watch Rihanna meet with educators and students during her trip to Malawi below.