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The project in a nutshell

To create his project, the artist spent more than a year in dozens of camps across Europe, where he worked with hundreds of refugee children of many nationalities. He invited them to draw three sketches on three sheets of paper, one of their life before (Yesterday), one of their current life (Today) and one of their life imagined in the future (Tomorrow). The resulting drawings are striking and moving, often mingling the violence of the past, the bewilderment of the present and the difficulty of imagining the future. In three drawings, these refugees get to speak and do what human beings are born to do: tell a story, tell their own story.

The project also aims to disseminate these messages on social media, so that they become fantastic tools for raising public awareness about the plight of Europe’s refugees. You can find Yesterday/Today/Tomorrow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The artist: Bryan McCormack

Bryan McCormack was born in Dublin in 1972 but lives and works in Paris. Most of his work deals with specifically social and political topics. He has organised over 30 solo and group exhibitions in venues including the Centre Pompidou and UNESCO in Paris, the Empire Gallery in London and the Chopin Museum in Valldemossa. One of his monumental public works is a permanent installation in Paris’s Parc de Saint-Cloud.

Celebrated every year since 1977 in many countries around the world, International Women’s Day is as relevant today as ever…and will remain so until full equality between men and women is achieved. This year’s theme is ‘Time Is Now: Rural and Urban Activists Transforming Women’s Lives’.

Change could be now

This year’s International Women’s Day takes place against an unusual backdrop, following the unprecedented global movement championing women’s rights, equality and justice that has emerged in recent months. This has taken the form of global campaigns, including #MeToo in the US and its equivalents in other countries (#BalanceTonPorc in France, #YoTambién in Mexico and Spain, #QuellaVoltaChe in Italy, etc.) targeting sexual harassment and violence against women. This high-profile campaign has encouraged women to speak out and triggered a public debate on issues that sadly are still considered taboo. So the time is ripe to tackle the deep-seated inequalities between men and women and above all to effect change!

International Women’s Day 2018 is an opportunity to transform this momentum into action and to empower women in both rural and urban environments. Of the world’s 800 million illiterate individuals, 75% are women. And yet women are often the linchpins of development. They are innovators who work hard to improve the day-to-day lives of their families.

25 years of commitment to women

The ENGIE Foundation’s work reflects the need to support women-led projects worldwide. In the Philippines, the Barefoot Women Solar Engineers programme trains illiterate women to bring electricity to their villages. In France, the Ikambere programme empowers, facilitates access to rights and promotes the social inclusion and workforce integration of HIV-infected migrant women.

This year, the ENGIE Foundation wanted to do even more to help women by supporting new projects. The Women’s Empowerment programme run by American NGO CARE operates more than 1,000 projects in 94 countries, aimed at making women’s empowerment a major focus of the fight against poverty. Fondation des Femmes (Women’s Foundation) is a platform that raises funds from private institutions and individuals and redistributes them to organisations that promote women’s rights. Aware (Archives of Women Artists) aims to restore the presence of women artists in the history of art through a range of high-quality programmes, a dedicated website, symposiums and a prize supported by the French Ministry of Culture.

Women’s rights begin with girls’ rights, which is why the ENGIE Foundation is committed to providing a better future for thousands of girls affected by inequality and discrimination around the world, primarily by promoting access to education. This is the objective of the NGO PADEM in Kenya, which offers free education to teenage girls in the Kibera slum on the outskirts of Nairobi, and the Promoting Afghan Girls Education programme which has electrified 13 schools enabling 27,000 Afghan girls to access education. In South Africa, the iNSPIRE programme aims to rebuild the confidence of girls subjected to discrimination and exclusion, make them aware of their potential and empower them to contribute actively to the development of their country. The ENGIE Foundation believes that educating boys is key to changing mentalities, which is why it supported the UNESCO Open Campuses, which seek to make high-school students in educational priority areas more aware of major social issues such as gender equality. Last but not least, many programmes address the vital need to support girls who have been victims of violence by improving access to education and care. These include the TARA Girls programme in India, which provides accommodation, support and protection to girls affected by violence, including academic support, sporting and artistic activities, and awareness workshops on hygiene and health.

A different world with different women

International Women’s Day is also an opportunity to celebrate the activists who work tirelessly to champion women’s rights and help women to reach their full potential. As members of our Board of Directors or Selection Committees and as heads of charitable organisations, they give us the benefit of their expertise, commitment and endless determination. The ENGIE Foundation wishes to thank and pay tribute to these women, who fight daily to ensure that every girl and woman will one day be able to lead the life they choose.

Finally, the ENGIE Foundation has decided to support Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s forthcoming documentary Woman, scheduled for release in 2019, in which the renowned photographer and director will pay homage to all the women who, in their own way, change the world.

Launched as part of COP21 in 2015, the Schools, Lights and Rights pilot programme is one of the ENGIE Foundation’s flagship initiatives. Its strength lies in a) its ambition of promoting education, access to energy and the social inclusion of disadvantaged groups, b) the involvement of partner organisations and volunteer employees from the ENGIE Group over at least a three-year period, and c) the results it has achieved during the first two years of the programme. Read on to find out more.

Schools, lights and rights for the children of Africa

Through the Schools, Lights and Rights project, the ENGIE Foundation and the federation of charities La Voix De l’Enfant (The Voice of the Child) have been creating brighter futures for children in need around the world since 2015. This ambitious three-year programme spanning seven countries (South Africa, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Madagascar, Afghanistan, India and France) seeks to promote education (Schools), access to energy (Lights) and the social inclusion of children (Rights).

In its first year, more than 5,000 civil statuses were issued to children. In addition, 5,000 portable solar lamps were distributed. Paid for by the ENGIE Foundation, these lights facilitate access to education by allowing children to work at home in the evening. They also promote health and safety by reducing the risks associated with using candles and oil lamps. The programme also supported the green electrification of schools by solar panels, thanks to the courage and dedication of volunteers from Energy Assistance France (an NGO made up of ENGIE Group employees). Last but not least, volunteers worked with local communities to raise awareness of renewable energies, environmental protection and sustainable development – a reminder that the future of these communities and the future of our planet are interlinked.

Schools, Lights and Rights: an encouraging second year

The second year began with the aim of expanding and strengthening the programme, helped by support from local organisations and partners in two new countries: Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. La Voix De l’Enfant member associations, with backing from the ENGIE Foundation, were able to strengthen the support mechanisms for local communities: more than 57,000 civil statuses were obtained, over 8,600 portable solar lamps distributed and many schools and childcare centres provided with solar power. In addition, seven electrification projects are currently being completed by La Voix De l’Enfant associations and volunteers from Energy Assistance France. Though a modest contribution to the fight against global energy poverty, this programme offers great potential to develop social and environmental initiatives that benefit children.

The smiles on the children’s faces are the greatest reward, but the ENGIE Foundation wishes to thank the member associations of La Voix De l’Enfant and their partners who contribute every day to improving the living conditions of people enduring energy poverty and social exclusion. They are: Valued Citizens (South Africa), Afghanistan Libre (Afghanistan), SOS Enfants, Enfants & Développement (Burkina Faso), AED Karen Mane (Morocco), Bazar Sans Frontières and Maison de Sagesse (Madagascar), Volontariat (India) and Intermèdes Robinson (France).