Save the Children Wins Award for Innovation in Education

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London, UK (16 November)-Save the Children's groundbreaking Rewrite the Future campaign to deliver quality education to children affected by armed conflict has been awarded by the Qatar-based World Innovation Summit for Excellence (WISE) for its global impact. Launched in 2006, Rewrite the Future aims to get 3 million children in conflict-affected and fragile states into schools. By working with governments, donors and international agencies, Save the Children is well on its way to reaching its goal and has so far enrolled 1.4 million children in school. Despite access to primary education being a right of children all over the world, many children from war-torn countries would never get to see the inside of a classroom without the efforts of Save the Children and its partners. Rewrite the Future is surpassing its goal of improving the quality of education for 8 million students by giving more than 10 million students a better quality education through teacher training and by working with teachers and education ministries, for example, to introduce codes of conduct banning corporal punishment and other harmful practices.  "Save the Children is greatly honoured to be awarded this recognition of our innovative work on education," said Tove Wang, the chair of Rewrite the Future and the CEO of Save the Children Norway. "This will be a tremendous encouragement to everyone who's contributed to our success to date, particularly our staff and partners who work in very challenging circumstances on our education programmes in the field. It will really help us to fulfil our promise to get 3 million children in conflict-affected countries into school." The director of Save the Children's Education Global Initiative, Desmond Bermingham, said the WISE award was a privilege. "This is great news for Save the Children," he said. "We now need to ensure we build on the achievements of Rewrite the Future and continue to press donors and duty bearers to meet their promises for children, to make sure a quality education for all children becomes a reality." The WISE Awards showcase educational projects throughout the world that demonstrate a real and positive impact on societies. This year the theme was Transforming Education: Investment, Innovation and Inclusion. The six winning projects, chosen from a group of 30 finalists, have all displayed a capacity for spreading their influence far and wide and making their proposals connect with a global community. Save the Children will receive the award, which grants the campaign US$20,000, at the WISE Summit on 7-9 December in Doha, Qatar.  To find out more about Save the Children's Rewrite the Future campaign, go to: http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/what_we_do/rewritethefuture/ For more information on WISE, go to: http://www.wise-qatar.org/ About WISEWISE is a global forum based in Doha, Qatar and established by the non-profit organisation, the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, under the patronage of Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned. The WISE initiative is supported by a network of five dedicated partners and international institutions involved in major education issues: Association of Commonwealth Universities, Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie, International Association of University Presidents, Institute of International Education and RAND Corporation.