Madonna plans to build 10 Malawi schools

Good ole’ Madge may not like hydrangeas but she does like Malawi. The Material Girl has announced fresh plans to build 10 new schools with a new partner after she was forced to scrap her development plans there last year due to poor management.

Madonna has two adopted children from the southern African nation, which is consistently ranked by the UN's Human Development Index as among the world’s 20 least developed countries.

The plans, which will see Madonna’s Raising Malawi charity pair with non-profit group buildOn, intend to educate at least 1,000 children a year. At least half of these children will be girls.

It appears the singer is in good hands with buildOn – the group have built 54 primary schools in the country in the last 19 years.
"Because of Madonna and Raising Malawi's support, we will be able to build schools for children that the rest of the world has left behind. Generations of children will have access to education and be empowered to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations," said Jim Ziolkowski, Founder and CEO of buildOn.

Over half a million children in Malawi have been orphaned by the AIDS epidemic. Raising Malawi has supported many of these children through programs over the past several years.

"This remains a very big priority in my life and I am excited that with the help of buildOn we can maintain our ongoing commitment to move forward efficiently. We now will be able to serve twice as many children as we would have served with our old approach," said Madonna in a statement on the buildOn website.

"I have learned a great deal over the last few years and feel so much more confident that we can reach out goals to educate children in Malawi, especially young girls, in a much more efficient and practical way. Constructing smaller schools in partnership with buildOn has restored my faith that we can accomplish what we promised we would," she said.

The singer had planned to build a school for 400 girls just outside the capital of Lilongwe. Mismanagement saw these plans fail and as a result the board of Raising Malawi was fired.