January 24, 2021 - For many years, BIC and its team members have worked to fulfill our commitment to help improve learning conditions for students worldwide through several initiatives, including supporting greater access to quality education, and by taking steps to advance creativity in education through our work at The BIC Corporate Foundation.  

In honor of this year’s International Education Day, for which the theme is “changing course, transforming education,” BIC is highlighting our partnerships focused on aiding in the development of creative skills in children and youth from underserved communities. We believe that creativity is one of the key skills necessary to promote the spirit of lifelong learning in children and in adults, andadults and will ultimately lead to the transformation of our society, economies, and workforce.  

We, at the BIC Corporate Foundation, believe in the power of creativity as the driver of change. 

Play Africa  

The South-Africa based NGO believes that children in Africa are not being taught the critical skills necessary to thrive in the developed world. Play Africa provides design workshops during which underprivileged children take on local community challenges by creating, prototyping, and testing potential solutions to help develop their critical thinking and problem-solving skills. 

Girls Write Now  

This year-long mentorship program matches underserved high-school girls and gender expansive youth with professional female writers to help them develop their creative, critical, and digital writing skills. The program provides mentees the opportunity to become acquainted with a variety of sub-genres within poetry, fiction, journalism, memoir, screen, and playwriting, as well as to learn digital skills such as audio and video editing, coding, and design.  

Junior Achievement  

BIC is helping Junior Achievement prepare children and young adults for employment and entrepreneurship by delivering hands on and experiential learning opportunities through its “Mini-Company”company program in France, Spain, and South Africa. During the program, high school students launch their own businesses, teaching them problem solving and communication skills, while giving them the opportunity to discover different professions firsthand. 

Terre des Hommes 

The Indifesa Radio Network program, based in Milan, Italy, incentivizes children to become active in their communities by teaching them to create their own web-based radio programs to raise awareness on topics such as gender stereotypes, discrimination, and bullying.