page_title: Shakira
section_title: Philanthropy and politics
hierarchical_section_title: Shakira / Other ventures / Philanthropy and politics
caption_attribution_description: English: Shakira with Rey Juan Carlos and Alejandro Sanz.
context_page_description: Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll is a Colombian singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, actress, and philanthropist. Born and raised in Barranquilla, Shakira has been referred to as the Queen of Latin Music and is noted for her versatility in music. She made her recording debut under Sony Music Colombia at the age of 13. Following the commercial failure of her first two Colombian albums, Magia and Peligro, she rose to prominence in Hispanic countries with her next albums, Pies Descalzos and Dónde Están los Ladrones?. Shakira entered the English-language market with her fifth album, Laundry Service. It sold over 13 million copies, spawned the international number-one singles "Whenever, Wherever" and "Underneath Your Clothes", and propelled her reputation as a leading crossover artist.
  Her success was further solidified with the Spanish albums Fijación Oral, Vol. 1, Sale el Sol, and El Dorado, all of which topped the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart and were certified diamante by the Recording Industry Association of America. Meanwhile, her English albums Oral Fixation, Vol.
context_section_description: In 1997, Shakira founded the Pies Descalzos Foundation, a Colombian charity with special schools for poor children all around Colombia. It was funded by Shakira and other international groups and individuals. The name of the foundation was taken from Shakira's third studio album, Pies Descalzos, which she released in 1995. The foundation's main focus is on aid through education, and the organization has five schools across Colombia that provide education and meals for 4,000 children.
  On 27 April 2014 Shakira was honored with the Hero Award at the Radio Disney Music Awards for her Fundación Pies Descalzos work.
  In 2005, Shakira became a founding member of Latin America in Solidarity Action, a coalition of artists and business leaders seeking to promote integrated early childhood public policies. In 2008, she served as the Honorary Chair of the Global Campaign for Education Global Action Week. Later, in 2010, she collaborated with the World Bank and the Barefoot Foundation to establish an initiative that distributes educational and developmental programs for children across Latin America.
  Shakira is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is one of their global representatives. On 3 April 2006, Shakira was honored at a UN ceremony for creating the Pies Descalzos Foundation. In March 2010, she was awarded a medal by the UN International Labour Organization in recognition of being, as UN Labour Chief Juan Somavia put it, a "true ambassador for children and young people, for quality education and social justice". In November 2010, after performing as the opening act of the MTV European Music Awards, the Colombian singer also received the MTV Free Your Mind award for her continuing dedication to improve access to education for all children around the world.
  In October 2010, Shakira expressed disagreement with French president Nicolás Sarkozy and his policy of expelling Romani people from the country. In the Spanish edition of the magazine GQ, she also directed a few words to Sarkozy, "We are all gypsies". In the interview she made her viewpoint very clear: "What is happening now to them (the gypsies) will happen to our children and our children's children. We must turn to our citizens to act for the fundamental rights of human beings and condemn all that seems to us indictable", she declared.
  In February 2011, the FC Barcelona Foundation and Pies descalzos reached an agreement for children's education through sport. Shakira was honored at the Latin Grammys as the Latin Recording Academy Person of the Year on 9 November 2011, for her philanthropy and contributions to Latin Music. Also in 2011, she was appointed by President Barack Obama to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics. The World Literacy Foundation announced Shakira as the recipient of the 2020 Global Literacy Award for "her significant contribution to the improvement of literacy for disadvantaged children around the world."
  On 2 November 2018, during a visit to her birthplace, Barranquilla, for the construction of a school through her Barefoot Foundation (Pies Descalzos Foundation), Shakira spoke about the educational policies of the government under Ivan Duque (President of Colombia, 2018–2022). Speaking against the government's intentions to reduce the national education budget from 13% to 7%, she said, "This is unacceptable. It shows that instead of progressing forward we are moving backward. We need to invest more in education and we need to build more schools in places where there are none". She also talked about social inequality and unschooling.
caption: Shakira, Alejandro Sanz and Juan Carlos I, The King of Spain during the Ibero-American Summit of El Salvador
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