UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, Veolia Transdev Chairman and CEO Jean-Marc Janaillac and SIPA PRESS President Olivier Mégean inaugurated the international exhibition of 18 essays of images photographed between November and December 2012, from Nigeria to Thailand to Australia to the U.S.
UNESCO, VEOLIA TRANSDEV and SIPA PRESS combined their talents to create this tribute to children’s tenacity and joie de vivre and to raise international awareness of the daily obstacles faced by millions of children in their quest for education, including poverty, lack of public transport, political and religious conflict, dangerous urban environments, natural disasters and gender inequality.
The exhibition will be on display in New York until April 26, 2013, before arriving at UNESCO headquarters in Paris on April 3 for a tour of major French cities throughout 2013, followed by a world tour through 2015.
The “Journeys to School” project also has been published in book form, containing the comprehensive collection of photos essays and data on the challenges to access to education throughout the world. This book will be available for purchase online from the UNESCO website with proceeds going toward education projects for children.
About Veolia Transdev
Born out of the merger of Veolia Transport and Transdev, a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts and Veolia Environment, Veolia Transdev is the world’s leading public transport operator.
Veolia Transdev advises and supports regional authorities, from the pre-project stage to the daily operation of public transport networks, including project management assistance. With 102,000 staff in 27 countries, the group operates 60,000 vehicles and 25 tram systems. In 2010, Veolia Transport generated turnover of 7.8 billion euros.