Africa: French President Macron and Rihanna Join Forces for Education

Dakar — The pair urged world leaders and donors to scale up support for schooling

Emmanuel Macron and Rihanna may not usually move in the same circles, but the French president and pop star joined forces on Friday to champion education for the world's poorest countries.

The pair urged world leaders and donors to scale up support for schooling at a financing conference of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in Senegal's capital Dakar.

"This is a fight that we are never going to stop fighting until every boy and every girl has access to education," said Rihanna, GPE's global ambassador, to wild applause.

The Barbadian singer also called out presidents on Twitter - where she has 86 million followers - to honour their commitments in the lead-up to the summit.

Merci @emmanuelmacron for stepping up to co-host @GPforEducation's Financing Conference in Dakar! Will France 🇫🇷 pledge €250M for @GPforEducation tomorrow? @claralionelfdn @glblctzn 🌍 - Rihanna (@rihanna) February 1, 2018