AIME Goes Global For a More Equal World
13 June 2017 at 8:26 am
A not for profit that supports Indigenous students through high school and into university or employment at the same rate as every Australian child, has gone global in a bid to address inequality.
AIME, which was started 12 years ago by Jack Manning Bancroft, a young Aboriginal man with a dream of bridging the inequality gap through education, has launched worldwide with a film created by M&C Saatchi Sydney and directed by Oscar-winning director Laurent Witz.
The film Cogs, which took a year to make, illustrates “the unfair system our world is built upon” and calls for change to the way the world works.
It coincides with the charity’s search for 10 young people around the world to set up the AIME program in their chosen university to start helping underprivileged children in their communities through mentorship.
The so called Golden Tickets competition will give 10 young people, aged between 18 and 30, the chance to become international leaders and will allow AIME to share its Australian success and fight for “a fairer and more equal world”.
CEO and founder Bancroft, who was awarded Young Australian of the Year in 2010, said it was time for “the mentors to rise”.
“If we want to change the world, we need to change the way it works,” Bancroft said.
“Inequality is an epidemic. The richest 1 per cent of the population have accumulated more wealth than the rest of the world combined.
“AIME allows everyone around the world to play a part in changing this broken system.
“Our programs are crafted with the power and resources to improve the lives of millions of people globally. I’ve seen the change for 12 years and have no doubt that this program can and will change the globe. It’s time for the mentors to rise.”
Since launching AIME, which partners university student volunteers with underprivileged high school students, has helped change the lives of tens of thousands of underprivileged children across Australia.
The average of Indigenous kids in Australia finishing school is 61.5 per cent, with only 42 per cent going on to tertiary studies. Those figures rise to 87.9 per cent and 74 per cent respectively for those young people who receive assistance from AIME.
After proving the model works, Bancroft is now hoping to use the film to take his vision worldwide.
M&C Saatchi worldwide chairman and chairman of the AIME Board, Tom Dery said it was a “very rare” opportunity for M&C Saatchi to work with such a fabulous organisation.
“Particularly when our teams can help such an important cause as what AIME stands for,” Dery said.
“The fact that one of the leading animators in the world was prepared to devote his organisation’s services to such a degree just highlights the passion everyone involved has for this project”.
The film, which is set in a giant machine city, showcases how the city is designed to favour some, while others become workers in its forgotten engine. The hero of the film realises this unfairness, acts upon this realisation and empowers change.
M&C Saatchi group creative director Andy Flemming said they “couldn’t be more proud of it”.
“In these truly troubled times, it’s humbling to be part of a group of truly visionary people who want to change the world through absolute positivity,” Flemming said.
“AIME have taken thousands of kids who were on the path to unemployment, gangs (or worse), and through mentorship showed them the path to a better world.
“It was their simple vision to heal a broken society that attracted Laurent Witz and his incredible team to the project, and almost a year later, their beautiful film has brought AIME’s mission to life. We couldn’t be more proud of it.”
