Angelina Jolie funds a girls' school in Afghanistan

A school outside Kabul

In April 2013, Angelina Jolie confirmed to E! News that she had funded an all-girls primary school in Afghanistan. Jolie, then a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, chose a village outside Kabul — a region where boys' education had traditionally been favored over girls', and where the population included many returning refugees whose homes had been destroyed in the fighting.

The school served between 200 and 300 girls, and Jolie said she had plans for more such institutions.

How she funded it

Jolie financed the school through her jewelry line, Style of Jolie, which she designed herself. The expanded collection was going on sale at retail, and she pledged 100% of the profits to her new foundation, The Education Partnership for Children of Conflict — money earmarked for building more schools around the world.

"Beyond enjoying the artistic satisfaction of designing these jewels, we are inspired by knowing our work is also serving the mutual goal of providing for children in need," she said.

Why it mattered

At the time, girls' education in Afghanistan was one of the post-Taliban era's most fragile gains — and the region Jolie picked was exactly the kind of place where those gains were thinnest. A celebrity-funded school couldn't fix that on its own, but 200 to 300 girls in classrooms was a concrete thing in a landscape of good intentions.

Archive summary, April 2013, based on E! News's report.