Inside & Out: Shakira

On Tuesday, Shakira visited the White House to use her voice, but this time, it wasn't to sing. The Grammy Award-winning artist traveled to the capital to proudly launch the Early Childhood Initiative: An Investment for Life, a $300 million joint effort of The World Bank and ALAS, the nonprofit she founded to benefit young children in Latina America and the Caribbean.

As a native of Barranquilla, Colombia, Shakira knows firsthand the struggle to provide children with the most basic needs in poverty-stricken countries. To help end the injustice, at age 18 she began advocating on behalf of young children and started the Barefoot Foundation. In 2006, Shakira founded ALAS with the hope that one day all children will receive proper care, nutrition and education. The nonprofit also strives to put the issue at the forefront of public policy.

But still today, Latin America is the most unequal region in the world. According to the ALAS website, one of every three households and two of every five people live below the poverty level. Of the 55 million children under age 5 that live in the region, 8.8 million suffer from chronic malnutrition and 22 million don’t have access to education. 302,000 children die every year.

Although ALAS focuses on Latin America, its coalition of artists and business leaders aims to improve child development around the globe. While in Washington D.C., Shakira met with the president's education staff and the National Security Council before sitting down with President Obama. In an interview for Fox News, she tells Greta Van Susteren, "I know that this is a cause close to his heart and a high priority for this administration. So I wanted to see how I can be helpful to the administration in any kind of way to continue promoting early childhood development strategies around the world and within the U.S."

The best-selling female artist continues to inspire millions — and move thousands to action. In addition to this latest effort, Shakira recently announced the Barefoot Foundation's plans to build a school for displaced children in Haiti. Guess Shakira's lips don't lie either.

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