In 2014, Colombian singer Shakira helped open a major new school in one of Cartagena’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods. Through her Fundación Pies Descalzos, she contributed $3.68 million toward the $8 million construction of the Institución Educativa Fundación Pies Descalzos Lomas del Peyé, a 7,780-square-metre campus in the La María neighbourhood. The school was designed for up to 1,700 students and continues to serve more than 1,000 children each year, according to Fundación Pies Descalzos and reports published by La Nación.Twelve years after its opening, the campus remains a visible example of how celebrity philanthropy can support long-term community infrastructure. It was not a short-term donation or a one-off event, but a school built to provide classrooms, meals, recreation, and educational opportunity for children living in an area with significant social and economic challenges.
A school in a vulnerable neighbourhood
Lomas del Peyé is located in La María, a neighbourhood in Cartagena that Fundación Pies Descalzos identifies as one of the city’s most vulnerable areas. The school serves children living in informal settlements, particularly in areas behind the city’s airport. The campus was built on a 7,780-square-metre site and was designed to accommodate students across early childhood, primary, and secondary education. Reports say the project had capacity for around 1,700 students of different ages. The school opened in February 2014 after an $8 million construction project, as pee reports. Shakira’s contribution accounted for about 46 percent of the total budget, while the remainder came from public and private partners.
Image courtesy: Shakira/ Instagram
What the campus provides
The Lomas del Peyé school was designed as more than a collection of classrooms. Fundación Pies Descalzos says the campus includes a library, laboratory, bilingual classrooms, technology room, school dining hall, sports courts, recreational areas, and 44 sanitation facilities. Those facilities matter because a child’s ability to learn depends on more than lessons. Safe classrooms, clean bathrooms, nutritious meals, and spaces for play and exercise all help create the conditions for regular attendance and stronger educational outcomes.The foundation describes its schools as “open-door” spaces intended to serve the wider community. The goal is to make the campus a centre for development and opportunity, rather than a facility used only during school hours.
Shakira’s role through Pies Descalzos
Shakira founded Fundación Pies Descalzos to support education and early childhood development in Colombia. The foundation’s work focuses on children and young people in vulnerable communities, with an emphasis on improving access to quality education.Her $3.68 million contribution to Lomas del Peyé represented nearly half of the school’s total construction cost. Reports say the donation was made through the foundation and formed part of its broader effort to expand educational access in Cartagena.The project also created hundreds of jobs during construction, according to reports on the initiative. That added a short-term economic benefit to the neighbourhood while the school itself was designed to deliver a long-term social return.
A lasting educational legacy
Image courtesy: Shakira/Instagram
Twelve years after opening, the school continues to serve more than 1,000 girls and boys annually. Fundación Pies Descalzos says the campus remains active in La María, providing education to children from one of Cartagena’s most vulnerable communities. The school was the first Pies Descalzos institution built in Cartagena. Its continued operation shows how investment in school infrastructure can have a lasting impact, especially when it is paired with programmes that support attendance, learning, and community participation.The campus also forms part of a wider network of Pies Descalzos education projects throughout Colombia. The foundation has built or supported schools and educational facilities in Barranquilla, Cartagena, Quibdó, and La Guajira, with a focus on children facing poverty, displacement, or limited access to services.
Why access to education is important
School can offer stability for children in communities impacted by poverty and informal housing, which they may not be able to find anywhere else. A reliable campus with meals, sanitation, technology, and recreational space can reduce barriers that prevent children from staying in education.This understanding is reflected in the Lomas del Peyé project.The Foundation wanted to improve access to education and the quality of the environment in which children learn by building a large, well-equipped school in La María.The school’s capacity for 1,700 students also signals an ambition beyond immediate enrolment. Even though it currently serves more than 1,000 children each year, the campus was designed to accommodate growth and serve a broader population over time, as per reports.
From a celebrity donation to community infrastructure
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Shakira’s contribution is often reported as a celebrity donation, but its most important legacy is the school itself. The campus has provided education to thousands of children since 2014 and continues to operate in a neighbourhood where access to quality schooling can be limited.The project shows how philanthropy can work best when it creates durable public assets. Rather than offering temporary aid, the investment helped build a permanent educational institution with classrooms, meals, sports facilities, and community spaces.Twelve years later, Lomas del Peyé remains a working example of that approach. Shakira’s $3.68 million contribution helped create a school that continues to welcome more than 1,000 children from Cartagena every year.
