has been for fourteen years. The

first time I did anything

with them was in Thailand

and I was on a tour with Manchester

United and I was asked by

UNICEF with six other players

to go to a women's

centre and that was my

first involvement with

UNICEF and then, about

six months after that, I

had a letter from Kofi

Annan, saying, 'Would you like to become

one of our ambassadors?' And

that, without a doubt, was one of

my proudest moments outside

of my career and in my life

to be honest. You know, to be asked

to be an ambassador

of an organisation that does

so much for so many people

so many children, so many men

around the world, I was very touched

by that. So, yeah, my involvement

started a long time ago

My involvement did start fourteen

years ago and

yes, ten years as an ambassador

So, I'm very proud of that

and I take that very seriously

And You've launched the 7 Fund

this year, I'll ask you a bit about that

in a moment, but Carol, I'll come to you

as UNICEF, a huge

organisation, you have a lot of ambassadors

but David is the first ambassador to

have his own fund, what

does that say about what he

brings to UNICEF? Well

you know, first of all, I want you to

understand that we don't just take

anyone to be an ambassador

you know, we were the first organisation

to ever use celebrity ambassadors

and we get requests

pretty frequently from people

who would like to be ambassadors

And as I describe usually

as, we date for about a year

before we marry and,

and clearly we look for people

who are truly

committed to our cause. So this

is not just, you know, a PR

thing, this has got to be somebody who

really, as I describe it, speaks

kid and really feels

the mission and David clearly

does that. And you know, his reach

is so phenomenal

the announcement of the 7

Fund alone reached over

five billion people, I mean, it was like

this most amazing

pick up on it. And also

because children look up to him

so when he speaks, it's not

only great for public

relations, but it is an opportunity

for a role model to speak

and I think that is equally important

So, we're just thrilled to

have him. So you've been dating

David Beckham for nearly fourteen

years, I think we can call that going steady.

So David, fourteen years involvement

with UNICEF, this opportunity

comes up for you to start the

7 Fund, tell us what it's

all about. What the 7 Fund mean

to you? Well, the 7 Fun is obviously

something that we've been talking

about

for a while, with UNICEF

And obviously, as you all know, well

I hope you all know, I retired

two years ago, from a career of

22 years, and I was

pretty successful in my career

which I'm very proud about.

And my involvement with

UNICEF was always something

that I was proudest of. So

when I came to the end

of my career, you know, even, even

during my career, I

wanted to do more, but obviously

I had managers that obviously

wanted me there every day, so

I couldn't do everything

that I wanted to, about going into

field, going into the field and

doing certain things, but I did

as much as I could. One of my first

involvements were, was with

the tsunami,

which was about two weeks

after I was made ambassador

so that was something that, you

know, I was obviously, very

involved in.

So, obviously, you know

the 7 Fund is something

that I wanted to do

more, you know, I understand

my position, I understand my

role, I understand that over

the years, which I'm very proud

of, I've become a role

model for many children, and I

do take that very seriously

So, when we started talking about

the fund,

we said, I said, 'What can I

do more? You know, what is there

that I can do more for

children around the world? What

can I, you know, raise

and shine a light on?' And

we found many things that I

could do, and funnily enough

you know, that was something that

we really focused on. You

know,

I have a voice, and I have

a voice that a lot of people

like to listen to, it might be

slightly high pitched at times

but I do, I do have

a voice that people listen

to. And we found that out

very quickly with my involvement

with UNICEF and I think, if

that's the only thing that I

can achieve with starting the

7 Fund, then that's

enough, but I want more. You know, I

want to raise as much

awareness as I can, I want

to raise as much money as I

can. I want to do everything possible

you know, at the end of my career

you know, many people say, you know, why

are you not just sitting

down, relaxing, going

on a beach and enjoy yourself

playing golf here, which we were never

allowed to do, by the way.

But, no, you know,

I understand over

the, over the years of

the success that I've had on the field

you know, that's given me the

chance to actually achieve

off the field with other things

And this, without doubt

is my main focus

you know, people turned round to me at the end

of my career and said, 'Do you

want to become a manager? Do you

want to become a coach?' I have to be

passionate about something, I think

you know, many of you have seen me play

hopefully and enjoyed watching

me play for my country and

the teams that I've played with over

the years.

And everyone knows how passionate

I am about the game, and about

my job. So, I have

to be passionate and I'm passionate

about UNICEF and I'm passionate about

helping children. And I realise

the opportunity that I have, I

have a real opportunity to

help children around the world.

And really, I want to underscore

what you just said, because, you know, I'm

the paid gun to do this

this is not something that David

has to do, and he's been doing

this for ten years and he

instead of saying, 'Great, ten years

I've done my share', is amplifying

it at a point in his life that this

is the farthest thing that you have to

be doing. And we

come back to the name, the 7 Fund

you must have been inundated

with possibilities of where

to, of projects, and

projects to fund raise for

How did you whittle down that

shortlist, obviously, the name, 7

helped, but how did you decide

what regions, what projects

'Cause like I said, the list of

children that needed help

must have endless. I think

that was part of obviously, being

you know, a partner

with UNICEF, you know

being a team member with UNICEF

that's where I had to, you know

I've seen the work that they do

and it is truly incredible

You know, it's selfless work that

these people that work

for UNICEF, on the ground, do

not just a couple of hours a day

they are doing this 24 hours

a day, they're not sleeping, they're

not washing, you know, this is

something that they are so focused

on and they just want to help

people. So, obviously, when

we started talking about

the 7 Fund, you know, it was just

a fund at first. So then

obviously, 7 was something that

everyone knows is very important

to me, you know, I wore it for Manchester

United for years, I wore it

for England for years, my daughter's

middle name is Seven, so it

means a lot to me.

And that's when we started

to focus on the countries

that really do need urgent

help, and the, you know, the children

in those countries that really need

that urgent help. So that's when I

had to ask, you know, UNICEF

about their expertise

in that area and we came up

with the seven different countries

seven different initiatives

and we focused on that

you know, and that's, you know, like you

said, that's the difficult part

because we live in a world

where there are so many

you know, children in danger

of violence, of

malnutrition, you know, health

issues, you know, this

there's so many

issues around the world

and we really needed

to focus on certain things

And I think, like I said, that's

where UNICEF's

expertise came into this

Yeah, Carol, talk to us about how you

came up with this shortlist, because like you said

UNICEF doesn't just go in for

the short term, it's there for the long term

this is a bold move, because

you have to invest in this project for

the long term, as does David. Absolutely

and UNICEF works yesterday

today, tomorrow in 190

countries and territories around

the globe. So, identifying

the seven took some conversation

and negotiation. In particular

thought, what I was struck by

was David's desire to

shine a spotlight on

countries that might not otherwise

have a spotlight on them, so he

didn't pick, you know, quote, the sexiest

places in the world, but instead

places that some of you may

be challenged to find on the map

And I think that's particularly

interesting, you know, in

many ways it's kind of like what George