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Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado plans to donate the $1-million she was paid to perform for then Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's clan to the Free the Children charity.

Ms. Furtado made the announcement Tuesday at the Air Canada Centre at WE day, a youth empowerment day organized by Canadian co-founders of Free the Children, Craig and Marc Kielburger.

Some 18,000 youth listened to Ms. Furtado, a Grammy and Juno winner, who performed with the Kenyan Boys choir.

She said the money would go towards building a girls school in Kenya.

Earlier this year, Ms. Furtado announced on Twitter that the million-dollar performance took place at a hotel in Italy for members of the Gadhafi family and guests in 2007.

Ms. Furtado announced in March that she planned to donate the money to a charity. On her motivations in getting rid of the Gadhafi payment, she said: "I feel very positive about these choices and ... I'm focusing on the future.

"At the end of the day, it's about the girls in Kenya."

Craig Kielburger also acknowledged that the donation comes under "a very unusual circumstance," but he felt comfortable accepting the donation despite its origins.

"When we had a conversation with Nelly, who was in a very noble way trying to make good on this situation and trying to use this to further social change ... And further to give it back to Africa ... We are honoured to be a partner in implementing it."

As part of this donation, Ms. Furtado has also agreed to match every dollar donated up to $500,000 to build the all-girls boarding school in the Maasai Mara region of Kenya.

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