• Overview
• Approach
• Projects

Education Programs

Transforming lives through education

World Learning believes that education is the driving force behind positive change. Making inroads to improve opportunities for the more than 115 million children not in school and 876 million illiterate adults is essential to the development of human potential worldwide.
 
World Learning focuses on children whose circumstances leave them especially vulnerable and underserved, including those from ethnic and religious minorities, street children, HIV/AIDS-affected children, child laborers, and disadvantaged girls.

We work directly with children to raise their awareness about the importance of education for now and the future and to provide them with equitable and quality access to academic and skill development opportunities. Projects range from improving teacher training, curricula and materials, to mobilizing community parents and leaders to recognize education’s importance and value. Such programs prepare children for lifelong learning by strengthening the commitment of local, regional and national civil society and governments to operate thriving education systems.

Program sustainability can only be achieved with the full cooperation of local communities. We recognize that power must come from within and that comprehensive understanding of a particular case can only come from the community itself. To this end World Learning facilitates resource sharing between central and local governments, civil society, education authorities, teachers, and communities.

Featured Project – Peru: Reducing Child Labor through Education

Download and read project monograph.

Education – Our Approach

With the world in a constant state of flux, education provides a stabilizing touchstone to help the citizens of countries cope with changing priorities and demands. Education enables people to meet labor market needs, compete in global markets and confront technological revolutions. 

World Learning works through inter-agency partnerships to ensure high quality education programs focusing on the following main areas of intervention:

Technical assistance to formal government primary schools – Improving teacher training, curricula and education materials while mobilizing communities to have better understanding about education and to support children’s schooling.

Non-formal and alternative basic education – Providing children, youth and adults with essential life skills and functional and vocational literacy for improved livelihoods.

Remedial Education – Providing children and youth with additional support, tutoring and peer education; fostering mentoring relationships; providing safe learning environments and the means necessary to reintegrate with formal government systems where conflict or other circumstances have severed ties.

Empowering communities and parents – Mobilizing communities and parents to become active stakeholders in children’s education.

Advocacy for education – Ensuring accessible, inclusive and quality education for children focused on learning outcomes and achieving high rates of completion.

Featured Project – Benin: Reducing Trafficking of Girls through Education

By increasing girls’ schooling, World Learning reduced the number of trafficked girls to cities or neighboring countries.

Education Projects

World Learning believes in the life changing power of education and its role as the prerequisite for economic and social development, civic participation, and poverty reduction.

Today’s society demands new skills and competencies to effectively contribute to a globalized world and to make responsible and sustainable choices for the future. Working with central and local governments and their citizens, World Learning helps education authorities, teachers and communities to articulate learning objectives for their children.

Featured Projects

Ecuador and Peru – Bringing education services to child laborers

In Ecuador, World Learning’s accelerated learning programs reintegrate over-aged or out-of-school children from agrarian communities into the appropriate grade level. After-school academic reinforcement programs and drop-out prevention services allow children to keep longer hours in school, thus helping to reduce working hours.

In Peru, World Learning works in gold mining communities to provide teacher training in locally relevant instruction methods that incorporate child labor issues into curriculum development. After-school activities further help to keep children from engaging in dangerous mining activities.

Download and read project monograph. 

Ethiopia – Providing training, technical assistance and small grants to school committees

By creating parent teacher associations and reaching out to regional and local education officials, World Learning has worked to foster community initiative and strength in defining common educational goals and fighting for their achievement.

Benin – Rescuing exploited girls

World Learning, in partnership with local groups, helped to bring trafficked girls and girls in danger of being forced into early marriages to safety. World Learning also advocated in support of increased girls’ schooling, and cultivated family and community dialogue to increase girls’ chances of being given the same opportunities to study as their brothers.

Current and Recent Projects

• Ecuador – Winari Project: Combating Exploitative Child Labor Among Indigenous Children Through Education
• Ethiopia – Community Government Partnership Program: Bringing Education Services to Child Laborers
• Guatemala – Providing Access to Intercultural Bilingual Education
• Peru – ComuFuturo Project: Supporting Community Action to Reduce Child Labor in Gold Mining Communities
• Peru – EduFuturo:  Educating Artisanal Mining Children for a Dignified Future (Download and read project monograph.)
• Uganda – Mobilizing Community Action to Support Education

Completed Projects

• Benin – Community Action for Girls’ Education (CAGE)