Education 4 Change

468 Albert St. | Waterloo
 

Education 4 Change is a non-profit, grassroots organization that is based in Waterloo, Ontario. We work in partnership with the communities in the Somali Region of Ethiopia to improve their education, increase literacy and promote gender equality. Education 4 Change is an incorporated organization and a registered charity in Canada and we are a registered NGO in Ethiopia.

The Somali Region of Ethiopia was historically under-serviced by the government due to ongoing land disputes in the area. In recent years, more schools have been built in the area but they are often run by unqualified teachers, they are too small for the student population and they lack the necessary resources to educate their students properly. There are also not enough high schools - out of 4000 schools in the Somali Region, only 196 are high schools. That means that students wanting to get an education above grade 8 must leave their villages and travel to another community, sometimes several hours away. Recent statistics show that out of the 196 high schools, only 21 have a library, only 10 have a science lab and only 8 have a working computer lab.

Another issue in this area is the low number of girls that are attending school and the even lower number that are successful at school. Many girls are not given the opportunity to go to school because they have to help out at home with siblings and household responsibilities. Other girls who do get the chance to go to school are forced to drop out due to childhood marriages or they are not successful because their duties at home do not leave them time for school work. Another obstacle is the fact that many schools do not have a girls bathroom. So if girls do choose to go to school they must go the entire day without using the bathroom.

We are working with the communities and schools to create sustainable, locally managed education programs that meet their children's needs. Our projects include a permanent library, mobile resource teachers, women's literacy classes, teacher training sessions, and making improvements to the infrastructure of local schools, such as building girl's bathrooms.

We are looking for new and innovative ways to raise money. We used to hold an annual Fundraising Dinner and Silent Auction but cannot do that anymore due to COVID-19. If you have any brilliant ideas for virtual fundraisers that you would like to share, or if you are interested in volunteering for us in the future, please send me a message.