EMpower

EMpower’s Approach to Grantmaking in Education

The right to education is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and every subsequent major international human rights agreement. Despite such widespread recognition of the right to education, huge gaps remain in the provision of basic education. Around the globe, 72 million children1 are out of school. Overcrowded classrooms, poorly trained teachers and inadequate supplies conspire against learning. Those who attend school often finish their education lacking basic skills. 57% (41 million) of the youth not in school are girls, who face greater and unique obstacles to obtaining education (such as unwillingness to invest in daughters’ education, violence in and on the way to school, and lack of time due to household expectations around chores and other labor).

Education is a development priority as recognized in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals 2 (Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling) and 3 (Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education preferably by 2005, and at all levels by 2015).

Research shows that investments in education bring important benefits for the individual and the family, as well as improved returns for the larger community. As the level of education increases, so does the chance to hold a steady job, have a healthy life and support a family. The results can be measured. Better education, especially among adolescent girls, results in lower infant mortality, fewer unwanted pregnancies and the reduction of violence. It can safeguard youth against HIV and other diseases, which leads many to call education the “social vaccine.”

Our approach to grantmaking to improve educational opportunities for at-risk youth supports programs that:

  • Focus on basic and secondary education. Improving basic and secondary education requires attention to quality as well as access, especially in emerging market countries where there have been improvements in getting children to school, but where retention and levels of learning are still problematic.
  • Close the gender gap. EMpower seeks to fund programs that are gender-sensitive, work to overcome unique barriers to girls’ education, and eradicate discriminatory messages or treatment.
  • Offer relevant education that prepares youth for their future. EMpower supports methodologies that are culturally appropriate and geared to learners’ needs, including their participation in a globalizing economy. These include computer skills, English, life skills as well as approaches that respond to students’ lives and possibilities.
  • Support inclusive education to reach the most disadvantaged. EMpower prioritizes grants to reach those least likely to benefit from other education programs, such as “second chance” education programs for out-of-school young people, that offer essential tools for literacy and numeracy and help older adolescents realize their full potential.
  1. 1. UNESCO Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2008

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  • 1/3, more than 100 million, of the curable sexually transmitted infections (STIs) contracted each year are among women and men younger than 25 years of age.

    United Nations World Youth Report, 2005

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