Archive for category: Education

Information and stories on education.

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Education Initiatives in Libya: Supporting Children

Education Initiatives in Libya
Libya’s education system has faced years of disruption following the 2011 revolution and subsequent conflict. Before 2011, Libya had achieved near-universal primary and secondary enrollment with equitable gender enrollment, but conflict, displacement and economic crisis have since restricted access to education. Education Cannot Wait reports that hundreds of schools have been targeted, destroyed or repurposed, while many children and adolescents remain out of the classroom.

The current challenges remain significant. UNICEF reports that about one in 10 households rely on child labor and that almost one in five families have at least one child out of school. UNICEF also continues to support vulnerable children, including children with disabilities, displaced children and children on the move, through education and protection programs. Here is some information about education initiatives in Libya and what they are doing to help.

The Good News: Education Initiatives in Libya

Several education initiatives are working to improve education and student well-being in Libya. In June 2026, the Libyan government and UNICEF launched two complementary initiatives: the National Community Health Program and the National Strategy for School Health and Nutrition (2026–2030). The school strategy addresses priorities including nutrition, mental health, water, sanitation and hygiene, digital referral systems and school clinics. Partners also plan to train school-health personnel and expand mental-health services over the five-year strategy.

This follows earlier efforts to strengthen Libya’s education system. In 2013, the European Union funded a two-year UNICEF initiative, led by Libya’s Ministry of Education, to improve teacher management and training. The €3.1 million project was designed to support teacher qualifications, in-service training, recruitment, management and deployment.

Other Initiatives

UNICEF also supports education in Libya through cash assistance, non-formal education and digital learning opportunities. In partnership with the Ministry of Education, it helps re-enroll out-of-school children, trains social workers and school counselors, supports teacher development and provides remedial or catch-up classes for children who have fallen behind.

Education Cannot Wait (ECW) also supports primary and secondary education in Libya. Its programs rehabilitate damaged schools, improve water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, support parent-teacher associations and provide cash transfers, scholarships, accelerated learning, remedial lessons and vocational training. ECW also trains educators to create more inclusive learning environments, particularly for girls and children with disabilities.

ACTED has also used Quick Impact Projects to address immediate problems in Libya’s education system. In 2018, 15 projects that UNHCR funded distributed school supplies, IT equipment and furniture and supported school renovations. ACTED reports that the projects supported around 3,300 students and contributed to community stabilization by creating safer educational environments that encouraged families to return.

The Road Ahead

Libya’s education system continues to face serious challenges, but domestic and international initiatives are expanding access to learning, improving school environments and supporting vulnerable children. Current programs from UNICEF and Education Cannot Wait sit alongside earlier efforts from organizations such as ACTED and the European Union, showing several approaches to strengthening education in Libya.

– Sebastiano Brussato

Sebastiano is based in London, United Kingdom and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

 

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Read@Home Program Improves Child Literacy in Eswatini

Child Literacy in EswatiniIn 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Bank launched the Read@Home initiative. As schools began closing, the Read@Home initiative allowed children to learn despite those barriers. By providing books and other learning materials into homes, students continued building foundational skills in reading and mathematics.

Child Literacy in Eswatini

In Eswatini, third graders can read only about three English words per minute and about eight words per minute in SiSwati, the primary language of Eswatini.

This literacy gap exists alongside broader economic challenges in Eswatini. The country struggles with poverty, with 54% of the population surviving on only $4.20 per day. Limited employment and economic opportunities are among the challenges facing households. In fact, about 56% of young adults (15-24) remain unemployed.

Improving child literacy can strengthen children’s future educational and economic opportunities. Foundational reading and mathematics skills can help students progress through education and build skills relevant to future employment. Child illiteracy is partly driven by parents’ illiteracy, perpetuating a continuous cycle of poverty. However, by giving children the resources needed to stay in school, they gain the abilities needed to positively contribute to the economy.

The Read@Home Program

The Read@Home program is a World Bank initiative focused on improving child literacy in regions where resources are limited. Already, the World Bank has established partnerships in 18 countries. In Senegal, for example, books in both English and Senegalese languages have reached more than 2 million children. By partnering with governments and targeting families who do not have access to books and other learning materials, the program aims to improve child literacy at the source.

The Read@Home pilot has now worked to improve the literacy gap in Eswatini. The Ministry of Education in Eswatini has partnered with the World Bank to launch the Read@Home program in households across four tinkhundlas (constituencies in Eswatini’s government structure). Launched in 2025, the program primarily focused on rural, low-resource communities. The program provided 8,730 books in SiSwati and English to 546 caregivers, ultimately reaching more than 737 children.

Caregivers received home visits and coaching on how to read with their children. Teachers at early-childhood centers were similarly trained to create environments intended to promote child literacy.

Results

Expanding resource distribution beyond traditional books to include newspapers, magazines, and even church bulletins has produced promising results: nearly 78% of caregivers of children aged 3-5 reported reading more frequently with their children after receiving the resources and support. Additionally, numerous families reported seeing improvements in their child’s vocabulary and early literacy skills. Parents have also expressed more confidence in teaching their children.

Future Impact

Improving foundational reading skills improves future educational aspirations. These skills help children develop the knowledge and adaptability needed for future jobs and changing economies. By preventing learning gaps from widening, this program could potentially reduce the effects of poverty and increase economic opportunities in resource-limited settings. The Eswatini Read@Home pilot suggests that approaches such as book sharing and community-based support can help extend access to reading resources. Additionally, by providing books containing local and cultural stories, Read@Home can also strengthen children’s connection to their communities and instill a lasting love of reading.

Together, these efforts can give every child in Eswatini the foundational literacy skills and support they need to be successful both in school and beyond.

– Diya Rajkumar

Diya is based in Redmond, WA, USA and focuses on Good News and Global Health for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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Lewis Hamilton’s Fight for Refugee Education Isn’t Over

Refugee EducationSeven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton has spent his career breaking barriers on the track. Off the track, he has used his platform to push for a different kind of access: refugee education. In 2022, Hamilton backed a UNHCR campaign calling for refugee children and youth to be fully included in national education systems rather than being left on the margins. Hamilton said he was proud to lend his voice to the campaign and argued that education can help unlock people’s potential and address systemic injustice. In the same UNHCR release, High Commissioner Filippo Grandi described supporting refugee education as an investment in people who may one day rebuild their countries when they can safely return home.

A Widening Gap at Every Level

At the time of Hamilton’s statement, refugee children enrolled in primary school at a rate of 68%, but that number dropped sharply for higher levels of education. Only 37% reached secondary school, and just 6% continued on to university, according to UNHCR’s 2022 Refugee Education Report. Hamilton highlighted this gap directly, framing continued exclusion from higher education as a loss of talent the world could not afford.

The consequences of that education gap reach far beyond the classroom. In countries where comparable data are available, refugees have been found to experience higher poverty rates than host-country nationals. UNHCR research also shows that expanding refugees’ access to work and freedom of movement can reduce poverty and support economic inclusion.

Education can support that economic inclusion by improving skills and access to recognized qualifications. UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi wrote in the foreword to a previous UNHCR education report that failing to close the education gap would also set back progress on employment, equality and poverty eradication, not just school enrollment.

Progress in the Years Since

UNHCR’s newest data shows measurable progress in refugee education. Tertiary enrollment among refugees rose to 9% in 2025, the largest single-year jump on record and nearly triple the enrollment rate from just a few years earlier. Every region tracked in the report recorded gains in higher education access, with Europe showing the largest increase. UNHCR points to advocacy, expanded higher-education pathways, digital learning and programs such as the DAFI scholarship program as part of the progress. The gains reflect the same goal Hamilton championed in 2022: refugee students having a genuine path beyond secondary school rather than stopping short of it.

Funding Cuts Threaten the Gains

Despite the progress, the report carries a warning that echoes the wider case Hamilton supported in 2022. An estimated 12.4 million school-aged refugee children exist worldwide, and nearly half, about 5.7 million, remain out of school entirely. Grandi said that while enrollment efforts have been tremendous, cuts to humanitarian and development aid now put those hard-won gains at risk. UNHCR’s 2022 campaign also stressed that inclusion in national education systems requires substantial and sustained financing.

A Goal Still Within Reach

UNHCR has set a target of reaching 15% tertiary enrollment for refugees by 2030. Current progress suggests the goal remains possible, but continued funding will matter. UNHCR highlights scholarships, digital higher education, vocational pathways and broader inclusion in national education systems as ways of expanding access. Continued investment in refugee education is therefore central to sustaining the gains already achieved.

Hamilton used his platform to argue that refugee children and young people deserve access to education and opportunity. The data since 2022 show real progress, while UNHCR’s latest warnings make clear that those gains remain vulnerable to funding cuts. Whether investment continues will help determine whether the momentum holds.

– Naveeshaa Rengasamy

Naveeshaa is based in Lille, France and focuses on Celebs for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Education in the Pitcairn Islands

Education in the Pitcairn Islands
The Pitcairn Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific, but only Pitcairn Island is permanently inhabited. Its population stood at 42 people in 2022, including residents temporarily abroad. Thus, education is a micro-system: when even one child leaves or returns, the entire school model changes. Here is more information about education in the Pitcairn Islands.

Education in the Pitcairn Islands

The Government of Pitcairn’s education policy states that education is compulsory from ages 5 to 16 and is intended to prepare children for life “both on Pitcairn and abroad.” This dual purpose aligns with the territory’s broader development context. Students benefit from local cultural continuity, but they also need qualifications that allow them to pursue further study and employment outside the island.

Historically, local education was provided through Pulau School in Adamstown. The school followed a curriculum based on the New Zealand model while also incorporating Pitcairn’s history, customs and Pitkern language. This local cultural component is important because education in very small communities often serves not only academic purposes, but also language preservation. 

However, Pulau School is not currently operating as a regular school with enrolled pupils. Apparently, the school closed in 2022 because of a lack of children attending, and the remaining pupil transferred to boarding school in New Zealand. Indeed, a United Nations working paper reports that there are currently no children being educated in the local school, as the remaining students are receiving secondary education in New Zealand.

Overseas Education

This does not mean that Pitcairn has ceased providing education. Rather, education provision has shifted toward overseas pathways. The island’s budget supports overseas education, including secondary and tertiary study. When Pulau School was operating, the budget also covered the cost of an expatriate teacher. These arrangements suggest that the government continues to treat education as a public responsibility, even when provision cannot occur locally.

The reliance on New Zealand for secondary education reflects both practical necessity and structural constraint. A territory with so few children cannot easily provide the full range of subjects, peer groups and specialist instruction available in a larger system. Thus, overseas schooling can expand educational opportunities. At the same time, it may weaken the connection between young people and the island if students remain abroad for further education, work or family life.

The current situation illustrates the close relationship between education and demography in Pitcairn. The absence of pupils at Pulau School is not primarily a failure of education policy, but a consequence of population decline and limited family formation on the island. In this sense, the future of education in Pitcairn depends on tougher questions of population sustainability and return migration.

Return migration, in particular, remains uncertain. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that young people continue to move overseas and inward migration is limited. The decision to return depends not only on family attachment or cultural identity, but also on whether there’s a meaningful role for young adults in the community. The Government of Pitcairn’s immigration page includes a settlement “skills pathway” for applicants with relevant skills that can contribute to the community.

Looking Ahead

Overall, education in the Pitcairn Islands is best understood as a hybrid model: local provision when there are enough children to sustain it, combined with overseas education pathways when local provision is impractical. The key challenge is ensuring that students receive high-quality education while maintaining meaningful links to Pitcairn’s community, language and long-term development needs.

– Jeff Zhou 

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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S M Sehgal Foundation: Rural Poverty Reduction in India

S M Sehgal FoundationPoverty narratives in rural India continue to flood Western media and major news outlets. According to the World Bank, 16.1% of India’s population lived below the lower-middle-income poverty line of $4.20 per person per day in 2023-24, down from 57.7% in 2011-12. Yet behind the headlines lies a more complicated reality: rural poverty is rarely rooted in one single challenge. Educational accessibility influences agricultural practices; crop output depends on reliable water supply; household income levels shape health care and resource access; and inadequate educational facilities can disproportionately limit learning opportunities for young women.

S M Sehgal Foundation: An Interconnected Approach

One nonprofit taking an interconnected approach to mitigating these challenges is the S M Sehgal Foundation, a rural development NGO that has reached more than 7 million people since its inception in 1999.

In a recent interview with The Borgen Project, Board of Trustees Chairperson Jay Sehgal explained how an organization that began with agricultural reform has established itself in several areas of community advancement. According to Sehgal, the foundation’s original question was simple: how could it help poor farmers improve their livelihoods through sustainable farming and more reliable crop yields? The idea grew from the professional experiences of Dr. Suri Sehgal, whose career in seed genetics offered a firsthand view of the economic precarity facing small farmers in developing countries.

Soil health and mechanization efforts quickly exposed another constraint. Sehgal explained, “Farmers get poorer because they have to buy the water to be able to do the agriculture.” Farmers rely heavily on groundwater irrigation, with agriculture accounting for almost 90% of India’s groundwater use and extraction depleting aquifer reserves in many regions.

In response, the Sehgal Foundation works with communities on rainwater harvesting, dam installation, restoring village ponds, recharge wells and water filtration. For the foundation, addressing agricultural poverty entails looking beyond crops to the resources that make their growth possible.

Empowering Women and Education

Since the start of its water conservation efforts, the Sehgal Foundation has prioritized including women in its programs. In the process, the team encountered low literacy rates among the girls involved and started examining the barriers behind this discrepancy. Sehgal explained, “If any family had a little bit of money, they will send the boy to the private school where the girls are sent to these government schools… completely run-down schools. There is no toilet for the girls. There’s no water in the school. The roofs are leaking.”

Rather than building entirely new schools, the Sehgal Foundation zeroed in on transforming existing ones and improving conditions and literacy through its Transform Lives One School at a Time initiative. To improve technological literacy, the foundation added computer labs, printers and libraries so students can better keep pace with their urban counterparts.

Building Trust with Communities

Identifying interconnected problems was only part of the solution. Sehgal underscored that winning public trust was no easy task. Recalling considerable skepticism when the organization first approached villagers, he said it took almost nine months of working in the villages and meeting with residents before one community agreed to try a project.

Once that pilot effort was successful, Sehgal recalled, the response looked more like, “Hey, this is fantastic, let us do more.”

– Natasha Agarwal

Natasha is based in Philadelphia, PA, USA and focuses on Good News and Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr

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7 Things to Know About Education in the Paracel Islands

Education in the Paracel Islands
The Paracel Islands are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea, claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan. China currently controls the islands, with most civilian activity centered on Woody Island, known in Chinese as Yongxing Island. Given the islands’ very small resident population, education there is less a conventional national school system than a small, strategically located service for the children of fishers, government officials, military personnel and other island workers. Here are eight facts about education in the Paracel Islands.

8 Facts About Education in the Paracel Islands

  1. Since the other islands are mostly military outposts, reefs or small settlements, formal education is centered on Woody Island – the administrative hub of China’s Sansha City. Woody Island is the largest of about 30 islands in the Paracel chain and serves as Sansha’s administrative center.
  2. The key educational institution is Sansha Yongxing School, which opened in December 2015. It is described as China’s southernmost school. Since its opening, the school’s kindergarten and primary departments have reportedly operated steadily, allowing children of island fishers, military personnel and government workers to attend school locally.
  3. Yongxing School grew from six students at its founding to 32 students across kindergarten and primary grades, served by eight teachers. By late 2023, local reporting claimed the school had reached a new high of 50 students, including 37 in kindergarten and 13 in primary school.
  4. Before the school existed, many parents working on Woody Island had to live apart from their children. One father said the school allowed his child to finally live with him on the island, while another parent noted that, because “there is a school on the island,” his child could grow up there. The practical effect is significant: access to education has made it more feasible for civilian families to live on the islands over the long term.
  5. Teaching on Woody Island comes with unusual hardship, such as isolation, typhoons and limited services. Seventy-seven teachers worked at Yongxing School between 2015 and 2023. After 2018, the school was co-managed with Qiongtai Normal University, with eight formal teaching positions and three-year contracts. 
  6. A tiny island school cannot staff every specialty, so digital teaching is critical. Yongxing School uses synchronized online classes with schools in Haikou, including Chinese classics lessons twice a week. The school found that information technology helps compensate for its limited access to specialist teaching resources. 
  7. Yongxing School is not only for children. China’s Ministry of Education revealed that the school library and electronic reading room were opened to island residents. Additionally, the school offered more than 60 adult vocational courses, providing training to 763 people in areas such as deep-sea fishing and aquaculture.

Looking Ahead

Education in the Paracel Islands remains politically sensitive and shaped by geography. There is no large school system, university sector or published learning-outcome dataset. Still, the available evidence shows that Yongxing School has become a pivotal civilian institution. It keeps families together, offers early and primary education and supports adult training. 

– Jeff Zhou 

Photo: Flickr

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Education in Jordan

Education in Jordan“The primary resource of the country is its people, so people there believe in education,” Razan Brown, a former resident of Jordan, told The Borgen Project in an interview. As a small Arab nation without many natural resources, Jordan relies on its people and their skills to develop economically. Because of this, education in Jordan has remained at the forefront of poverty reduction.

As of 2025, more than 97% of children are enrolled in primary school, and the country’s literacy rate is around 95%. However, Jordan still struggles with funding for education, especially with a recent increase in refugees from Syria and Palestine. Jordan hosts around 200,000 Syrian refugee children alone, which has placed greater pressure on the system due to a lack of teachers and access to school buildings and supplies. Despite this, Jordan still ranks high in enrollment and literacy in its region.

A Glimpse at the System

In Jordan, primary school is funded by the Ministry of Education and is compulsory for children aged 6 to 16. Here, students learn basic mathematics, science, world history and Arabic, among other subjects. After around the third grade, schools are separated by gender, although boys and girls have had equal access to education since 1979. In the final year of high school, students take the Tawjihi exam, a comprehensive college placement exam that determines a student’s field of study and eventual career. Regarding the Tawjihi exam, Brown stated, “A lot rests on that grade. You get to pick what you want to study, however, the schools accept you based on what you score. For example, if you want to be in medical school, you have to score in the 96th percentile and above.” Beyond primary school, public universities are not free but remain affordable.

Additionally, there is a private sector of education in Jordan. Private school prices vary depending on the institution but can create inequalities in access and quality. At private schools, students learn more English and participate in more extracurricular activities. There are some scholarships from the royal palace, known as a “Royal Generosity” for students with high marks who cannot afford private school, but entry into a private institution mostly depends on family wealth.

Importance

Due to a lack of natural resources, Jordan relies heavily on its education system. Its people are the assets necessary for the sustainability of the country’s economy and also provide valuable labor abroad. Additionally, Jordanians rely on the country’s education system to improve their own lives, especially with regard to job opportunities. This necessity has instilled Jordanians with pride for their educational achievements. Regarding this, Brown said, “Families are proud of their children when they achieve what they do at school. It’s celebrated and seen. Perseverance is celebrated versus like ‘do it your way.'”

Jordan’s commitment to high-quality education has led to a demand for Jordanian people in skilled positions throughout the Arab world and beyond. In countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, which have large oil reserves and industry but lack the necessary population, labor is sourced from places like Jordan. Because of this, the skills acquired through education are the basis for poverty reduction, especially for rural populations seeking job prospects. However, an essential skill for these positions is the ability to speak English, which is nearly guaranteed from a private institution but not from a public one. Because of this, wealth disparities within the population can be perpetuated through disparities in education. Parents may work a second job or pick up extra shifts if it means their children can attend a private school and learn English.

Overcoming Barriers

Despite many successes, Jordan still faces barriers in providing its population with quality education. Underfunding has limited the amount of extracurricular activities available at public schools and has impacted the quality of available teachers. Because teaching is not a well-paying job in Jordan, it attracts students who did not score as well on their Tawjihi. As a result, many teachers were forced into the trade by necessity, rather than by a desire to teach. Private schools can also pay good teachers more, which leads to a smaller pool for public institutions. Lack of funds also affects the quality of school buildings and other areas such as parks that would provide the space for extracurriculars.

A recent influx of refugees has further strained the system. To combat overcrowding, schools in Jordan operate on a two-shift system, meaning one wave of students attend in the mornings and another in the afternoons. This has led to increased issues in staffing. Additionally, it has made it difficult for students, particularly those in rural areas, to travel to school, as it would often be too cold or dark at the times when they arrived or left.

UNRWA

However, United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has continued to assist in Jordan’s efforts for educational improvements. As of the 2019 to 2020 school year, UNRWA operated 169 schools that provided basic education for more than 121,000 students. UNRWA has also helped teachers through the implementation of its Teacher Policy and School Based Teacher Development program, which strengthened teachers’ professional development and had reached around 3,900 teachers in 2018. Furthermore, UNRWA offers vocational training at the Amman Training Center and the Wadi Seer Training Center, with emphasis placed on local and regional labor market needs.

Additionally, in terms of morale and motivation, Brown believes the addition of refugee children in Jordanian classrooms has been a positive. In Palestine, UNRWA has been responsible for building some of the best schools in the region since 1948, and the students coming from these schools raise the standard of their classrooms. Referring to refugee children from Gaza, Brown stated, “Those children have nothing but their school. That’s where they see their friends, that’s often times when they eat their meals. The pride in education in a place like Gaza is unprecedented. So once you meet those kids, you want your own child in that classroom because they are meeting an A student.”

Looking Ahead

Since more than 40% of the population is under 18, the continued advancement of education in Jordan is essential to the continued development of the nation. While the current system has yielded good results, there is still room for improvement, especially for children living in poverty or in rural areas. Through increased funding, schools could become less crowded and offer more resources to their students, as well as a better overall education. This would both enhance the system and bridge divides in access and quality based on socioeconomic conditions.

– Josh Megson

Josh is based in Albemarle, NC, USA and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Small Nation, Big Dreams: Higher Education in Cape Verde 

Higher Education in Cape VerdeFollowing Cape Verde’s historic performance in the 2026 World Cup, millions around the globe have seemingly turned their attention to the small island nation of 520,000. There are many ways to learn about the world and how to navigate it, but an examination of education in Cape Verde can reveal what shapes the country’s future long after the final whistle blows. Greater access to higher education in Cape Verde translates into stronger employment prospects and, in turn, a critical pathway out of poverty and toward economic mobility.

A Gap Between Islands and Minds

When Cape Verde gained independence from Portugal in 1975, the nation inherited a literacy rate of roughly 40%. Since then, the country has made substantial progress in expanding access to education and improving literacy. By 2021, illiteracy among those aged 15 and above had fallen from 61.3% in 1975 to 7%, while youth illiteracy stood at just 1.3%, giving Cape Verde the highest literacy rate in West Africa. While that is an achievement worth noting, that rise is largely a pre-college achievement, driven by gains in primary and secondary schooling rather than in higher education. There exists an entirely different problem when it comes to pursuing a college degree in Cape Verde.

As of the 2019-2020 school year, the higher education enrollment rate stood at just 23.5%, suggesting that significant barriers continue to prevent many young people from enrolling in higher education. A likely problem is that, because Cape Verde’s geographical landscape, like that of Indonesia or Fiji, is an archipelago, the equal distribution of services, including higher education, becomes relatively more difficult. Out of the nine inhabited islands of Cape Verde’s total of 10, only two islands, Santiago and São Vicente, have concentrated institutions for higher education such as the University of Cape Verde (Uni-CV) and Jean Piaget University of Cape Verde (UniPiaget). This condition forces secondary school graduates to relocate to the two islands if they want to enroll, a luxury not accessible to everyone. Therefore, considering the tuition on top of the geographical issue, many Cape Verdean youths face discouragement in pursuing higher education.

Aside from the geographical gap, economic inequality can make these barriers even harder to overcome. World Bank data show that students from the poorest fifth of Cape Verde’s population accounted for only 9% of higher-education enrollment, compared with 31% among students from the richest fifth. Therefore, while geographical challenges remain a pervasive issue, economic inequality is still an even greater hurdle to accessing higher education. These “gaps” generate enough reason for secondary school graduates to immediately find a job instead of pursuing higher education, which in itself can cause stagnation in employment qualifications and create disadvantages in the global job market.

On Closing the Gap

Thankfully, the government noticed this disparity and translated it into action. In recent years, Cape Verde’s Ministry of Education has expanded its approach to higher education by strengthening scholarship opportunities both within the country and abroad, with the 2026 state budget prioritizing students from low-income families and underserved regions specifically. This builds on the 2017–2021 Education Sector Plan, which sought to improve access, quality, and efficiency across the education system. The government has also moved to address the islands’ concentration problem directly: current budget priorities name Santo Antão, Fogo and Sal as target islands for expanding higher-education access beyond Santiago and São Vicente, alongside new student residences, free inter-island transport for students, and increased funding for the country’s national scholarship foundation. These measures are underway rather than fully realized, and they do not yet eliminate the country’s broader geographic disparity in access.

Looking Ahead

It is worth revisiting the fact that the problem with higher education in Cape Verde is one of concentration, where Santiago and São Vicente host all of the country’s main campuses. The issue is not the number of institutions. The issue requires Cape Verde to direct its money and attention toward the students who have less access to higher education. The scholarship pipelines to Portugal, for example, show a government willing to send its youth wherever opportunity exists rather than waiting for opportunity to arrive at home. If that same resolve extends to closing the distance between islands, Cape Verde’s next generation of graduates could prove as formidable as its national football team.

– Javier Maverick Tristan

Javier is based in Tangerang Selatan, Indonesia and focuses on Good News and Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Charities Helping Women in Chad

Women in ChadWomen in Chad face numerous challenges regarding their human rights, often due to societal, cultural or religious norms, and the impact of poverty. Child marriage rates for girls in Chad are around 60%, and only 38% of girls complete primary school. This number drops to 14.1% for lower secondary school, and only 3% of Chadian women enroll in tertiary education. These factors limit opportunities for women, forcing them to rely on parents or husbands financially to avoid severe poverty.

Gender-Specific Challenges

Currently, only 34.4% of gender-specific Sustainable Development Goals are monitorable in Chad, and only 8.2% score a medium or high performance. The low performance is evident in statistics for gender-based violence. About 16.2% of women aged 15 to 49 have faced sexual violence by their partner in the last year, and 38.4% of women in this age group have undergone genital mutilation, most commonly between ages 5 to 9. This figure rises in regions such as Salamat, where 96.1% of women face female genital mutilation. Violent practices are also prevalent among Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad, where 71% report human rights violations, including sexual and gender-based violence.

The law to ban female genital mutilation has yet to be signed by the Chadian president, despite being proposed in 2002. Little governmental assistance has been provided to women facing violence and poverty. However, various organizations have stepped up to create safe spaces, education and basic needs for women in Chad, offering care that the government has failed to provide.

Charities Helping Women in Chad:

  • CARE International: CARE International has worked in Chad since 1974, providing crisis response, healthcare, and food and water to hundreds of thousands of people. Their efforts focus on women and girls, with main goals to strengthen economic independence, provide access to reproductive health services and reduce risks of gender-based violence. They have helped more than 104,000 women with these goals and engaged with nearly 123,000 men and women to promote gender equality.
  • ALIMA: ALIMA has operated in Chad since 2012, aiming to help refugees at the Sudanese border, improve healthcare and nutritional support, and provide mental healthcare for survivors of gender-based violence. ALIMA provided medical consultations to nearly 72,000 children under 5 in Chad in 2025.

Looking Ahead

These charities recognize that the human rights violations Chadian women face require external assistance. As more refugees from Sudan arrive, additional help will be necessary. Progress is being made, and laws to prevent gender-based violence are expected to be signed, offering a brighter future for the women of Chad.

– Ally Jones

Ally is based in Bethany, OK, USA and focuses on Good News for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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BelieveNBooks: Improving Girls’ Access to Education

BelieveNBooksFor most children, discovering role models through bedtime stories is a formative experience that shapes confidence, goal setting and personal development. Yet for many children in sub-Saharan Africa, this opportunity remains out of reach. Among African adolescents aged 15 to 19, 26% of girls are neither working nor in school, compared to just 9% of boys. Moreover, 27% are married or have children, compared with only 3% of boys. This gender opportunity gap becomes evident as girls move through their teenage years, underscoring a need for educational interventions early on. Recognizing these disparities, organizations such as the World Bank have made strides to increase girls’ secondary school enrollment in West and Central Africa from 42% to 57% by 2030, implementing new educational opportunities in African communities.

Educational Inequality

A 2023 study examining 18 sub-Saharan African countries found that birth characteristics, including parent education level and whether a child grows up in a remote community, account for over half of measured consumption inequality. For children raised in areas with fewer books, schooling opportunities and developmental resources, the playing field is unequal long before they enter the workforce.

BelieveNBooks Initiative

One organization, BelieveNBooks, works to combat this problem on the ground. BelieveNBooks is a youth-led nonprofit focused on closing early literacy gaps through book drives and culturally relevant reading materials. Founded on Earth Day 2021 by an eighth-grade student, the organization has distributed more than 250,000 books to 50,000 children in need. Among its initiatives is “Tales of African Women Trailblazers,” an original children’s book introducing readers to African-born women whose leadership, ingenuity, and perseverance have driven positive change. By highlighting artists, doctors, lawyers, athletes, entrepreneurs, scientists and public servants from across the continent, the book introduces young children to professional opportunities and role models.

Distribution and Impact

Since its publication, BelieveNBooks has distributed 10,000 copies of “Trailblazers” across Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, and Zambia. Their first partnership was a distribution alongside featured trailblazer and Ghana Environmental Protection Authority Chief Executive Officer Nana Ama Browne Klutse. Today, BelieveNBooks’s African partner network of book recipients spans dozens of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) supporting literacy and girls’ empowerment for youth in low-income rural areas.

Each delivery requires extensive logistical planning, from gathering quotes from local printers to negotiating unit costs to completing deliveries. Depending on the destination, books may travel overnight across several countries or on nimble motorbikes to otherwise inaccessible villages in remote outskirts. Coordinating successful shipments and distributions depends on local experts who advise the BelieveNBooks team from start to finish.

For the organizations on the receiving end, the impact is invaluable and extends beyond English development. “Every girl deserves to see herself in a story worth becoming,” says Adama Borway, founder and CEO of She Empowerment League in Freetown, Sierra Leone. “A book is more than paper and ink; it is a possibility.”

Broader Barriers

While organizations like BelieveNBooks demonstrate the power of culturally relevant books, resource distribution alone cannot offset broader barriers hindering girls’ education and perpetuating inequality: poverty, early marriage, gender stigmas, poor sanitation and dangerous campus environments. Yet research indicates that book access itself can make a difference. A five-year randomized study across 60 elementary school students in poverty found that students with ongoing access to books learned as much as they would in six months of conventional classroom learning.

This perspective is echoed by Zamaradi S. Islahi, global director of Room to Read’s Gender Portfolio. Growing up in a low-income home where no girl was educated beyond age 13, Islahi witnessed firsthand how limited opportunity shapes a child’s future outcomes. “There are millions of girls with dreams just as bold, who only need the opportunity to learn and grow,” she shared.

While no single organization can eliminate the barriers facing African girls, expanding access to quality education, books and community support will help ensure that a child’s future is no longer dictated by their zip code, gender, or early circumstances.

– Natasha Agarwal

Natasha is based in Philadelphia, PA, USA and focuses on Good News, Politics for The Borgen Project.

Photo: Flickr