Access to Education
We provide children the opportunity to learn with free classes from their early years of schooling, right through to university sponsorship. In the long term, this programme will contribute to reduced child poverty across East Africa.
The context
Today, around 4 out of 10 young children aged 3-5 years attend early childhood education and 8 out of 10 children aged 6 to 12 years attend primary school (UNICEF).
From working in the slum communities for the past 17 years, we have discovered that a lack of education is a key factor contributing to the cycle of poverty, and that children in the slums face multiple barriers to accessing education. We believe that all children have the right to have a good education. Our projects in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania are a lifeline to so many children who would otherwise have no opportunity to have an education.
Encouraging Education
Our Encouraging Education Project works to provide free, daily education for out-of-school children. We ensure children who would otherwise have no access to education have the opportunity to learn by attending free education classes. The Encouraging Education Project runs in three of Kampala’s biggest and poorest slums; Katanga, Naguru and Namuwongo, supporting and keeping children safe.
Our Encouraging Education Project also keeps children safe from exploitation and helps break the cycle of poverty in their communities. After the classes we provide each child with a hot, nutritious meal, tackling malnutrition, contributing to improved health and wellbeing, and increasing concentration levels.
Child Sponsorship
We also ensure that children in most vulnerable situations in our communities are identified and given access to education and the chance to attend school.
To do this we run our Child Sponsorship Project, which matches children with child sponsors around the world who pay their school fees, enabling children to receive a good education and enhance their opportunities for the future.
The sponsorship covers school attendance, uniforms, learning materials and food costs to ensure there are no barriers for a family who has a child enrolled at school.
Learning and Skills for Life
The Learning and Skills for Life Project supports disadvantaged children and young people in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania to succeed in school, work and life through providing sustained access to life-long learning.
The project supports 800+ children to access high quality education, from primary school to university level. As well as helping young people succeed in education, the project also supports them to secure vocational training placements, work experience and internships.
After being sponsored, students join a community service mentoring programme, which gives them the opportunity to volunteer and give back to their community.
Our impact in 2025...
99
children accessed free early years education and nutritious
meals through our Encouraging
Education Project.
1,090
children in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania were provided with free access to education.
30
new children were sponsored to go to school through our Child Sponsorship Project.
1,828
children were supported through career guidance
and mentorship sessions.
What next?
In 2022, to assess the effectiveness of our projects, we commissioned Vashi Impact Group (VIG) to undertake a comprehensive independent evaluation of our projects outcomes.
The evaluation highlighted the vital, holistic support the Access to Education Programme provided to both children and families. Parents of graduates from this programme repeatedly let us know how the education and skills children learn in our programme can relieve the families of financial pressure and allow them to create financial stability.
Over the long term, the Access to Education Programme will contribute to reduced child poverty in the slums of Kampala. It will have a lasting, sustainable impact on communities, as children grow up with a solid educational foundation, enabling them to gain employment in the future and support themselves and their families.
