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Casie Tindell
SOC 348x
164953789
Bringing Sustainable Prosperity To The World: First Step, Education
INTRODUCTION
From the wise words of Nelson Mandela Education is the most powerful weapon which
you can use to change the world. Education provides an individual with a plethora of benefits
such as basic health practices, political awareness, job preparedness, and the promise of a higher
income. It has the potential to bring significant benefits to individuals and society, which could
go well beyond its contribution to individuals employability or income in developing countries
(OECD, 2012). Africa is an example of a place that is full of opportunities, beauty, diversity,
resources, and determined people. According to the World Bank, more than 17,000,000 girls in
Sub-Saharan Africa were out of school in 2011, and the youth literacy rate was just above 60%.
The population of people living at less than $2 a day reaches almost 70%. So how come we see
the problems that we do in Africa, and how come prosperity hasnt found its way to this
wonderful continent? Moses Bomett, the founder/president of the non-profit organization Hope 4
Africa states Africa is full of hope. However, it needs a certain spark to spark its growth. I
believe that education can be that spark for African youth to change the world around them.
Education can be the power that can break down barriers of poverty, disease and war.
PROBLEM
We know that Africa is full of potential and has the capabilities to become a blossoming
continent. However there is this vicious cycle that exists in developing countries, such as those in

Africa, which causes these countries to hinder their growth (Bomett). The cycle starts with
ignorance; having a lack of knowledge or information. Individuals in certain developing
countries dont have the proper knowledge on how to access contraception, safe sanitation, and
other health practices. This ignorance then leads to poverty and diseases such as HIV/AIDS,
Malaria, yellow fever, tuberculosis, and chronic malnutrition. Next, the cycle continues on to
individuals in these countries feeling hopeless. Hopelessness causes people to go to extreme
measures to survive and can cause chaos to break out, which leads to the last step in this cycle;
violence, war and crime. This vicious cycle fosters the instability seen in so many impoverished
countries today. Instability leads to a poor infrastructure and economy, and therefore a lack of
quality education (Impact Assessment Report, 2012).
Another problem seen today that prevents Africa and other impoverished countries in
reaching prosperity is stated in The 2014 Gates Foundations Annual Letter: 3 Myths That Block
the Progress for the Poor. In their letter, the Gates state that the world is better than it has ever
been. People are living longer and healthier lives, and nations that were once aid recipients are
now self-supporting. However, they state that in fact most people think that the world is actually
getting worse. So Bill and Melinda decided to look at the 3 myths that slow down the work to
fight extreme poverty. Myth One: Poor countries are doomed to stay poor, mainly focusing on
Africa. This is indeed false. Income and other human welfare factors are rising everywhere,
including Africa. Many countries in fact havent stayed poor. Countries that we used to call poor
in the 1980s now have booming economies, such as Nairobi and Mexico City. Myth Two:
Foreign aid is a big waste. This is most definitely a myth because countries that have received
aid over the years are getting healthier, living longer, fleeing poverty, mostly because of the
services that aid helped develop and deliver. This myth must be put to bed because it gives

politicians the idea to cut back on aid. Myth Three: Saving lives leads to over population. In
Afghanistan for example, most children die before the age of 5, causing a high mortality rate.
Afghan women have an average of 6.2 children. Even though 10 percent of Afghan children
dont survive, their population is expected to grow to 55 million by 2050. This proves that high
death rates do not prevent population growth. The only solution is to save these children from
dying. When children survive in greater numbers families decide have fewer children, which can
slow down population growth each year.
It is easy to think that the world is actually getting worse based off of all the terrible
articles written and posted in the media that focus on the bad news in these developing countries.
However, if so many people in the world believe that we cannot solve extreme poverty and
disease, then it actually blocks their growth and causes them to lose hope. We must hold onto
hope for these countries because they are, in fact, improving their ways of life.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
The 2013 documentary called Girl Rising emphasizes the global campaign for girls
education. This documentary shares the story of 9 girls from different developing countries
around the world about the struggles they faced to receive quality education. Why girls? This
movement believes that educating girls can break cycles of poverty in a generation. Educated
girls are able to gain access to contraception, marry and have children later in life, and escape
gender-based violence. The Girl Rising Movement is having a major and increasing effect all
over the world. Millions of people have already seen the film, in theaters, on television and at
private events, and are spreading its message throughout communities of all kindsraising both
awareness and funds. Donations to the Girl Rising Fund measure more than $2.1 million to date,

and organizations everywhere are showing the film to raise money for their own programs. As
we can see from the Girl Rising Movement, education is the only solution that can break down
barriers that activate gender inequality in developing countries, as well as provide better lives to
women, their families, and their communities. As you can see, without education women will
still be subject to sex trafficking, early marriages, many children, and sexually transmitted
infections. Education gives women the resources they need to live a more prosperous and
thriving life.
I believe education is the most important and effective way to achieve a desirable
outcome to this problem, the vicious cycle. Education enhances productivity to promote better
economies, improves health practices to help stop the spread of diseases, promotes citizenship in
the community, and gives a country hope (H4A Annual Report, 2013). However, many poor
countries do not have to proper resources to efficiently sustain quality education at the local level
(Impact Assessment Report, 2013). This is where non-profit organizations like Hope 4 Africa,
Inc. can help. Hope 4 Africa is a 50l c(3) non-profit, who also has multiple collegiate clubs
around the U.S. Their mission is to provide an opportunity for the youth of America to partner
with the youth of Africa to bring about sustainable prosperity, starting with education. At H4A,
the clubs and hope team put on fundraisers throughout the year to raise money for the 6 Primary
and Secondary schools that they sponsor in Kenya. Hope 4 Africa stresses equal partnership
partnership and dialogue with the schools they help, students they sponsor, and the communities
they benefit. They believe that no sustainable solutions can be imposed on Africa, but they must
be grown. H4A communicates with the 6 schools to discover their greatest problems and finding
ways to implement solutions. Some ways that Hope 4 Africa has benefited these schools is
through their programs; Students 4 Hope, Teachers 4 Hope, and Books 4 Hope. These programs

help sponsor students and teachers, as well as provide up to 3,000 books for the students at the
sponsor schools in Kenya.
SOLUTION
The most promising way to ensure the effectiveness of non-profit organizations is to
focus on implementing partnerships and long-term solutions, such as education, instead of just
simply giving to these countries and making them dependable on external sources. Moses
Bomett gives a great example of this in a TEDxYouth video. Imagine a man named John who
lives in a local village where he provides malaria nets for the villagers, numbering about 70
people. The United Nations becomes aware of this malaria problem and decides to donate
hundreds of malaria nets to this region, putting John out of business. Three years later the nets
are damaged and the village needs new replacements, but the United Nations isnt there. This
story portrays that just giving a country things they need is not the right solution. The right
solution is working in equal partnership, giving these villages the tools and resources they need
to succeed on a long-term basis. Instead just giving malaria nets to villages, the UN could decide
to partner with a local malaria net producer like John to create more businesses at the local level
to provide more mosquito nets to the people, thus saving more lives. These long-term solutions
can be brought about by education, unlocking the potential for these developing countries. Also,
external sources like Hope 4 Africa can help renovate local knowledge on the basis of
community needs, and listen to what the locals need to develop their community.
CASE STUDY 1
The first case study, Good Practices-- Gender Equality in Basic Education and Lifelong
Learning through CLCs: Experiences from 15 Countries (Nepal), states that the Nepali
government worked to meet education needs of disadvantaged groups (including women) by

establishing a formal education system in the 1970s and 1980s. Community Learning Centers,
places when community-based learning was management by the people, were set up to provide a
permanent infrastructure for carrying out literacy and education programmes. Later, the National
Federation of UNESCO in Japan encouraged many nonprofits to establish more CLCs and
launch more education programmes. This study was done to select the CLCs that most
effectively aimed at highlighting good practice in promoting education and lifelong learning for
girls and women. These CLCs included Amarapur CLC in Bungmati, Lalitpur; Budole CLC in
Budole, Kabhrepalannchowk; and Lidhansa CLC in Khokana, Lalitpur. Their establishment was
supported by the National Resource Centre for Non-Formal Education, which was set up through
the joint consultation of 40 NGOs in response to the strong need for a national resource center to
provide them with guidance and training. After need assessment surveys (method), the CLCs
worked with women as their primary target to meet their community needs and problems. These
needs and problems included improved literacy, health and sanitation, the environment,
unemployment, and lack of credit. The strategy used by the CLCs to achieve these goals was to
emphasize teamwork by forming groups for special activities, from skills development to
generate income, to social welfare and environmental conservation activities. Local NGOs also
supported the group formation, building cohesion and initiating activities in the community.
Achievements found from this study were that women were more economically
productive, particularly through the savings and credit system. Literacy and skills training
resulted in greater participation in income generating activities, mostly among women in the
community. Programmes organized by the CLCs contributed to awareness and knowledge and
community participation. All in all, the CLCs were successful in increasing literacy levels among
women, encouraging women to be more resourceful, enhancing their credit abilities and

empowerment, and overall improving their overall socio-economic status through the assessment
of their local needs.
CASE STUDY 2
In the second case study, Partnerships in Education: Key Findings on the Role of NGOs
in Basic Education in Africa, the author explains her findings in 4 parts: Creating Effective
Partnerships: Interactions Between Governments and NGOs in Basic Education in Africa,
Involving Civil Society in Basic Education Improvement in Africa: The Role of NGOs, Dialogue
and Negotiation: NGO-Donor Relationships in Basic Education in Africa, and Improving
Education Policy: The Growing Role of NGOs in Education in Africa. This study was carried out
in Ethiopia, Guinea, Malawi, and Mali by the Support for Analysis and Research in Africa
(SARA) Project and American Institutes for Research (AIR).
In part one the author explains the tensions and mistrusts that lead to differing
perspectives between governments and NGOs regarding their individual roles to improve basic
education in Africa, which often impede the development of a successful partnership.
Governments believe it is their role and right to control and regulate NGOs roles in education on
the basis of NGO registration and approval, definition of the areas of NGO geographical
intervention, and curriculums and other educational services that NGOs can provide to schools.
On the other hand, NGOs believe it is their role to and right to improve the quality of education
in areas that the government has failed to do so. To achieve a better partnership NGOs and
governments must work together, in order to reach their educational goals for schools in need.
For example, a local Malawian NGO has begun to work on girls education, with a large
emphasis on maintaining a community focus in keeping with government preferences. This NGO
also tries to alleviate government concerns through activities such as inviting government
participation to events and making sure their work does not conflict with government activity. In
summary, NGOs and governments need to recognize that in order for their efforts in providing

quality education to be successful, they need to establish effective lines of communication and
develop a collaborative advice-giving process to outline each others roles and responsibilities.
Part two describes the roles of NGOs in civil society, and how NGOs working in
education strengthens civil society to improve the quality of education services. The first role for
NGOs is to change attitudes. NGOs help communities recognize their abilities to identify and
solve their own problems for better educational services, especially for girls. They iterate the
need for community involvement, which creates a sense of wanting to act and achieve these
goals. Another role of NGOs is creating expectations as a result of changed attitudes. In Mali,
where Save the Children works and has made the creation of civil society organizations an
objective for their education programs, community expectations have proven hard to meet. When
Save encouraged communities to take ownership of the community schools, to did so to a much
larger extent that Save wouldve thought. Successful community mobilization has led to an
increase in demand for better education in Mali. The last role that NGOs have in civil society is
creating networks. International NGOs have helped local NGOs build linkages and form
networks in these 4 countries. For example, in Ethiopia Save the Children took the lead in
creating the Basic Education Network (BEN), a network of NGOs working in education.
Building these linkages and forming networks of local NGOS aims at making the voice of civil
society heard in the public area to reach the same goal of improving education.
The third part of this case study explains the relationships between donors and NGOs in
basic education in Africa. Donors help fund NGOs to design and implement education programs
in Africa and it helps them sustain and scale up these programs. This part of the study looks at
how these two parties interact and negotiate with each other. Through correct dialogue and
negotiation, donors and NGOs can find effective strategies to integrate NGOs knowledge of the
grassroots and the donor-supported education programme. In order for these relationships to be

successful, there are a few strategies that NGOs and donors must use. NGOs must accept the
needs and other demands that donors have tied to their funding. If a donor wants to work with an
NGO, they should not pressure them for results but instead look at the potential innovations that
NGOs have brought to the educational sector. Both groups must also recognize their differences
in strategy and consider them when the two groups decide to work toward a common goal.
Lastly, donors must work more closely with NGOs before creating their own education agenda.
Finally, part four describes the growing role of NGOs in education in Africa on the basis
of improving education policy. NGOs are finding that sustainable education programs often
require changes in education policy. This section of the study highlights how international NGOs
and local NGOs have engaged if efforts to change education policy. Why do NGOs want to
influence policy? They mainly want to promote public participation in decision making about
education. NGOs believe that policy should be set with the involvement of communities and
implemented with public surveillance. NGOs participation in education policy can also help
strengthen partnerships to achieve a common goal among the communities they are helping.
ASSESSMENT
These two case studies do a great job in showing the importance of NGOs role in
implementing quality education in developing countries, as well as the importance of equal
partnership and long-term solutions. In the first case study, we saw that the Nepali womens
needs were met through the need-assessment surveys, such as literacy, health and sanitation, and
credit. The CLCs created by the NGOs helped these women assess their needs by providing them
with the knowledge, long-term solutions, and community participation to reach their goals. This
study shows that with the help of NGO programs and sustainable, long-term solutions that meet
community needs, locals, not just women, will feel more empowered to participate in their
community, will eventually expand their knowledge enough to run these programs themselves. In
the second case study, we learned how NGOs must interact with other external sources, such as

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governments and donors, to have the greatest impact on improving quality education in
developing countries. Not only is it important for NGOs to have knowledge about the locals
needs, but in order for their interactions to be successful with them NGOs must also acquire
strong and effective relationships with outside sources, like governments and donors. Both cases
illustrate how and why NGOs are the most effective way of bringing about sustainable and
quality education in developing countries, especially with the use of partnerships to provide
long-term solutions.
CONCLUSION
Africa is continent that is full of opportunities, resources, and determined citizens. All it
needs is a certain spark to trigger its growth. I believe that education can be that spark, but first
people need to realize Africas potential and believe in this continent in order to proseper be
brought out of poverty, as stated in the 2013 Gates Annual Letter. Education can provide
individuals with the resources they need to be brought out of poverty, such as access to
contraception for improved health practices and disease prevention, motivation for community
involvement, and the realization and opportunities to increase wealth through community assets.
NGOs can assist in providing these long-term solutions for Africa and developing countries
through equal partnerships. A famous Proverb states Give a man a fish, feed him for a day.
Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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http://annualletter.gatesfoundation.org/~/media/Annual%20Letter%202014/PDFs/
2014_ GatesAnnualLetter_ENGLISH_1.pdf

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2. The Girl Rising Movement (Director). (2014). Girl Rising [Motion picture]. U.S.A: Ten
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