It’s 2016 and access to education continues to be a global challenge. 1 in 5 people are unable to read or write. Over 124 million kids were denied access to education. Of those, 41 percent will never go to school. These are staggering statistics; that is over five times Australia’s population who are denied the opportunity to learn.
Across Australia, there’s over $150 million worth of five-cent coins in circulation- and it takes only a handful of these coins, just $5, for YGAP to improve access to a quality education for a child.
YGAP is an international development not-for-profit that finds and backs early stage ventures founded by local leaders in some of the world’s toughest communities. We call these leaders impact entrepreneurs. We believe with our support they have the ability to improve the lives of one million people living in poverty by 2018.
We firmly believe that education is the solution to ending global poverty, so we started the 5cent campaign, encouraging Australians to collect small change to drive big change during the month of May. The concept of collective impact is the driving force behind YGAP’s 5cent Campaign. Individually a five-cent coin has very little value, but collectively they can achieve significant social change.
All proceeds raised by the 5cent campaign will support our local leaders removing barriers to accessing education, providing children with the resources they need to stay in school and increasing their capacity to succeed.
It probably helps to explain just how some of our impact entrepreneurs who focus on education could spend the money raised from the 5cent campaign.
- With $5, Lyndon Galea from Eat Up Australia can provide school lunches to a partner school for a week.
- With $25, Carol Kimari can pay for a teacher and a volunteer for the day at a library in Kenya.
- With $45, Sharon Rapetswa could help a primary school student gain access to one year of study material, transport and lessons in South Africa.
- With $75, Sihle Tshabalala could help a high school drop out get access to one month of technical education to ensure they get a good job in South Africa.
- With $150, Josephine Kulea can cover 2 months of tuition for a child rescued from forced marriage in Kenya.
- With $200, Nonhalanhla Masina could help cover 3 months of tuition costs for one student in South Africa.
By supporting 5cent, YGAP will find and support more entrepreneurs like these, making education accessible for every child.
At the 2000 Millennium Summit, the largest gathering of world leaders in history adopted the Millennium Development Goals. One of those aims was to achieve universal primary education by 2015. UNESCO reported that this would require:
- US$16 billion
- Two million more teachers
- The world’s poorest countries needed almost four million new classrooms in the world’s poorest countries, to accommodate those who are not in school
While progress was made, the deadline passed and millions of children are still not in school.
The time to step up is now. Join YGAP’s 5cent movement – sign up to collect, donate or commit to five dollars a day for the month of May.
Elliot Costello is the founder of YGAP, an enterprising group of individuals dedicated to changing the lives of underprivileged people.