“The purpose of education is to bring out the best of you”

Education is one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality, improving health and social well-being, and laying the basis for sustained economic growth. It is essential for building democratic societies and dynamic, globally competitive economies.

Millennium Development Goals, United Nations

In the twenty-first century, education will be an even more critical determinant of poverty or wealth.

UNESCO 2001

Education is the most powerful tool against poverty. An education gives people the power to influence their own life. Without an education poverty is regenerated from generation to generation because poor people who lack resources can’t send their children to school.
Unavoidably, people who grow up without an education have little hope of building a better future for themselves or giving their own children the opportunity to go to school.

Education is the basic requisite for people to get out of poverty, yet nearly 120 million school-aged children worldwide - most of them girls - are not enrolled in school.

Education is positively correlated with better health, longer life expectancy, smaller families and higher quality of life. Parents who understand the importance of sanitation and nutrition are better able to protect their children from preventable illness and diseases. In fact, studies show that survival and health of children improve in direct proportion to a mother's level of education.

Education gives people new skills and empowers them to take advantage of new opportunities. For communities, education raises productivity, innovation and output. Making education universally available will facilitate a more equal income distribution and help reverse minority marginalization.

Education is an investment in human capital. Workers become more productive with more education because they are capable of more complex tasks. More education usually results in higher personal income and greater gross national product. Education allows a worker to use other inputs to the production process more efficiently. Higher levels of education lead to technological innovation and development of new products.

Education is a prerequisite for political democracy. Education prepares people to accept and manage responsibility and influence their future by voting. Education empowers people to take more control of their lives. It provides people with the self-confidence needed to make their opinions heard and protect their rights.

To promote education, the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000 set the objectives to provide 'Education for All'. The target is to ensure that by 2015 all children of primary-school age would participate in free, good quality schooling and that girls would have the same access to an education as boys.

There is still much to do. There are millions of children and young adults around the world who do not have access to appropriate education.

HUMANITAS is working to ensure that children, women, and young adults get access to basic education and get knowledge about how to create employment-generating activities for themselves and for others in their communities.

Join us to make a difference today!

© HUMANITAS Switzerland 2007