Educate Lanka (Global)

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Empower the lives of underprivileged students and youth with increased access to quality education and better employment opportunities in Sri Lanka and other developing countries.

Standings & Awards

1313 out of 1313 in Asia
779 out of 779 in Education
573 out of 573 in Pilot
1066 out of 1066 in Blended
4003 out of 4003 Overall

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Educate Lanka (Global)

Economic development and poverty reduction through fewer school dropouts and better employment opportunities.

Global Social Issues:

Millions of students in developing countries drop out of school every year due to financial hardships and educational quality issues! In Sri Lanka alone, nearly 1 million students live under poverty while nearly 200,000 drop out of school every year. Closely related to this problem is access to employment due to lack of workforce training and job skills. This is a major problem not only for Sri Lanka, but also for many other developing countries. In Bangladesh, nearly 9 million students live below poverty while 43% get dropped out between primary and secondary levels.

Our Sustainable Solutions:

Educate Lanka (Global) addresses the problem of lack of access to quality education in developing countries by accessing the multi-billion dollar Diaspora capital which is expected to reach $400 billion by 2013. As a start, Educate Lanka has already connected over 300 Sri Lankan Diaspora from developed world to underwrite the education of over 350 underprivileged students in Sri Lanka on a long-term basis through a peer-to-peer micro-scholarship model. It has contributed over $100,000 in scholarships since inception operating on a 100% voluntary basis. In addition to the sharing of Diaspora capital, it is now creating an online mentoring platform to share the knowledge and expertise of the Diaspora and others in the developed world with the students in developing countries. To improve its financial sustainability and to address the issue of access to employment, Educate Lanka has developed a corporate partnership model to provide workforce development training and job placements to the youth. It has already partnered with a major corporation and the Ministry of Education to provide distance learning non-formal education to 2000 schools by 2013. Through these partnerships, it will introduce its “fee-based” workforce curricular training program, bringing sorely needed education-for-employment to Sri Lanka.

Our Future:

After a successful pilot in Sri Lanka, Educate Lanka is now ready to expand its model to other developing countries that are facing similar challenges. As a start, Educate Lanka will replicate its scholarship model in Bangladesh by end of 2012, introducing its global expansion - Educate Global.

FIVE PROJECT QUESTIONS Required (60 - 90 minutes)

1. What is your innovation?

Our innovative holistic approach consists: Use of global volunteer chapters to ensure that 100% of Diaspora funding reaches the students; sharing of knowledge in addition to funding through our online mentoring platform; sustainability with an extensive feedback process and personalized connections. Also, our financially sustainable corporate partnership model, addressing the problem of educational quality and workforce skills of youth, represents a new paradigm for social benefit organization.

2. Who gains the most?

The impact of providing access to quality education and employment has a ripple effect on the society, producing productive citizens and reducing poverty in the world. Our long-term micro-scholarship and mentoring model provides students from 5th grade through University with access to quality education and mentoring. Our corporate partnership model provides the youth with workforce development training and non-formal education increasing their employability in both public and private sectors.

3. Who pays?

Our micro-scholarship model targets mainly the funding capital of the global Diaspora community, which is expected to reach $400 billion by 2013, to underwrite the education of underprivileged students. Our education-for-employment model based on corporate partnerships targets the corporations to invest in our customized training programs in return for a pipeline of skilled employees. The youth will also pay for receiving job skill training and potential employment with our corporate partners.

4. What is your success?

By 2013: Replicate the scholarship model in Bangladesh and fund 50 students; expand its portfolio in Sri Lanka to 350 students; implement the online mentoring platform connecting thousands of students with global mentors. By 2015: Underwrite education of 2,000 students in developing countries; provide employment to 100 youth; reach million students with non-formal distance education content and online mentoring. By 2017: Underwrite education of 5,000 students; provide employment to 500 youth.

5. How will you do it?

By 2013: Initiate Educate Global by replicating the scholarship model in Bangladesh; expand current volunteer chapter in Wash. DC to four other Diaspora strongholds in the USA; implement online mentoring platform. By 2015: Continue to replicate in other developing countries (e.g. Ghana); implement the workforce training model and create non-formal curricular for Sri Lanka's national distance learning model under the current MoU. By 2017: Continue to replicate, expand, and scale above models.