Education is a fundamental human right and vital to achieving economic growth, increasing income, and sustaining a healthy society. Education is important in helping to improve lives, break the cycle of poverty and ensure that all people, particularly women have control over their destiny.

Despite global progress, 75 million primary school-aged children are still out of school – over half of whom are girls (Source: EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008).

There are many reasons children do not go to school or stay until they are done. They may have to walk a long distance to get to school, have no food to eat at home, there is no teacher or they have to take care of a younger brother or sister.

Europe Foundation is committed to ensuring that all girls and boys are able to realize their full potential. We know that children will flourish if they are able to go school, stay there until they finish and learn the basic skills of literacy, mathematics, life skills and critical thinking in a supportive setting. We help them to do this by supporting education initiatives. We work in communities across the globe for the long term, getting to know their needs so we can better help them. This long term assistance also means we are ready to respond when a humanitarian crisis appears.

Equal access

Every child has the right to education, but many children are excluded because of high costs, language and cultural barriers, geographical remoteness, or special needs.

We work to ensure free and equal access to quality education at all times, including in emergencies, as well as access to learning for young people so they can reach their full potential.

Our education strategy focuses on: