EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The Education Above All Foundation Strategy seeks to transform the lives of millions of marginalised children and young people through education.

In 2015, 193 UN member states adopted a set of 17 sustainable development goals, or SDGs, to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030. The fourth of the 17 goals, namely, quality education, is at the heart of EAA’s vision and mission to power global sustainable development through knowledge. SDG 4’s ambitious target is for every girl and boy to have access to quality early childhood development, care, and pre-primary education.

SDG 4 also calls for access to affordable and quality technical, vocational, and tertiary education for every person regardless of gender, socio-economic background, race, ethnicity, or abilities. Ultimately, it aims to create a global talent pool of youth and young adults who are equipped with the right technical and vocational skills for today’s employment and entrepreneurship markets.

While SDG 4 remains at the centre of its mission, EAA is committed to realising all of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. We believe that only through quality education can we create the conditions necessary for sustainable and equitable human progress – especially among vulnerable children and youth, for whom education is the solid bridge toward better and more prosperous lives through economic growth, job creation, equality, and peacebuilding opportunities.

In our mission to help achieve the 2030 SDGs, we are working to build a global alliance of like-minded partners who are committed to supporting, protecting and advocating for inclusive and equitable access to quality education, especially for the most vulnerable communities and individuals.

OUR STRATEGY

Our strategy guides our work to support the local and regional development of education in different sectors, thereby contributing to the beneficiaries’ educational journeys. EAA’s success in promoting global education has resulted in it acquiring firm commitment and support from stakeholders and partners internationally.

Our focus is to ensure the sustainability of our operations, keeping pace with our dynamic and demanding external and internal environment. We constantly pivot, review, and revisit our Strategy to ensure that our objectives, measures, and goals remain relevant and timely.

Simply put, our current strategy is driven by an aspiration to create lasting, high-quality impact in our target communities.

OUR IMPACT

Since our founding in 2012, EAA has leveraged USD 2.4 billion and secured commitments from partners and other stakeholders to enrol more than 11.6 million out-of-school children in primary education, and awarded thousands of scholarships and learning opportunities to deserving students. Through Educate A Child (EAC), Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), Al Fakhoora, Protect Education in Insecurity and Conflict (PEIC), Innovation Development, Together Project, and Youth Advocacy Programme, EAA has supported youth across the globe lead on sustainable development in and beyond their communities.

EAA Main Achievements in 2022

• Enrolments
  In 2022, EAA's project partners enrolled an impressive 610,978 out-of-school children (OOSC) through 35 projects in 36 countries, bringing the total enrolments to date to an impressive 11,262,609 since 2012.
• TRACE
  EAA launched TRACE, a data portal that collects, visualizes, and analyzes data on attacks on education as a global public good. This initiative enables a better understanding of the challenges faced by education systems worldwide.
• Youth Empowerment
  EAA, in collaboration with the Whitaker Peace & Development Initiative (WPDI), trained and mobilized over 70,000 marginalized and refugee grassroots youth in South Sudan and Uganda. These programs equipped them with essential knowledge and skills for human rights advocacy, peacebuilding, and sustainable development.
• Scholarships
  By the end of 2022, EAA had committed 2,094 scholarships and awarded 632 scholarships during the year. These scholarships unlock educational opportunities for deserving individuals.
• Qatar Afghan Scholarship Project (QASP)
  EAA and supporting partners launched QASP to support Afghan refugee’s access to higher education. This initiative welcomed 250 Afghan students to colleges and universities in the United States for the 2022-2023 academic year.
• Together Project
  EAA's Together Project assists thousands of children in Qatar. In 2022, three new Assalam Schools were initiated, reaching a total of five schools. The project surpassed enrollment targets, accommodating 2,573 children of 32 nationalities.
• IFERB
  EAA's Internet Free Education Resource Bank (IFERB) reached over 827,000 learners in more than 175 countries. Implemented in 15 countries, IFERB aimed to improve the quality of learning and access to education.
• New Partnerships
  EAA formed partnerships with prominent organizations such as the Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and UNICEF. These partnerships focus on educating the hardest-to-reach children in five countries, expanding the reach of EAA's impact.
• Scoring 4 the Goals Campaign
  EAA's Scoring 4 the Goals campaign and the SDG Pavilion during the Qatar FIFA World Cup engaged high-level guests and VVIPs in taking action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
• Transforming Education Summit
  EAA influenced the agenda of the Transforming Education Summit to discuss debt swaps in education as an innovative financing instrument. This contribution sparked discussions on alternative funding models.

Building on the success of its current strategy, EAA’s 2021-2025 strategy will shift the focus towards the challenging path that lies ahead, always driven by its mission to transform millions of lives through education.

OUR PARTNERSHIPS

EAA has been working with government and multilateral aid agencies in order to galvanise the allocation of additional financial resources, advocacy support and research for education. Under EAA’s co-funding model, partners shoulder 50% of project costs, with the potential for an additional 25% in co-financing opportunities.  As a result, and through these partnerships, substantial resources have been raised providing educational opportunities to millions of OOSC.

Click below to explore EAA’s partners that have helped its projects grow in scale and impact across the world. 

Official Development Assistance (ODA) Bilateral Partners

• Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD)
• United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Department (FCDO)
• United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
• Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)
• The British Council
• Agence Française de Développement (AFD)
• Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation (IDC)
• German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation & Development (BMZ)

ODA Multilateral Partners

• ISDB/ISFD - Islamic Development Bank - Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development
• The World Bank
• IDB - Inter-American Development Bank
• ADB - Asian Development Bank

For more information please visit Our Partners page.