EDUCATING CHILDREN

Street Child has reached more than 36,000 children in Liberia. A focus on teacher training, low-cost classroom resourcing and renovation and school management has been highly effective.  The results of a rigorous randomized controlled trial showed that Street Child has achieved advances in access, learning and safeguarding at less than 60% of the cost of comparable providers (Romero et al. 2019).

SUSTAINABLE PROGRAMS

In the remote South-East region of Maryland, Street Child's ‘Schools for Tomorrow’ model is working to address access and quality barriers to elementary education through community partnership. Since Street Child began in Liberia, 123 classrooms across 36 schools have benefitted from renovation or construction.

Street Child is working side by side with rural communities to kick-start or transform education through classroom construction, investment in the training and development of teachers, and developing community advocacy and sustainability strategies. 

EMPOWERING FAMILIES

Street Child’s award-winning ‘Family Business for Education’ model addresses individual social and financial barriers to education for the most vulnerable categories of children. In Liberia our projects provide critical support to street-connected children and their families to ensure a secure and sustainable return to school.

To date 3,177 households in Liberia have been supported to develop a sustainable source of income through a tailored package of training, business grants and saving/mentoring. This model of financial empowerment, alongside intensive social support and community level advocacy, has led to the enrolment and retention of more than 8,920 children in school, including those children who lost their caregiver to Ebola during the 2014 epidemic.

PROTECTING CHILDREN

Offering children the chance to have an education isn’t just about providing the schools; it's also about tackling the underlying issues, such as strengthening their family environment and protecting them from a life on the streets.

We provide access to psychosocial support and therapy for children facing challenging circumstances. We focus on the all-round development of children, empowering them to thrive in school.

This includes working with children who have lost their primary caregiver due to flooding, earthquakes, Ebola, COVID-19, and conflict, to unite them with extended family who will love and care for them, and prioritize their schooling. By finding a relative who can care for them, or uniting them with another foster family, we make sure that these children don’t have to fend for themselves anymore.

BENEDICT, THE TEACHER COMMITTED TO TRANSFORMING LIVES

Benedict was a volunteer teacher at Borlorla School for over seven years despite a three-hour journey to school every day.

Street Child gives teachers like Benedict extra training and supporting them onto government payroll. Street Child’s involvement in the school has been so successful that attendance has skyrocketed from 150 students to more than 400, despite the one- to two-hour average walk for most children. To help with this huge increase in students, Street Child is now working closely with the community to build extra classrooms and provide learning materials. 

ESTHER, THE SOCIAL WORKER CHAMPIONING GIRLS EDUCATION

“I want to help other mothers, to be a role model. Working with these girls, I found my passion for social work.'

Street Child social worker and mother of two Esther Harris works with mothers and girls to help give them a chance to go to school. Esther has overcome the challenges life has thrown at her, including having to drop out of school for a short amount of time because of poverty, and is helping to open up opportunities for other mothers to not only better their own lives, but also their children’s.