Within months, we begin to see the mothers feeling empowered with just simple ways of helping their children learn and the empowerment grows as their engagement increases with the schools and teachers. When the mothers are at the point of being able to address problems with teachers confidently and even insist that the Ministry of Education take action, we know that the change we seek to create in the schools is sustainable. Here is a powerful example:

"At first, the community leaders in our first community refused to allow the women to attend to the trainings. They finally agreed after we made it a non-negotiable. When we began these trainings, the women were extremely timid and barely spoke. Once we gained their trust, they opened up and we quickly learned that the principal was problematic. They had given up hope. After considerable training of these women, they approached the Ministry of Education, at a high level and demanded change. They stood their ground and within a year the mothers dominated the school parents committee, worked closely with the new school director and, in their words "got rid of two teachers who were not showing up". Since then, the dropout rate has been reduced by 60% and today children from other communities walk long distances to attend this school because they heard "it was a better school".

Our Early Childhood Program trains mothers to become Early Childhood Development experts. They call themselves Tijonels (community volunteers). Through this program, mothers, some who have never learned to read or write, become empowered to teach the other mothers in their community about how to engage with their infants to promote critical developmental milestones and ensure that they are ready to learn in a classroom setting! We have seen tremendous success with this program and can't wait to expand it further in 2023! Learn more: https://schooltheworld.org/early-childhood-program/