About us Our strategy Our strategy Education is one of the most powerful and proven methods for breaking the poverty cycle and empowering communities for generations. Yet one in six children globally are not in education (Source: UNESCO). At United World Schools, we teach the unreached and include the excluded. We’re dedicated to providing free, accessible, quality primary education to children from some of the most remote and marginalised areas in the world. In just 12 years, we’ve built 270 schools, trained 1,400 teachers and reached over 48,000 children in Cambodia, Nepal, Myanmar and Madagascar with a life-changing education. We work in partnership with communities and governments as part of our sustainable approach. We develop schools over 5-7 years and then gradually transition them to community and government ownership. In the next 10 years, our goal is to reach 250,000 primary school aged children with a life-changing education across the globe. Download our Theory of Change Our strategy and theory of change are guided by the following principles: We are inclusive Every child has the right to an education. We provide free, inclusive education to children, overcoming barriers including gender, disability, poverty, ethnicity, religion and language. We work collaboratively with each community we serve, ensuring that they are passionate about encouraging both boys and girls to attend school and giving every child the opportunity to learn. Read our Inclusive Education Policy We are accessible Every child has the right to a free, accessible education. We tackle barriers to education such as distance and language barriers by building schools in remote communities and providing mother-tongue education, for which we recently won a prestigious UNESCO prize. We also train our teachers continually, helping them to ensure that their classrooms are inclusive, accessible and fun learning environments. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been focused on providing safe, accessible distance learning for our students. Over the past year, our distance learning programmes reached over 40,000 children including lessons delivered via loudspeaker, project based learning and radio broadcasts. Read about accessible education during the pandemic We believe in quality Every child has the right to a free, accessible and quality education. “My school has been working with UWS for the last 4 years – and since then a massive change can be seen,” says Surya Bahadur, Principal UWS Heluwabesi School, Nepal. “There have been teacher trainings, which give guidelines to teachers on how to teach, scientific teachings, punishment-free teaching, and training in how to motivate students to learn. This has created a fun and attractive environment for the students.” Our Education Officers continually train the teachers in our schools and monitor the results of the students to national and international standards, helping to raise the quality of education we provide to our students. Our vision for Quality Education We are sustainable Every child has the right to a free, accessible and quality education which could transform their future. We’re working towards UN Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. The long term impact of education on both individuals and communities is huge. For each additional year of schooling, a child’s future income increases by up to 10%. If all students in low income countries acquired basic reading skills, 171 million people would have the skills and the opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty (Source: Education for All Global Monitoring Report). But education doesn’t just affect the future of the child; it trickles down to future generations of their family and community. Education is inextricably linked to health and better life opportunities across generations. A child whose mother can read is 50% more likely to live past the age of 5 (Source: UNESCO). We aim to not only build schools, but also to build a culture of education. That’s why we develop schools over 5-7 years and then gradually transition them to community and government ownership, so they can continue to transform their communities for generations to come. Read more about Our Sustainability . Read next Where we work Fundraising Corporate partnerships