Founded in 1945, CARE is an international humanitarian organization based in Atlanta, GA, that works around the globe to save lives, defeat poverty, and achieve social justice. We seek a world of hope, inclusion, and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and all people live with dignity and security. This year, CARE and partners worked in 109 countries, reaching 167 million people through more than 1,600 projects.
CARE believes every child has the right to a quality education. We put women and girls in the center because we know that we cannot overcome poverty until all people have equal rights and opportunities. To achieve this vision, CARE strives to increase access to quality education, further gender equity, and promote the empowerment of adolescents, including leadership, life, work, and digital skills. We work with the hardest-to-reach children and young people, including girls and women, who have less access to education and economic opportunities.
CARE has institutional expertise in early childhood education, accelerated learning, non-formal education, youth workforce development, education in emergencies, gender and girls’ education, and monitoring, evaluation and assessment.
Some examples of CARE’s work include:
CARE’s non-formal education program called Strengthening Opportunities for Adolescent Resilience (SOAR) is a multi-country initiative working with Ministries of Education to provide accelerated education for out-of-school adolescents, particularly girls, enabling them to acquire key academic and life skills. In addition to building their capacity to read and do math, the SOAR curriculum includes leadership skills, financial literacy, and sexual & reproductive health. Adolescents who complete the program transition into formal school, enter a vocational training program or seek meaningful work. SOAR was first developed and implemented in India in 1999 before being replicated in additional countries, including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Malawi, Nepal, Pakistan, Somalia, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, and has reached over 4 million students globally.
Notably, in Somalia, the USAID- and FCDO-funded Adolescent Girls’ Education in Somalia (AGES) program has reached 90,698 out-of-school ultra-vulnerable adolescents and female youth to date, using accelerated education and leadership development skills to transition them to formal education or self- or wage-employment and boost youth-led civic action.
INDIA PARTNERSHIP FOR EARLY LEARNING (IPEL) is a five-year project supported by USAID to transform foundational learning in primary schools in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi. The project aims to ensure children (by grade 2) acquire reading with comprehension (in any vernacular language) and fluency, solve two-digit subtraction, and handle and express emotions. The project is also working to support state governments in operationalizing and strengthening preschool education in line with the vision of the National Education Policy.
HATUTAN – or Hahán ne’ebé Atu fó Tulun ho Nutrisaun no Edukasaun/ Food to Support Nutrition and Education funded by the USDA McGovern Dole Program builds partnerships between schools and their communities to improve literacy, learning, health, and nutrition for school children. CARE in Timor-Leste supports the program in the four municipalities of Ainaro, Ermera, Manatuto and Oé-cusse, targeting 46,614 total beneficiaries, including 43,035 school-aged children, 741 teachers, 188 schools, 870 Parent-Teacher Associations, 1,740 Village Savings and Loans Associations and 40 Government of Timor-Leste representatives. As part of the program, HATUTAN II provides school meals to students consisting of local and USDA commodities. The meals are protein-dense, resulting in more than doubling literacy scores for students who consume them. HATUTAN II is working with the Government of Timor-Leste to ensure that achievements are sustained, that the country can graduate from USDA assistance and that it has a self-sufficient school feeding program that helps students reach their full potential.
Multilingual Education: CARE pioneered multilingual education approaches in India, Peru, and Cambodia, supporting Ministries of Education in developing curricula and guidance on teacher training. Notably, CARE supports the Ministry of Education in Cambodia to implement multilingual education activities. In July 2020, CARE was awarded for developing remote learning approaches for minority students as part of the national COVID-19 response.
Supporting Education Sector Strengthening: CARE supports governments globally in improving quality education for every child. In Somalia, CARE supported the Federal Ministry of Education and state Ministries to implement the GPE-funded Education Sector Program Implementation Grant, increasing access to education for 50,000 students and supporting all primary schools in five states with quality learning materials, school management and teacher training. It now supports the Ministry through the Girls’ Education Accelerator to achieve its Partnership Compact to increase equitable access to education, improve literacy and numeracy outcomes, and strengthen the regulatory system. It also supports the Ministry through the System Capacity Grant, which will facilitate sector planning, coordination, monitoring, and capacity strengthening. In India, CARE works with the State governments in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha to implement improved literacy teaching strategies and increase access to school for marginalized girls. CARE is also an accredited Grant Agent to the Global Partnership for Education.