Child Development and Education


Student at the Mithra Foundation (India)
Education and a safe nurturing environment are essential in order to develop human potential. This kind of education provides the key to the full social, economic and political participation that is necessary if those living in poverty are to meet their basic needs and achieve access to all other rights; yet, 121 million children have no opportunity to attend primary school. In developing countries, only one child in three completes five years of schooling.

SDIA activities in Child Development and Education aim to…
  • Build understanding of child development in parents and childcare professionals, and improve the interaction between caregivers and children;
  • Improve access to, as well as the quality and relevance of, education in order to transform lives and societies;
  • Undertake small scale improvements to school infrastructure and increase access to equipment, books and learning materials;
  • Develop new and innovative teaching methods that will enable children to reach their full human potential.

A Child's Garden of Peace, Brazil

Posted in: Latin America, Child Development and Education, Protecting the Environment
In societies that are burdened with poverty and a culture of violence, a garden can bring deeply needed respite into a child's life. A Child's Garden of Peace works to provide safe opportunities for children to reconnect with the natural world, even in extremely urbanized neighborhoods.

Albadi School and Orphanage, D.R. Congo

Posted in: Africa, Child Development and Education

The Albadi School cares for children born to parents who are the victim of HIV/AIDS. We offer care, education, and vocational training to children and teen-agers in a family environment in which the human being has value and dignity.  


Anisha Foundation, India

Posted in: Asia and Oceania, Community Development and Sustainable Livelihoods, Child Development and Education

Anisha was started in 1998 by Mrs. Valli Rajan with the aim of improving the lives of people living in appalling conditions in the market area of central Bangalore. Since then the project has grown into an urban and a rural program.


Bina Cita Utama School (BCU), Indonesia

Posted in: Asia and Oceania, Child Development and Education

The vision of the BCU school is to develop a high quality learning environment and address the need in Central Kalimantan for education.

Download attachment(s): [ bcu_teachtraining_2009-02.pdf ]


Centre for Culture and Development (CCD), India

Posted in: Asia and Oceania, Child Development and Education

Modern forces, industrial and agricultural combine in India to create a huge underclass caught between traditional ways and the global economy, who don't have the skills they need to cope. The Centre for Culture and Development works with disempowered peoples in Southern India, both urban and rural, to help them acquire the skills and rebuild the social structure they need in order to prosper in a changing world.

Download attachment(s): [ ccd-news-2009-02.pdf ]


Complexe Scolaire SD Lemba Imbu, D.R. Congo

Posted in: Africa, Child Development and Education
Lemba Imbu School, started in 1995 on the outskirts of Kinshasa currently has 450 students and would like to expand that number by building a new high school.

El Refugio, Colombia

Posted in: Latin America, Child Development and Education

Fundación El Refugio offers comprehensive training workshops to children and adolescence in two high risk areas of Bogota, Colombia.


Entrelazos, Argentina

Posted in: Latin America, Child Development and Education
A child and youth centered project that operates with arts and development in Buenos Aries and Traslasierra province.

Fundacion Amanecer, Colombia

Posted in: Latin America, Child Development and Education
Fundación Amanecer (“Sunrise”) was founded in 1991 to develop programs, projects and activities in the areas of social, community, cultural and enterprise development.

Download attachment(s): [ amanecerSchoolRequest-2008-12_1.pdf ]


Fundacion Educativa Amor, Colombia

Posted in: Latin America, Child Development and Education
The Fundacion Educativa Amor in Soacha, on the outskirts of Bogota, Colombia, has provided primary and secondary education for students from poor families since 1988.

Fundación Despertar, Argentina

Posted in: Latin America, Child Development and Education
The mission of Fundación Despertar is to promote reading as a tool for personal growth and empowerment in the rural schools of the San Alberto Department (Córdoba- Argentina). The vision is to have rural schools that center their educational program on the human development of each child and seek a profound sense of equality and social justice.

ICDP International Child Development Program, Norway

Posted in: Europe, Child Development and Education

The ICDP approach to training is based on the idea that the best way to help children is by helping the children’s caregivers. It is now well known that unless children have at least one caring adult to love them and teach them life skills, social behaviour and morals, their mental and emotional development will be impaired. Recent
research suggests...


Inka Samana School, Ecuador

Posted in: Latin America, Child Development and Education
Working  as educators with the indigenous community in Saraguro, Jose Maria Vacacela and Gabriela Uraida Vacacela began to prepare the indigenous curricular project called UEAITIS (Unidad Educativa Experimental Activa Intercultural Trilingüe Inka Samana).

Lewes New School, England

Posted in: Europe, Child Development and Education
Lewes New School, in Lewes, East Sussex is a primary school and kindergarten for children from 3 to 11, offering an educational environment on a human scale, where children can gain the skills, knowledge and understanding to develop their...

Mithra Foundation, India

Posted in: Asia and Oceania, Child Development and Education, Community Development and Sustainable Livelihoods
Underprivileged children are denied basic rights and are susceptible to all forms of abuse. This disrupts the process of their development and impairs their ability to learn. At Mithra schools children are trained in basic skills to cope with demands of life and to become active participants in their own process of development.

Education and Empowerment for Underpriviliged Children Requested: $ 63,907
Empowerment of Girl Children through Education (benefits poor girls of migrant workers, especially Dalits.) Requested: $20,000
Summer Camp for the Empowerment of Children at High Risk Requested: $3,150


My Neighborhood International, USA

Posted in: North America, Child Development and Education

This project provides a means for children of all cultures and backgrounds to explore and share their world through the arts. The programs seek to increase each child’s sense of self-worth, the value of their own community and freedom to pursue their dreams...


Nkembo School, D.R. Congo

Posted in: Africa, Child Development and Education
Kiti Ki Menghi and his wife, Marie Claire, started the Nkembo School in 1985 with 12 children and two classrooms in Moanda, D.R Congo. In 2008 they have 650 students.

Puppeteers Without Borders, France

Posted in: Europe, Child Development and Education
Puppeteers Without Borders is a non profit organization registered in France made up of people with experience in puppet theater, artistic creation, performance, education and training. Throughout the world we offer the services of our organization to disadvantaged communities in how to make and manipulate puppets...

Q Fund, USA, Zambia & Kenya

Posted in: Africa, North America, Child Development and Education

The Q Fund envisions a world of children awakened to their inherent
sense of value and purpose.  The Q Fund is a USA 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization whose mission is to...


Roda Viva Community Project, Portugal

Posted in: Europe, Child Development and Education
This project in the Alfragide District of Lisbon was started and is operated by Susila Dharma Portugal. Following the Carnation Revolution of 1974, one million refugees arrived in Portugal, from its former colonies. The “Alfragide Project”, as it was first known, was...

School Without Violence, Serbia

Posted in: Europe, Child Development and Education
Schools Without Violence works to create a network of schools and teachers whose aim is to provide school children with living and learning environments free of violence.

Download attachment(s): [ sd-serbia_swv-report_2008-02.pdf ]


Tierraviva Civil Association

Posted in: Child Development and Education, Community Health and Well-being, Latin America
A project in Argentina that has been working since 2001 in various ways to support the development of community and the welfare of children and families. Since 2005 Tierraviva has focused its activities on working with women and children in prisons through arts, self-esteem and human rights training.

Download attachment(s): [ tierraviva_2009-02.pdf ]


Yayasan Usaha Mulia (YUM), Indonesia

Posted in: Asia and Oceania, Child Development and Education, Community Development and Sustainable Livelihoods
YUM's Children's Village is an orphanage nestled in the hills of West Java that provides a safe, secure and caring environment in which orphans and children from destitute families can live and go to school.

Download attachment(s): [ YUM-DAA_Annual_Report_2008.pdf ]