Teach A Man To Fish is an international NGO working to improve the relevancy, quality, and availability of education for disadvantaged youth in developing countries.
Their pioneering approach uses profit-making school-run businesses to teach entrepreneurship and livelihood skills.
This model allows schools to generate additional income, improving their financial sustainability, while at the same time enabling them to offer a more relevant and higher quality education.
Teach A Man To Fish currently has replication partners with projects active across 4 continents, as well as supporting an international Members' Network with over 2,000 members in more than 120 countries.
THEIR MISSION
Their mission is to make a long term impact on global poverty by supporting education projects in developing countries to generate sustainable livelihoods - giving young people the skills to help themselves.
The concept of helping others to help themselves is far from new. It was exemplified in ancient times in the Chinese proverb from which we draw their name: “Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime.” Ancient it may be, but it is as true today as ever.
There are three core principles in line with this philosophy that guide them in their work:
1. Poverty Reduction - they intend to eradicate extreme poverty. Their programs focus first on students from low-income families and marginalized communities.
2. Education - they exist to educate. Educational goals supersede any other aims their programs have.
3. Entrepreneurship - they foster entrepreneurship. Viewing enterprise as an effective means of economic prosperity, their schools work to provide students with the skills and inspiration they need to generate wealth for themselves and their communities.
THEIR APPROACH: EDUCATION THAT PAYS FOR ITSELF
What's the big idea?
Learning for Earning: Schools that provide a practical & business education that allows young people to lift themselves out of poverty.
Financially Sustainable Institutions. Schools can be financially self-sufficient without charging fees or having to rely on the government if they pay for themselves through teaching entrepreneurship within real school-owned businesses that generate real profits
Schools for success
Most young people in poorer countries end up working for themselves, but mostly they're never taught how to succeed in business. Teach A Man To Fish Schools, however, equip young people for life - transforming the vulnerable and undervalued into self-confident graduates who are able to support themselves and their families.
In a way they're really getting schools to act as business incubators, inspiring poor kids to become successful entrepreneurs. At the same time they are helping schools fund improvements to their educational facilities, and lower fees in the process.
How does it work?
Alongside traditional academic subjects, their schools teach business & practical skills through running their own profit-making businesses. These school enterprises - from beekeeping to carpentry workshops - earn the schools money, which covers facilities and teaching costs. More importantly these businesses act as a platform for students to develop entrepreneurial & practical skills. So when they graduate, they leave school empowered; ready to succeed in self-employment, in further education, and in life.
It's a 'win – win' strategy
The real magic of this approach is that school enterprises offer a valuable feedback mechanism to ensure that the education provided is high quality and relevant. Teachers must constantly update their practices to keep pace with the market, which means students leave with the skills in demand today, and not yesterday.
Greater school resources mean better paid and more motivated teachers. Along with performance incentives based on students' academic results, the end result is consistently higher quality teaching.
