Philosophy

If schools are like elevators that lift students’ potential to lead social change, there are many organizations that try to either put more students in elevators or build new elevators. However, the vast majority of schools in Africa, and the developing world at large, use a rote memorization-based curriculum that leaves students with a dilemma upon graduation: the doors open, and students find themselves powerless to lead change.

Educate! disrupts the rote-memorization based education system that is common to much of the developing world with an education based on students’ ability to lead change in their communities.

Educate! equips students to create social enterprises by teaching a two-year leadership curriculum within secondary schools and providing long-term mentoring and an alumni network. In doing so, Educate! empowers students to capitalize on opportunities to solve the challenges facing their communities, stimulate local economies, and become a force of internally driven development. In addition, the process of creating a social enterprise helps students build leadership skills (principle centered action, community mobilization, effective communication, and teamwork), business skills (opportunity identification, market research, product development, and financial literacy), resourcefulness, confidence, and a strong vision of change, thus laying the foundation for students to become socially responsible leaders in the future.