Education
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| Young girls at a school run by Fabretto in Nicaragua. Credit: Kirsten Cowal |
For some years, the Tinker Foundation has been making limited grants to improve the quality of primary and secondary public education in Latin America. Mounting evidence shows that the lack of access to and the poor quality of education are major factors that perpetuate income inequality in Latin America. The creation of a separate Education program area reflects the Foundation's understanding that broad and equal access to high quality education will be paramount in achieving an equitable society. The Foundation's grantmaking in this program area aims to improve access to high quality education among children and youth from economically and socially disadvantaged communities.
Providing educational opportunities for at-risk youth
For the next several years, funding within the Education program will focus on programs and policies that increase access to secondary and vocational education among traditionally excluded youth. Applicants should be developing innovative programs and policies to:
- provide high quality and relevant educational opportunities to youth with poor access to traditional schools, or
- increase rates of secondary school completion among socio-economically disadvantaged youth.
Funds can also be used to conduct applied research and evaluations that will facilitate replication or adoption by policy makers of successful programs, or to generate public and policy debate on the topic.
