Early childhood education is able to compensate for social disadvantages- Children from socially disadvantaged families benefit from an early start Creating a foundation for a good start to school This in turn supports the development of conducive learning and performance attitudes and thus a long-term school connection
“TheDariu Foundation has beendoing impressive,important and
exemplarywork in VietnamandMyanmar for many,manyyears. For
more than five years, the Dariu Foundation has provided basic
digital knowledge to more than 100,000 children - and is now
teaching programming in these countries.This will be invaluable for
the girls and boys.Digital literacy,computational thinking - these
skills formthe foundation of children’s future careers. 75percent
of primaryschool children will oneday have jobs that do not exist
today.TheDariu Foundation is a pioneer here.”
“There is a great need for more investment in early childhood
and child education worldwide, particularly in digital literacy.
This helps to reduce social differences in education, and
children acquire important know-how to meet the
challenges of today and tomorrow. The Digital Literacy Initiative
is committed to providing education by enabling thousands of
children in Vietnam to learn programming.”
The Dariu Foundation’s “Digital Literacy Initiative” in Vietnam
takes important steps in bringing digital literacy to disadvantaged
children from rural areas. The goal of making 100’000
children computer literate in the next three years is ambitious
and attainable thanks to the innovative design of the program.
The Dariu Foundation focuses on microfinance and scholarships for low income families. Borrowers are usually women and the foundation links the issuance of a credit to an obligatory school attendance. By doing so, The Dariu Foundation empowers the most vulnerable and marginalized class in society: Women and children! I believe that empowering women and supporting them to send their children to school is a key factor not only in combatting poverty but also in strengthening women’s rights worldwide.
Having visited some projects of The Dariu Foundation in Kolkata and Myanmar, I was most impressed by the passionate and pragmatic approach, combining microfinance and innovative educational modules to help people to get out of the poverty trap. The application of proven business principles to bring those initiatives quickly to a self financing level is very effective. This is modern social entrepreneurship.
The Dariu Foundation, with its unique model - combining with mandatory school attendance for the children - impressed us greatly by its efficient structure and the clearly visible impact it has on education and the well-being and lives of the participants. The rural areas of Vietnam and Myanmar are home to some of the poorest people, it is therefore crucial to step in and break the vicious circle of poverty and non-education. The is where The Dariu Foundation excels.
I visit Vietnam regularly and I have known about The Dariu Foundation projects for many years. The people there are doing a top job, with a high degree of professionalism and efficiency. It surprises me time and time again to see just how little money it takes to help the poorest of the poor get on their own two feet and secure a better future under their own steam.
Microfinance is an emerging phenomenon that opens access to capital for individuals previously shut out from financial services. In its direct engagement with the poor, microfinance represents a new way for financial capital to potentially stimulate economic growth in developing countries. The way The Dariu Foundation links the allication of microcredits to a mandatory school attendance is not only very smart - but helps the children, who ae the most vulnerable, to step out of the poverty trap at an early age.
The Dariu Foundation works on the principles of the Grameen Bank and is therefore extremely successful in Vietnam. The fact that the issuing of microcredits is linked to the obligatory school attendance of the children from respective beneficiary families is an interesting experiment. I wish the foundation much success in the future and, who knows, maybe one day we will even be able to take on a collective project.
Microfinance may be one of the world's most powerful solutions to poverty. Small loans fuel economic self-sufficiency. Microcredits increase household consumption and give women more clout in their communities. Considering nearly half the world survives on less than US$2 a day, microfinance is a vital solution. The Dariu Foundation's key strategy is in helping people living in poverty to become financially independent, whick helps them become more resilient and better able to provide for their families. On top of that, The Dariu Foundation builds their own schools and combines a mandatory school-visit with the grant of microcredits - a unique model and sensible solution.
I have been working with The Dariu Foundation since 2008 and mobile schools/libraries are among the most successful projects. The mobile schools enabled thousand of our rural youth to access to computer literacy and internet skills. Without TDF’s support, the district Department of Education could not fulfill the need by our students. We expect that TDF will expand with more mobile schools to benefit more and more needy students.
Dariu foundation does not do any development aid - it does investments. Believing into people's own motivation and encouraging their declared intention to improve their own position in life, is by far the most efficient
start-up aid for a change.
Watching the quiet confidence with which the micro-financed ladies manage their livelihood, their pride when showing us their produce; and seeing the happiness in their eyes when greeting visitors from TDF, it is clear to me that Dariu's efforts in Vietnam (and now Myanmar and India) is well targeted and most timely - being at the cusp of a developmental boom; bringing much benefits to the people in the provinces not served by conventional financial
institutions.