The Western Union Foundation’s signature program, Education for Better, focuses on improving the quality of education in a number of regions around the world. This is a relatively new program at the foundation, launched at the end of 2012. Since then, it has made $9 million in grants toward improving secondary education and vocational programs in nearly 50 countries across the globe.
The foundation has pledged an average of $10,000 per day for education organizations. The Western Union Company is also a founding member of the Global Business Coalition for Education. This newly formed union is designed to help governments and other stakeholders, such as businesses and local communities, expand educational opportunities.
When Education for Better launched, Hikmet Ersek, President of CEO of Western Union stated, “Education is one of the surest paths to financial inclusion, which is why it’s our cause of choice,” adding, “Western Union is uniquely positioned to address the ‘last mile’ challenges of rural development.”
Teach for All has emerged as one of the winners of the Western Union Foundation’s Education for Better program. Recently, it scored a $350,000 grant.
Teach for All was incubated by Teach for America, and is currently operating in over 30 countries. It’s a global network of individual organizations working together to expand educational opportunities in some of the most impoverished areas of the world. It says it’s committed to transformational change by building national movements to increase and improve educational opportunities for children.
Teach for All also addresses large contributing factors to a child’s education success such as such family economic stability, healthcare, nutrition, food security and school and neighborhood safety. The Western Union Foundation grant will offer general operating support to Teach for All, allowing it to move forward on its education opportunity journey.
Teach for all wasn’t the only education organization receiving Western Union Foundation money in its first-quarter round of grantmaking. Other grant recipients include:
- Kenya Commercial Bank received a grant in support of the KCB Foundation’s scholarship program. The program works to increase access to education for secondary students and offers a mentoring program as well.
- The Taiwan-based Eden Social Welfare Foundation received a grant for its Elephant Family Project for Disadvantaged Communities, a program that provides after school tutoring to students.
- The Institute for International Educations in the U.S. and Canada received support for their Western Union Family Scholarship program.
Since its inception, the Western Union Foundation has awarded close to $100 million in grants out of its three main programs: Educational Opportunity, Economic Development and Financial Inclusion. To learn more about the foundation’s global development grantmaking, check out IP’s profile.
