Opportunity For All

Opportunity For All works with buildOn to construct schools in Malawi. Malawi is located in southeast Africa, landlocked between Mozambique to the east and south, Zambia to the west, and Tanzania to the north.

Consistently ranked among the world’s 20 least developed countries on the UN’s Human Development Index, Malawi has long been challenged by economic stagnation and a lack of access to education. Over 50% of the country’s population lives below the poverty line of US $1.25 a day, and epidemics of AIDS and malaria have further slowed progress.

In 1994, the Malawian government abolished school fees in an effort to provide every Malawian child with access to education, and development has since increased. Helping Malawians in rural areas take the first steps out of extreme poverty, buildOn has constructed 91 schools in the country since 1993. These schools have improved the lives of villagers by promoting gender equality and providing literacy, health, agriculture and income-generating classes to adults through the Adult Literacy Program. Our schools additionally offer education to children orphaned by disease. buildOn has also partnered with Madonna and her nonprofit Raising Malawi to construct ten schools in the country during 2012.

To date, Opportunity For All has funded 12 schools in Malawi with 8 of those schools being matched under our challenge match program resulting in a total of 20 new schools being built in Malawi.