We're supporting every community we partner with to run their school independently.

From the moment we partner with a new community to begin providing education, we work closely with community members to develop their management skills, empowering them to take on increasing responsibility for their school.  

At the same time, we partner with local and national governments to ensure their commitment to the long-term funding of every school.This approach is allowing us to gradually transition our schools into national education systems, typically over a five to ten year period, ensuring our schools are sustainable. 

Transition will safeguard the future of our schools by placing ownership in the hands of local communities and governments. We believe this approach strengthens educational systems by fostering local leadership and governance, rather than creating a dependency.

We also believe that local communities – once we've trained them in the necessary skills – are better placed to lead their own school in partnership with their government. This approach also has the added benefit of freeing up our financial and staff capacity to partner with new communities and reach more children who have no access to education.

So how are we doing this?

Capacity building within communities

We involve local communities in every element of a school development, building their capacity to run their school effectively. We engage with them through the construction of the school and empower them to manage their school through training on school governance and administration. Over time, they take on increasing responsibility for the school, eventually taking full ownership of the project once the school transitions.

Collaboration with Government

We work in partnership with the governments of Cambodia, Myanmar and Nepal throughout the life of all our schools. We invest in communities with governmental approval, and only once they have committed to support the project in the long-term. From the start of a school's life, for example, they provide teachers to our schools at no cost to us. We take a gradual approach to transition ensuring that all parties involved have confidence in the long-term success of the project, only handing over full control of the school once we are confident in the local authority’s capacity to fully support it.

The UWS ‘Legacy School’ Community

We want to ensure that the communities we work with continue to be supported when they have transitioned into their respective national education systems. We have established an alumni network that allows UWS ‘legacy schools’ to access online educational resources and teacher training guides, as well as providing them a way to share their experiences with other schools who have transitioned. In addition, UWS will continue to advocate on behalf of our legacy school communities with national and regional government.

What happens next?

By the end of 2020, our pilot group of 5 of our schools will be transitioned into their respective national education systems. This achievement is a testament to the hard work of our in-country teams to build up the capacities of the teachers and School Support Committees in those communities, as well as the commitment of the community members themselves to the education of their children for years to come.

Find out more about our model

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