Mali consistently ranks among the 10 least-developed countries according to the United Nations Development Programme. Main contributors for all of these countries include widespread poverty, unstable governments, lack of access to healthcare and poor education.

Mali has some of the lowest literacy rates in the world, especially among girls — just 22% in 2022. Historically, only 21% of rural school age children enroll in primary school.

Increasing access to education, particularly for girls, is proven to:

• Reduce birth rates and infant mortality

• Correlate to increases in marriage age

• Increase overall life expectancy — 59 years of age, in 2021

African children are the future of the continent. Their education is key to sustaining democracies, improving health, increasing per capita income and conserving environmental resources. 

We have witnessed a sea-change in Mali around understanding the importance of education, in particular the importance of educating girls.

Today, Malian parents' greatest dream is for their children to receive an education and there is a wide-spread need for schools. 

The biggest inhibitor to children attending school in rural areas is distance.  In agrarian communities, families rely on the help of their children to survive. Thus, the further the children must travel to school, the longer they are away from home and this imposes added hardship for the family.

For those of us privileged to have received an education, it is difficult to imagine life without schooling and without books.  It is our mission to give the children of rural Mali the same opportunity we’ve had: a chance to expand their minds and create greater opportunity in their lives.