The challenge

Extreme poverty is pervasive in Laos. In fact, 27.6% of the Lao population survives on less than $ 1.25 a day. In addition to coping with extremely difficult living conditions, many children in Laos also see their fundamental right to education denied; for the poorest families, the costs of children’s schooling remains unaffordable.

In Laos, a chronic lack of educational infrastructure and trained teachers combines with poverty and gender discrimination to disproportionately deprive underprivileged girls and young women of an education. Families often choose to keep girls at home so that they can help with household chores, take care of their younger siblings or work to earn additional income. As a result, less than a third of girls in Laos attend secondary school.

The solutions we’re proposing

W4's field program has established an educational scholarship program through which young women acquire vital skills and qualifications, ranging from college degrees in domains such as management and accounting to vocational training as electricians or painters and decorators. 

The impact of giving

By helping to fund higher education and/or training for a young woman in Laos, you offer her the life-transforming chance to obtain skills and qualifications. Your gift helps her to obtain safe employment and build a future free from the harms of poverty. You not only transform her life prospects: you also help to break the cycle of poverty and improve the life prospects of her family and community.