18: Empowering Girls’ Futures: The Journey of Alessandro Bordoli Funding Education Access
Education Access is transforming girls' education in rural India by addressing dropout challenges, providing scholarships, and fostering local empowerment.
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Hey Kula Readers,
Today, we bring you a story that's a bit different from our usual content. We're focusing on girls' education in India, a crucial human right. We had the opportunity to discuss this important topic with Alessandro Bordoli, the founder of Education Access, an association dedicated to providing scholarships for Indian girls.
Alessandro shared the story behind the inception of Education Access and how he, along with co-founder Michael Vogel, turned this vision into reality. They emphasized the significance of having a local team on the ground and the importance of building a community of donors.
💙 At Education Access, we empower girls to stay in school and achieve their dreams through scholarships.
Key Takeaways
Rural Girls' Education Challenges: In rural India, around 40% of girls drop out before reaching the 5th standard due to early marriages, gender biases, and limited access to quality education. Economic constraints and inadequate infrastructure further compound these challenges.
Education Access's Impact: Education Access has funded 389 years of study, supporting 28 schools, and employing over five local people. These efforts directly empower girls and contribute to their educational advancement.
Empowering Education Locally: Education Access operates with a dedicated ground team, empowering girls through scholarships ($100-200 each) and local decision-making. Their all-volunteer team in Europe and the US handles fundraising, ensuring tailored support for communities.
Empowering Education: The Mission of Education Access
Education Access was founded by Alessandro Bordioli and Michael Vogel with a mission to empower girls through scholarships, enabling them to stay in school longer. Over the past few years, they have funded 389 years of study, provided scholarships to 28 schools, and hired more than five individuals based locally to join their team.
Each scholarship, ranging from 100 to 200 euros, provides girls with the means to afford a year's education, a small amount that can profoundly impact their lives.
Their model is based on three key principles:
🌟 Giving Based on Trust: Education Access assesses the financial needs of each girl to stay in school for a year and supports them in budgeting. The model is built on flexibility and trust, believing that scholars and their families understand their individual needs best.
🌿 Holistic Approach to Education: While the primary goal is to keep girls in school, Education Access recognizes that empowerment extends beyond the classroom. They fund computer courses, summer activities, and career counseling to support overall development.
🌍 Local Decision-Making: Sustainable impact is achieved by empowering local decision-makers. The operations are fully managed by a dedicated team of local changemakers and mentors in the communities where they operate.
Girls' Education in Rural India
Girls education in India is still a big problem, especially in rural areas. Estimates show that for every 100 girls in rural India, only one reaches class 12, and around 40% of girls drop out even before reaching the 5th standard.
While education might also be not easily accessible by males, girls face most of the challenges. The main reasons are:
Social factors like early marriages, gender disparity at home, and patriarchal norms restrict girls' education, especially in rural areas.
Economic factors like poverty and the perceived lack of employment opportunities for girls lead families to neglect their education.
Issues like overcrowded classrooms, absent teachers, lack of proper infrastructure (e.g., girls' toilets, a report indicates that 78,854 Indian schools don't have functional toilets for girls), and unsanitary conditions in government schools can discourage parents from sending their daughters to school.
"We must change both the mindset and the conditions to ensure that if girls excel in school, they are encouraged and able to continue their education." - Alessandro Bordoli
From Inspiration to Action: The Founding of Education Access
Alessandro Bordoli co-founded Education Access with Michael Vogel after they met during their master's program at the Sorbonne in Paris. Despite being unrelated to their professional careers, their shared passion for making a difference led them to create this impactful organization.
In 2014, Alessandro spent his gap year teaching in Spain, where he met Carmen, a fellow teacher who frequently visited and volunteered in India. Inspired by Carmen's dedication, Alessandro wanted to undertake a meaningful volunteering project to support a local community in need. Carmen referred him to the Himalayan Cultural School in Gulabgarh Padder, where he volunteered as a teacher. This experience left a lasting impression on him, and upon returning, he felt compelled to continue making a difference from afar.
At university, Alessandro shared his experiences and ideas with Michael , and together they decided to build something more substantial. Alessandro recalls:
"We started by doing a little bit of fundraising. We organized an event and sold food at a mark-up. With that, we began funding projects for the Himalayan Cultural School in Gulabgarh Padder and organizing letter exchanges between students in Europe and India."
Education Access now support girls across three cities: Jammu, Delhi and Chandigarh.
Empowering Girls: Challenges and Strategies of Education Access
Alessandro shared insights into the key challenges and the strategies employed by Education Access to overcome them:
🎓 Scholarship Selection: Deciding whom to grant the scholarship to is a daunting task. Alessandro emphasized the dilemma: "Every person you choose, you are saying no to someone else." To address this, they empower the local team to make informed decisions, ensuring that the selection process is fair and transparent.
💰 Ensuring Proper Utilization of Funds: After selecting recipients, ensuring the appropriate use of scholarship funds becomes paramount. Education Access tackles this by providing funds in installments, allowing for careful expenditure. Additionally, they offer guidance to ensure that the funds are utilized for the intended purpose—supporting the girl's education.
🏦 Banking Payments in Low-Income Communities: Facilitating banking payments in low-income communities presents unique challenges, including account closures and limited accessibility to banks. To mitigate these obstacles, Education Access explores innovative solutions to streamline banking transactions, making payments easier and more accessible for scholarship recipients.
👥 Recruitment of Trustworthy Personnel: Building a reliable and trustworthy team, especially remotely, is essential for the success of the project. Education Access prioritizes recruiting individuals who have shown support over the years, such as teachers or previous scholarship recipients. Leveraging their existing network ensures that the team is committed to the organization's mission and values.
🌟 Fundraising Efforts: To expand the program effectively, it is essential to focus on fundraising. Key to fundraise is having different channels and creating a community of donors.
Empowering Communities: The Ground Team of Education Access
Education Access operates with a dedicated team on the ground, comprising four individuals in Jammu, two in Delhi and one in Chandigarh. These team members play a crucial role in visiting families and girls, assessing their needs and potential, monitoring their educational progress, providing support when necessary, and evaluating if additional financial assistance is required.
"Our team is there to support the girls and influence them to make the right choices for their bright future." - Alessandro Bordoli
Legally, the ground team operates as contractors, which constitutes their main cost besides the scholarships (check their financials here). By empowering individuals in India to effect change within their communities, Education Access embraces a model focused on local empowerment and cultural understanding.
While the team members based in Europe and the US are composed of volunteers who primarily offer strategic advice and support with fundraising efforts, emphasizing Education Access's collaborative and community-driven approach.
Fundraising: Building Trust and Creating Connections
Fundraising poses significant challenges, especially for Education Access, as the team outside of India comprises only volunteers who cannot dedicate full-time efforts to this mission. Currently, their primary sources of funding are from friends and family and events.
Over the years, Education Access has cultivated a community of donors who know and trust the organization. This trust is built on the assurance that contributions will be used wisely and that donors feel personally connected to the project.
"To start, you have to ask people you know. You can’t be shy. Some people didn't even know much about India, but they trusted us and therefore contributed to the project." - Alessandro Bordoli
People want to believe that their contributions will make a meaningful difference, and Education Access works to maintain this trust.
Events, such as the Christmas Event in the US attended by 50-200 people, serve as vital opportunities to engage supporters and generate excitement. Alessandro emphasizes the importance of building an emotional community to connect with contributors on a deeper level.
"People do care, but they often don't know how to take action. We have empathy, we are human beings, and people want to do something." - Alessandro Bordoli
Support Education Access's Mission!
You can be a part of this impactful mission by making a donation today and helping Education Access spread the word. Your contribution will directly support girls' education and empower them to build brighter futures.
Join us in our journey to empower girls and transform communities through education!
You can find more information about Education Access at their website.