Educate! to Write World’s First National Social Entrepreneurship Curriculum

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Boulder, Colorado, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) January 6, 2011 -- Boulder, CO - Educate!, a Boulder- and Uganda-based non-profit that unlocks the potential of African youth to solve their communities’ greatest problems, was asked by the government of Uganda and the United Nation’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) to write the social entrepreneurship section of Uganda’s new national high school entrepreneurship curriculum.

The social entrepreneurship curriculum—the first of its kind to be scaled to a national level—marks the first time that youth across a country will be taught as part of a national education system how to create initiatives that address the challenges of poverty, disease and environmental degradation, among others. The curriculum will empower as many as 100,000 diverse high school students across Uganda.

The concept of social entrepreneurship has been growing rapidly since the 1980’s when Ashoka, Echoing Green, and other organizations began to seek and support social entrepreneurs - people and organizations driving effective and sustainable solutions to social and economic issues facing communities around the world.

As part of the Educate! social entrepreneurship curriculum, students across Uganda will start a business or community initiative. For example, Educate!’s current students have created dozens of jobs and lifted people out of poverty, helped prevent HIV/AIDS through awareness building and treatment, and conserved the environment through tree planting and the sale of energy efficient stoves.

“We are thrilled about the new partnership with the government of Uganda and the ILO, which will provide a powerful channel to enable Educate! to reach many more youth” said Boris Bulayev, Educate!’s President.

The new social entrepreneurship curriculum will empower students and translate into real change in the community, while developing a new generation of leaders prepared to solve the critical challenges that Uganda faces today.

“The new curriculum will create a significant shift in the ability of the next generation to solve issues of poverty, disease, and environmental degradation,” said Eric Glustrom, Educate!’s Executive Director. “Educate!’s focus is now on the quality with which the new social entrepreneurship curriculum is implemented. If proven successful in Uganda, social entrepreneurship education has the potential to spread to many other countries in Africa and beyond.”

About Educate!
In Africa nearly 50% of the population is under the age of 18 and youth face problems of poverty, disease, and environmental degradation. But there won't be sustainable solutions without a new generation of African leaders to create and drive those solutions.

Educate!, founded in 2002, unlocks the potential of African youth to solve their communities' greatest problems of poverty, disease, and environmental degradation. Our model is exponential empowerment--investing long-term in a few so they can positively impact many others.

Educate! provides a proven mix of a leadership and social entrepreneurship course, long-term mentoring, practical experience solving a community problem, and an alumni network for high school aged youth. Today, Educate! works with 830 youth across Uganda and is developing a model of education that can be applied across Africa.

Educate! has been backed by Echoing Green, the leading venture philanthropy fund, won the Ashoka Changemakers Quality Education in Africa award, received first place in the Pan African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education, and was recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as one of 100 Brilliant Companies of 2009. For more information visit: http://www.expereinceeducate.org

africa     educate     empower     Social Entrepreneurship     Uganda