Academy for Educational Development

Location: TBD
Funder:  Displaced Children and Orphans Fund

Duration: 2007-2012
Contact:  Margie Brand

Conflict, extreme economic stress, crises such as natural disasters and climate change, and the spread of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis contribute to the rapidly increasing number of orphans and other vulnerable children worldwide. These children have been the focus of innumerable non-governmental organization and donor programs aimed at addressing their health, educational, psychosocial, security and economic needs. Frustratingly, many programs, while providing excellent non-economic support to vulnerable children have been unable to adequately address the issue of economic insecurity. Recognizing this challenge, STRIVE has been designed to identify and demonstrate effective means of sustainably improving the economic circumstances of vulnerable children.
















Between 2007 and 2012, STRIVE will implement five field projects working in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia to achieve its objectives. To address the specific challenges faced by previous economic strengthening efforts for vulnerable children, STRIVE projects are being developed in consultation with a consortium of leading child protection and economic strengthening organizations brought together to leverage their respective strengths for this focused collaborative effort. Economic strengthening elements to be explored include but are not limited to value chain interventions, savings-led finance models, and establishing adolescents as income earners through appropriate microenterprise or wage employment. Emphasizing market assessment and rigorous monitoring and evaluation, the program will track the relative progress of each project and produce replicable methodologies for economic development that demonstrably benefit vulnerable children.












The STRIVE Program, led by AED is being implemented through the FIELD Support Program in collaboration with representatives of ACDI/VOCA, Action for Enterprise, CARE USA, Development Training Services, the IRIS Center at the University of Maryland, Mennonite Economic Development Associates, Save the Children, US, and World Vision.