Date: 20-12-2018

NEWS - New Member: Opportunity International, Early Childhood Education on the Move!

ISSA's new member Opportunity International is working with over a 1000, mainly low-cost, private schools in countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Colombia and recently also in India. They work with a network of microfinance banks globally, who provide the finance to help schools with infrastructure and other resourcing projects. Director Education Quality, Jonathan Renaudon-Smith, is focused on supporting the schools with the best tools they can get.

His team puts schools into Self-Sustaining School Systems (or clusters), so they can share challenges and solutions. Local Education Specialists support them and provide research-based ideas and materials from around the world. This includes leadership and teacher professional development aid provided by mentors, complemented by an approach called ‘Pathways to Excellence’ where they give support and self-assessment tools for whole school development planning, including Early Childhood Education. Finally, they collect data and track progress via dashboards, among others to report back to their donor community.

Cost reduction
Opportunity International is also experimenting with costs reduction, so they can offer support to more schools. Mr. Renaudon-Smith stresses that he looks forward to talk to people who have experience in providing professional development and learning resources in zero bandwidth environments. At the same time, he is keen to exchange knowledge with people who have experiences with developing best Early Childhood Education practices at scale. Producing materials for schools to support the families of very young school children is an area they are just considering going into and need help with.

For a brief insight in an Opportunity International case study, please click HERE.