Don’t Forget the Little Guys: Pens Increase African School Attendance by 30%

Over the past year, attendance in participating schools [in Malawi] has gone up by 30% due to the simple addition of pens in the classroom. – Goods4Good

I ran across this statistic the other day and was struck by the impact of such a relatively simple and focused initiative – supply pens to poverty stricken grammar schools in Africa to boost attendance.

It’s the perfect example of how a small investment directed toward a very narrow and relatively unknown problem can make a dramatic impact on the 3rd world.

Since 2007, the NYC based organization, Goods4Good, has run an initiative called Pens for Progress that supplies pens and other basic materials to classrooms in Malawi that don’t have enough supplies to support their student base (recently they procured a generous donation of over 90,000 items from BIC Malawi) .

From 2008 to 2009, Goods4Good reported that attendance in their participating schools had increased by 30% due to the simple addition of these pens in the classroom. Similarly, a study in Kenya found that giving girls a new $6 school uniform every 18 months significantly reduced school dropout rates and pregnancy rates. And yet another concluded that offering free lunches rose attendance by nearly 100%!

The impact of these simple initiatives is far more powerful than what is presented at face value. Increasing school attendance creates ripple effects that extend far beyond the classroom or any singular African community. As education levels increase in Sub-Sahara African countries, so does their attractiveness to foreign multinational corporations as hubs for expansion and investment – the main resource for economic development in the region.

From 2000 to 2008, foreign direct investment to Sub-Saharan Africa from outside corporations increased from $6.7 billion to $32.4 billion. A substantial increase and a positive trend that speaks to the progression of the continent. It’s these major business investments that will be responsible for driving positive social impact and growth going forward by creating the jobs that allow people to make a living.

However, since these large dollar investments by corporations are the easiest to point to as catalysts of long-term change, it’s easy to forget the impact of the little guys. At the core of Africa’s progress lies the efforts of the grassroots organizations, like Goods4Good, who are taking the small, more focused steps to make significant gains in education and, in turn, laying the foundation for sustainable long term economic growth.

I love being reminded, through statics like the one above, that it’s the little changes made by the small focused players that are making the most important impacts. They deserve our support.

Goods4Good matches excess goods with the needs of orphans and vulnerable children in the developing world. If you want to get involved, you can contact them at info@goods4good.org or visit them at Goods4Good.org

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