Dreaming a Successful School into Reality

We used to dream about growing… today we are growing with purpose.”

Faidy González, principal of Centro Educativo Mi Pequeño Mundo, founded a small school serving local children in a neighborhood in Barranquilla, Colombia—and along with her small staff and single classroom of students, shared big dreams. Even with eager students ready to learn, Miss Faidy faced daily challenges: physical limitations of the school’s size, lack of teacher training materials, parents who didn’t understand how to be engaged with their children’s education.

Once Miss Faidy’s school joined Opportunity International’s three-year Education Quality program, she and her team of dedicated teachers started a trajectory of growth and improvement that continues today. Improved infrastructure—including more classrooms and bathrooms divided for the students—and truly student-centered learning increased enrollment. She strengthened her own leadership skills, formalized key processes, and brought to life a school that today inspires trust, belonging, and a love for learning.

What Is the Education Quality Program?

School quality is one of the primary determinants of whether children who attend school actually learn the basic literacy and numeracy skills they need to progress in their education, their work, and their lives. Ensuring schools are safe, equitable, welcoming, with classrooms led by trained teachers, changes the learning outcomes for children living in poverty.

Opportunity International’s three-year Education Quality program offers low-cost, non-state schools a pathway to improving schools—their facilities, teachers, learning outcomes, and parent/community engagement. And we know it’s a model that works: recent research from our three-year study in Kenya showed that children gain as much as half a year equivalent of additional schooling linked to the efforts of Opportunity’s education interventions.

• A foundational tool of our three-year Education Quality program is Opportunity International's Pathways to Excellence guide, a holistic school development program that helps school proprietors and teachers create school improvement plans that ultimately lead to improved learning outcomes.
• We also provide professional development opportunities for school proprietors and teacher mentors. Participating schools in regions gather in “clusters” during the three-year program to share best practices, mentor, and encourage each other.

Big Impact for a Little School

Miss Faidy shares her experience with the Education Quality program:

“As a principal, I now feel I have stronger leadership, a more positive mindset, and a deep awareness of my role as a guide, protector, and servant to my community. I have learned to be more resilient and to project confidence. Teachers feel calm, supported, and confident in their leadership team. EduQuality has been key in this journey: it has provided ideas, tools, and direction. We have strengthened primary education, formalized institutional processes, and built a culture of continuous improvement.”

The Multiplier Effect of Access to Quality Education

The growth has been more than physical, it has built community. Parents, grandparents, neighbors, and school alumni actively participate. The school has become a recycling spot in the neighborhood and a model of inclusive education: a school with open doors where everyone has a place.

Across Colombia, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, over 250 schools participate in Education Quality. An astonishing 82% of those schools are led by women administrators, educators, mentors, community builders, and change agents. They bring empathy, organization, emotional intelligence, and a deep understanding of their communities.

We see a multiplier effect every day in our work: our work with one school proprietor through Education Quality could impact 15 teachers and over 200 children just in one school—not to mention the mentorship that proprietor could offer to peer schools.

Centro Educativo Mi Pequeño Mundo has taught me never to give up, that dreams really can come true."

Sofía, 4th grade student

Invest in a better future for families around the world at opportunity.org/donate.