How Are Education and Poverty Reduction Connected?
A lack of education is a major predictor of generational poverty, and receiving an education is one of the best ways to reach financial stability;[1] thus, education and poverty reduction are directly linked. Families living in poverty often have to choose between sending their children to school or meeting other basic needs. School fees or the costs of supplies and uniforms would take up too much of their limited income. And sometimes, the kids must work alongside their parents just to make ends meet in the family, leaving school an impossible dream.
However, for each additional year of schooling, potential earnings increase by roughly 10 percent.[2] UNESCO says that “nearly 60 million people could escape poverty if all adults attended just two more years of school, and 420 million people could be lifted out of poverty if all adults completed secondary education”,[3] which is schooling from about the ages of 11 to 18.[4]
So, poverty can prevent education, but education is one of the most effective routes out of poverty, creating a vicious cycle that is difficult to escape. One way that many organizations seek to end this cycle is through child sponsorship. Compassion International is known for this model, and their program has been around for many years. A study of their program shows that sponsored children completed about 1.03 to 1.46 additional years of schooling compared to unsponsored children.[5] Accounting for spillover effects, secondary school completion increased by anywhere between 11.6 to 18.5 percentage points for those in the sponsorship program.[6]
Child sponsorship can, therefore, make a significant impact in ending poverty by providing more schooling, specifically, allowing the completion of secondary education. GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program also has successes in this arena. In 2021, about 2,200 students in the program graduated from high school, having completed their secondary education and now prepared to pursue a path to a brighter future.[7]
Education has the power to end the cycle of poverty for people all over the world, but they need help to access it. Consider partnering with GFA World in this powerful poverty reduction strategy. By sponsoring a child with GFA World, you help meet their physical needs and the needs of their family and community. Clean water, hygienic toilets and vocational training are just some of the community projects sponsorship enables, which ease the burdens of people in poverty and pave a path for their children to attend school without straining incomes or resources. And in the process, entire communities feel the love of God at work.[8]
Learn more about Poverty Reduction Strategy[1] Rodriguez, Leah. “Understanding How Poverty Is the Main Barrier to Education.” Global Citizen, February 7, 2020. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/poverty-education-satistics-facts/.
[2] Secretariat, GPE. “5 Ways Education Can Help End Extreme Poverty.” Global Partnership for Education, October 17, 2016. https://www.globalpartnership.org/blog/5-ways-education-can-help-end-extreme-poverty.
[3] Rodriguez, Leah. “Understanding how poverty is the main barrier to education.” Global Citizen. February 6, 2020. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/poverty-education-satistics-facts.
[4] “Secondary Education.” Britannica. November 4, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/secondary-education.
[5] Wydick, Bruce, Glewwe, Paul, and Rutledge, Lain. “Does international child sponsorship work? A six-country study of impacts on adult life outcomes.” Journal of Political Economy, Volume 121, Number 2. April 2013. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/670138.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Walker, Ken. “Child sponsorship: Does it lift the young out of poverty?” GFA World Special Report. November 18, 2022. https://www.gfa.org/special-report/does-sponsoring-child-really-work.
[8] “Sponsor a Child with GFA World.” GFA World. Accessed November 8, 2024, https://www.gfa.org/sponsorachild.