Celebrating a Year of Impact – and What’s Next in 2025

A Message from our Executive Chair, Peter Taylor

As we accelerate into 2025, I want to express my sincere thanks for your continuing generosity and commitment to UWS. Your support continues to drive our vision of Zero Education Poverty – a world where every child, regardless of their circumstances, can unlock their full potential through education.

In 2024, we are thrilled to share that, thanks to your generosity, we raised over $5 million – a record year for UWS.  We have seen growth across all key income areas – corporate partnerships, institutions & foundations, and individual philanthropy. UWS USA raised just over $500,000 in support of UWS’s mission and programs. Additionally, a standout moment was the return of the UWS Gala, which raised just over $630,000 and brought new and existing supporters together in a truly meaningful way.

A Year of Impact Reflecting on 2024

In 2024 we reached over 31,000 children across Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, and Madagascar, providing them with access to a life-changing education. With equal representation of boys and girls, our focus on gender equity is making a tangible difference. With the support of more than 1,300 trained teachers, UWS’ educational programs are delivering positive learning outcomes, particularly in foundational literacy and numeracy. We also established 17 new schools in Nepal and Madagascar, with some of the largest student enrolment numbers we’ve seen to date.

A key component of our model is ensuring local ownership, sustainability and long-term impact. In 2024, we successfully transitioned 56 schools to local communities and governments, empowering them to run their own schools and securing a lasting future for education for generations to come.

We are especially proud of our partnership with the Education Above All Foundation’s Educate A Child Programme in Cambodia and Nepal. Through the Dropout Prevention Project, we exceeded our goal by supporting over 6,000 at-risk children – 95% of whom have stayed in school, far surpassing our 80% retention target.

Our Girls’ Education initiative, supported by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), has already made a profound difference. Over 10,000 girls have been empowered through programmes such as Mothers’ Groups and Girls’ Clubs, dismantling barriers to education for girls in Nepal and Cambodia. If every girl worldwide received 12 years of free, safe, quality education, lifetime earnings for women globally could increase by up to $30 trillion.

In Nepal, while national-level student enrolment rates have significantly improved in recent years, learning outcomes remain low and dropout rates remain high. In response, in collaboration with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), UWS is now leading an important project focused on improving learning outcomes for marginalized children in Koshi Province in local, non-UWS schools. This initiative provides crucial teacher training, focusing on subjects including numeracy and literacy, and offers community-based support through Mothers’ Groups and Girls’ Clubs. These efforts have already begun transforming learning environments and boosting attendance rates in local schools.

Looking Ahead in 2025

While we celebrate the achievements of the past year, we also recognize the mounting challenges facing children’s education worldwide. The impacts of climate change, conflict, and pandemics have deepened the global learning crisis. Over 600 million children and young people worldwide are not meeting minimum proficiency levels in literacy and numeracy. UWS is developing an ambitious 2030 strategy to focus our efforts and maximize our impact which we look forward to sharing with you in the coming months. 

We have set an even more ambitious fundraising goal for 2025, to continue growing our impact and drive meaningful change, ensuring children’s access to quality education in safe and inclusive environments.

In 2025, we will continue to support tens of thousands of children, including the construction of new schools across Cambodia, Nepal, and Madagascar. In addition, as part of our partnership model – wherein we aim to strengthen local education systems – we will work directly with dozens of government schools in Nepal, supporting even more children to achieve literacy and numeracy.

With your continued support, we are confident that UWS will continue to be a significant force in transforming the lives of countless children. We thank you once again for your commitment to our shared mission.

Best regards,

Peter Taylor,
Executive Chair, UWS Global