On May 8, 2017, the South South Education Foundation (SSEF) and Finance Center for South-South Cooperation (FCSSC) signed a donation agreement with China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA), aiming to use the latter’s network to build computer rooms for two primary schools in Sudan and Dagon University in Myanmar.

“One Laptop, One Dream” is one of the main charity projects of SSEF. In a belief that “education catalyzes positive changes worldwide and the improvement rests upon our interaction and exchange”, SSEF is devoted to cooperation with the global South to understand their demand for education and help them achieve sustainable development through transforming challenges and concerns to high quality educational programs, innovative solutions and real opportunities. The Foundation has been attaching importance to school infrastructure, education quality, elite exchange, talent training and application of IT technology in education. The “One Laptop, One Dream” project aims to empower students in the global South to live their dreams with internet and IT technology through donation of computers and thus narrow the technology gap between developing and developed countries. Up until now, this project has been implemented in Nepal, Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Hungary and Rwanda and is going to benefit countries like Sri Lanka, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Serbia in 2017. 

The Thoyba Girls' Primary School and Osman ibn Affan Boy’s Primary School are located in Khartoum, the capital city of Sudan. Most students of these two schools are from families led by single mothers who are often ordinary workers, tea or food vendors with low-income. Poor and sometimes even homeless, these children have been suffering from various social problems. After learning the “Smiling Children” program conducted by CFPA in Sudan, SSEF and FCSSC proposed to donate 25 laptops respectively to these two schools through CFPA’s local network to build two computer rooms equipped with internet. The two donors are also prepared to fund regular computer training in these two schools to expand outlooks for the students and prevent them from dropping out of school.

Located in Yangon, Dagon University is specialized in liberal arts and sciences. With 23,000 on-campus students and 37,000 distant education students, it is the most populous university with the largest campus in the country. Nonetheless, because of the lack of computers, the staff of Dagon University are still working with pen and paper while students majored in computer science are unable to apply knowledge that they learn from class. In order to improve the education quality of Dagon University and its students’ computer skills, SSEF and FCSSC proposed to donate 45 desktop computers through CFPA’s local network and build a computer laboratory in the university, while inviting professionals to train the teachers and students on a regular basis.  

The tripartite partnership between SSEF, FCSSC and CFPA started in 2016, with a computer room established in a school for disabled persons in Nepal that has benefited 3000 local students, residents and disabled persons. SSEF and FCSSC were thus granted the “2016 Outstanding Achievement Award” in CFPA’s annual donor conference. Following implementation of “One Laptop, One Dream” program in Sudan and Myanmar, SSEF and FCSSC will continue to deepen cooperation with CFPA to light up dreams with knowledge and change the future through education as well as support the implementation of the UN global education agenda, which aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. 

SSEF

Established in May, 2014, South South Education Foundation (SSEF) is a non-religious, non-political, not-for-profit charitable education foundation approved by Inland Revenue Department of the government of Hong Kong. The SSEF dedicates itself to promoting education exchange, sponsor talent training, donate education facilities and equipment, and support important researches, for the sake that it firmly believes education catalyzes positive changes worldwide and the improvement rests upon our interaction and exchange. The SSEF is a sister organization of FCSSC. The two organizations work together to make a meaningful contribution to the South-South development.

CFPA

Founded in March 1989, China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation (CFPA) is a non-governmental organization specializing in poverty alleviation in China. With the support from all sectors of the society, CFPA has accumulatively raised RMB 13.08 billion and benefited 20.78 million poverty or disaster stricken people by the end of 2014. Now CFPA has become a philanthropic organization with the largest scale and greatest social impact in poverty reduction.