imagine1day is a growing, global community of people making passionate contributions to ensure every child in Ethiopia receives a quality education.

The Goals

• 21 students (16 girls and 5 boys) from 15 Grade 5-8 primary schools in Tigray, Ethiopia complete Grades 9-12 with high academic standing, strong leadership skills, and poised to enter University.
• The parents of the scholarship recipients develop micro-enterprises to support their children's education while increasing their family's financial position and potential. By the beginning of Year 2 of the program (Grade 10 for the students), parents will have earned sufficient income to fully support their child's education for the year, and will be scaling up their micro-enterprises to support Grades 11, 12, and beyond.

The Details

In its first year (Grade 9 for students), Class 2015 will provide two streams of financial support to students and their parents:

• Non repayable funding to cover the costs of accommodation and basic sanitary supplies, transportation, school fees, tutorial classes, school supplies and a uniform to enable scholarship recipients to attend Grade 9 in the nearest town centre.
• Seed funding loans to the parents of the scholarship recipients to create micro-enterprises designed to generate sufficient income to support the costs (as covered by the scholarship in Grade 9) of sending their children to school in the nearest town centre for Grades 10-12. Each year of high school completed by a scholarship recipient will result in one third of the seed funding being forgiven. This funding will be fully forgiven at the end of Year 4, if the family funds their child's education using the income generated from their new business.
• Scholarships and family micro-enterprise seed funding will be awarded to all 21 scholarship recipients and their families in September 2011.
• Special thanks to our friends at Lunapads who are supporting all 16 girls receiving scholarships with a Pads4Girls kit. Click here to learn more about the amazing things that Pads4Girls are making possible for a world of women. 

In the first and second years of the Scholarship Program, scholarship recipients and their parents will receive the following training:

• Year 1: Basic Business Skills and Life Skill Training
• Year 2: Refresher Business Skills, Life Skill Training and imagine1day's Leadership Development Training

Throughout the four year project term, imagine1day will work closely with the Offices of Education, Social Affairs, Women's Affairs, and Agriculture in the Districts of Hintalo Wejirat and Kilte Awelalo to support the academic success and social welfare of the scholarship recipients and the success of their parents' micro-enterprises. These offices will work in partnership with imagine1day in program implementation, training and ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

Class 2015's objective is to equip families with financial seed funding and adequate training and support to enable them to fully fund their children's education by the second year of the project, thereby targeting project sustainability before project completion at the end of Year 4.

imagine1day and its project partners will monitor project sustainability (and family's progress with their micro-enterprises) on a quarterly basis, to ensure adequate support is provided to parents to achieve the required profits and cash flow to continue to fund their children's education.

The forgiveness of seed funding is built into the project plan and is intended to provide added incentive for parents to support their children's education while they grow their income and asset base.

Engaging parents in their children's education while creating an opportunity for their personal growth, learning and development is intended to create a high level of commitment to the project outcomes on the part of all project beneficiaries.

imagine1day’s Class 2015 High School Scholarship Program is now fully funded. Champion our best and brightest students and give their families the gift of education and financial control by supporting Class 2016.