I am a Trustee of United World Schools and it is fantastic to both serve and support this organisation; I can genuinely say that UWS is directly transforming children’s lives as well as making a real difference towards Sustainable Development Goal 4 - "Ensuring inclusive and equitable, quality education for every child."

I am hoping you will join me in supporting our first ever UK Aid Match appeal - ‘Happily Ever Smarter’.

This appeal is harnessing the power of education to change lives for thousands of children in poor and hard to reach parts of Nepal, Cambodia and Myanmar. With support from the UK Government’s Aid Match programme, every gift made between 29 April - 29 July will be doubled. 

I am targeting, with your amazing support, to raise £200,000 which will then be doubled by the UK Government to raise a total of £400,000 ! 

These funds will pay for 5300 children to receive a transformative education for a year OR will pay for 11 brand new schools serving over 1000 children every year to have their first ever opportunity to receive an education. Children like Kanchi - https://youtu.be/UiKQ4pT9FtoI 

This means that every pound you give will effectively have a 2X effect by releasing £ for £ matching funds from the UK Government! 

I have secured wonderfully generous support from a small number of good friends who are active supporters of UWS to contribute with me to kick-start delivery of the target (Andrew, Andrew & Nick - huge thank you!!). 

As a collective we can transform children’s lives through education, and particularly so for girls. A vital opportunity at a time when global education solutions couldn’t be more urgently needed. So please please give generously knowing you'll have double the impact through this UK Aid Match appeal campaign.

UWS knows that children have the power to change the world. They just need an opportunity to learn, play and develop. In close collaboration with local partners, they bring quality education into the heart of some of the hardest to reach around the globe. In just 12 years, UWS has transformed countless lives. We have built 250 schools reaching over 42,000 children in Nepal, Myanmar and Cambodia with life- changing education, and investing in skills and resourcing of the staff and communities that support them.

The impact of Covid19

Covid19 School closures have now taken one third of the world’s children out of education (UNICEF), with the UN estimating that a decade’s work improving global access to education has been lost. Yet while those in the UK are now starting to go back to school, the United Nations forecasts that as many as 24 million children around the world may never get the chance to return.

Not only that but the deadly new variant is causing devastation across Nepal. They are reporting over 8000 new cases daily and the virus has reached all 42 of the communities UWS currently support. Right now, each UWS school is providing a lifeline to hundreds of people. Surya ( Nepal Country Director) and his team have done an incredible job of responding rapidly and they are now:

• transforming schools into Covid Isolation Centre
• providing hand-washing facilities to communities through our schools
• working with partners to provide PPE and healthcare essentials
• training teachers in emergency Covid response
• raising awareness of Covid-19 and ways to stop the spread in remote areas
• supporting hundreds of at-risk girls and their families with food and essentials to protect against child marriage and exploitation
• keeping education alive through remote learning

The devastating impact of Covid really does make our work more vital than ever! It is the world’s most poor and vulnerable that are being affected the most and this is our way to help make a significant, transformative difference to the lives of thousands of children. 

Thank you so much for your support!