Young people in Liverpool work directly with changemakers in Niger to deliver an impactful education program
Our Impact Program works on a grassroots level, making the change needed in local communities whilst developing skills and providing knowledge and experience to a team of young people in organizations.
Young people everywhere are wondering how they can tackle the issues in their communities.
The Impact Program provides knowledge and training on how to design projects and programs that provide solutions to these pressing issues. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations set us on a mission to work towards a more regenerative future, but we at QS World Merit fully appreciate that it might be hard to know where to start.
We created the Impact Program to equip young people to do just that. From problem identification to ideation and project delivery, a young group of budding changemakers are matched with one of our council communities in Asia or Africa over a 10-week-long program to tackle an SDG on the ground, impacting local communities. From building a curriculum for impoverished children to delivering a remote health service, you will get hands-on experience collaborating on a real-life project to tackle some of the world’s most complex issues.
“This was a unique opportunity to work with different cultures. Privileged to see the young people grow in competence and confidence.”
Alma Mason, Alt Valley Community Trust
Our Impact Program in Action
This summer, QS World Merit launched its very first Impact Program in collaboration with the Alt Valley Community Trust’s student team and the QS World Merit Council in Niger.
The team of students and our Council co-developed and implemented an English curriculum for children in Niger between the ages of 4-7.
This true global collaboration provides an opportunity for both teams to learn more about problem identification, program design, project management, teamwork, planning and budgeting and provides an unforgettable cultural experience for both teams whilst creating measurable impact, and tackling an SDG.
“Through this project I learned that it is possible to impact a community wherever we are. And the collaboration between different organizations creates more impacts than one can imagine and learn a lot about collaboration, teamwork on an international scale.”
Ali Kadri, QS World Merit Niger Council
Impact Program in the UK & Niger
The first few weeks of the 10-week program were focused on introductions, cultural exchange, the SDGs and learning more about the education crisis in Niger and learning tools to help design and deliver a project.
Followed were lively brainstorms about program ideas, translated by a Niger team member, showcasing the truly global nature of this collaboration. The students from Alt Valley and members from QS World Merit Niger met to learn, unlearn and build every week to work to solve the issue of the lack of education available to children under 7 in Niamy, Niger.
Contributing to SDG 4: Quality Education, together the teams developed 4 lesson plans in English for 58 children in a local school in Niamy. The team at Alt Valley curated, recorded and edited videos of the curriculum, which were delivered by the QS World Merit Council in Niger. As a cherry on top of this exciting collaboration, the team in Niger organized a trip to the Zoo to show the kids some of the words they had learned in real life whilst taking them out for the day, creating an unforgettable memory!
Does your organization want to get involved with an Impact Program? Please send us an email at: aashna@qsworldmerit.org
“The collaboration, the exchanges, the realization of this project are memories that I will keep forever. The culmination of the project is the effort put together to achieve the success of the project.”
Issoufou, QS World Merit Niger Council