Education Fund

Young people who are enslaved, or whose parents are in slavery, are destined to grow up and repeat the cycle unless they are given education and ongoing support to build a different kind of life.

Made By Survivors’ Education Fund supports the education of child survivors and youth at extreme risk to attend formal school, many for the first time in their lives. We are committed to enabling the children to continue their education as far as they can, including high school and college for interested students.

We also offer non-formal education – literacy, numeracy, English human rights, life skills and computers - and vocational education to teen and young adult survivors, giving them the tools they need to live independently, support themselves, and to know their rights so they can protect themselves from further exploitation.

Both our formal and non-formal education programs are designed to slavery-proof survivors and high risk communities by offering sustainable long-term alternatives to trafficking and slavery. Over the past six years running these programs, our experience has been that it is the combination of formal and vocational education that is the greatest deterrent to slavery. We have learned that educating a person through grade 10 ensures that he or she will not be trafficked into slavery or re-trafficked. Vocational education enables individuals to reach their full potential as leaders, professionals, artisans, parents, and social change makers.

Some of the children in our education programs have been enslaved in brothels for sexual exploitation, before being rescued and sent to aftercare shelters. Others were enslaved for industrial work in quarries or brick kilns, on farms, or as domestic servants or child soldiers. Some are the children of slaves, growing up in red light areas or in remote rural communities plagued by intergenerational slavery. Without intervention, these kids are at extreme risk for being trafficked themselves.

Education transforms not only the survivors, but also their families, serving as an inspiring example to others, and ultimately bringing sustainable income into the family and community.
MBS Ugandan school-sponsored kids

Made by Survivors vocational education programs for survivors in Calcutta, India offer high level skills training in fields traditionally closed to women, such as blockprinting and metalsmithing. Survivors are also offered workshops in therapeutic arts, such as mural painting, dance and photography

The youth in our sponsorship program are already housed in loving shelter homes, or they participate in daily drop-in prevention programs.

Education donations pay for school fees, uniforms and supplies, transportation to and from school, and either room and board in shelters or boarding schools, or afterschool support and tutoring services for children still living with their families, staff support, vocational training and non-formal education for survivors who prefer to learn a trade or who are unable to pursue a formal education due to their age or other circumstances.

We offer Donors photos and profiles of children receiving education, narrative reports from site visits, progress updates or report cards as available, an open invitation to visit the kids and programs in India and Nepal…

Most importantly, donors have the chance to transform the lives of deserving children and women and to ensure that their freedom from slavery will be permanent.