In our schools in the Philippines, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Brazil and Tanzania, more than 20,000 boys and girls benefit from high-quality secondary education and vocational training to ensure that, after completing their studies, they can quickly find a job, become independent and provide for their families and local communities.

Opération Terre des Enfants mainly finances the salaries of teachers and medical staff, the children's food, school equipment, clothing and everyday items needed by children in boarding schools.

Each year we also fund a number of specific projects in each country, which help to keep the quality of education as high as possible.
We study the needs of each school, which informs us of the requirements and budgets needed for the regular renewal of teaching materials, the renovation of classrooms or dormitories, sustainable investments for greater energy efficiency.... and we decide with other international donors which projects Belgium can finance.

In 2023, for example, we contributed to the following specific projects:
- In Adlas, Boystown in the Philippines: upgrading of mechatronics from NCII to NCIII and NC IV
- In Biga, Girlstown in the Philippines: purchase of new mattresses
- In Minglanilla, Boystown in the Philippines: purchase of new pillows
- In Brasilia, Girlstown in Brazil: purchase of history and geography textbooks
- At the Girlstown in Guatemala: creation of a virtual library.
- At the Boystown in Guatemala: modernisation of the electronics workshop.
- At the Girlstown in Tegucigalpa, Honduras: financing of musical instruments for the orchestra that contributes to healthy leisure activities.
- At the Girlstown in Tanzania: financing the equipment needed for the new science laboratory (physics, chemistry and biology).
Detailed information, news and photos are available on our website and on our social networks.

The aim of this project is to provide young teenagers in the poorest regions of Tanzania with secondary education and vocational training, as well as safe accommodation, three balanced meals a day and health care. Without our support, these boys would not be able to continue their education.
Through education, these boys will be able to find good jobs that will enable them to support their families and break the cycle of poverty definitively. They will belong to the middle class and will be able to provide sustainable development solutions for their local communities and their country.
As we developed our new projects in Dar es Salaam for girls and young women living in extreme poverty, we noticed a growing demand from young boys for them to also be given a chance to access secondary education and vocational training.
A large plot of land was donated in Dodoma, in the north of Tanzania, and we began building a Boystown, similar to the Girlstown in Dar es Salaam.
The official inauguration of this new Village took place on 21 September 2023.
Since September, 109 young boys have been receiving secondary education and vocational training while living in the Boystown. They all belong to the poorest of the poor and come from all regions of the country.
We support these students on a day-to-day basis. In the meantime, we are continuing to expand the project. The aim is also to reach a capacity of 1,000 students, as for the Girlstown. Around a hundred more children could be admitted each year until full capacity is reached.
Detailed information, news and photos are available on our website.

The vocational training centre and nursery school meet the needs of young unemployed women in the region.

For these young women, the lack of education is a major obstacle to finding stable work and a regular income. Unfortunately, the pandemic has exacerbated their difficult situation, with many being forced into marriage by their poor families and now having to bring up their children at an early age, making access to education impossible.
In January 2022, the Sisters of Mary, in collaboration with Opération Terre des Enfants and other international partners, launched a training centre for young women and a nursery school in Tanzania.
In September 2023, in the new three-storey multi-purpose centre, 100 unemployed and unskilled young women from the poorest areas of Dar es Salaam are being trained as dressmakers or cooks.
Meanwhile, young children are being looked after in a nursery school attached to the training centre. 150 pre-school children are being cared for and educated at our Kiluvya day centre in September 2023.
Detailed information, news and photos are available on our website.