A CIDA-funded project in Ghana is providing basic education to boys and girls. Projects like these help prevent young children, especially girls, from working or moving to the cities.

Despite significant progress over the past decade, more than 800 million adults remain functionally illiterate in developing countries, and 104 million children—three-quarters of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia—have never seen the inside of a school.

Basic education can help prevent poverty, sickness and conflict. Learning how to read and write opens the door to so many possibilities: keeping track of sales and purchases in small businesses, increasing knowledge about how to stay healthy and prevent HIV/AIDS, and reducing violence by encouraging understanding and tolerance. Basic education helps individuals reach their full potential as productive members of society.

That is why the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is emphasizing basic education as part of its focus on social development. Within the context of its poverty-reduction mandate and priorities, the Agency will strengthen its programming and play a leadership role with other countries in basic education, health and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, and child protection.

While high-quality basic education is important for everyone, supporting girls' education is the single-highest-yielding investment that a developing country can make. Studies show that girls who are educated marry later, have fewer and healthier children, and are better able to care for their families.