Still I Rise is a nonprofit organization bringing world-class education to refugee and vulnerable children around the globe.
Our mission is to end the global education crisis. We open schools to emancipate the most vulnerable and through our revolutionary educational model and our unshakeable advocacy work we aim to ensure top-quality, free schooling to all children within our lifetime. We are independent, transparent and efficient, and we make progress every single day. We change the world one child at a time.
Still I Rise was born to address a specific need: to educate and support minors living in the Samos hotspot, the refugee camp on the island of Samos, Greece. Here we opened Mazí, the first youth center for children and adolescents on the island, where we offer education, food, therapy and a safe place to escape from the horrors of the camp. In Samos we have developed a school model with the initiative to rehabilitate traumatized and deprived minors by providing them the opportunity to secure a better future for themselves.
Now we are opening high quality international schools in nations that have become the destinations or long term transit spaces for migrants. By doing so, we are exporting the values and the educational and teaching techniques developed in Mazí. Our international schools offer a global education to the most destitute by awarding them an internationally recognized diploma upon graduation. It is a concept that no organization has ever implemented before.
In Kenya, and also soon in Colombia and Italy we are opening internationally accredited schools. Our curriculum begins with a preparatory year, in which students participate in a rigorous and holistic educational experience in order to elevate their knowledge and skills, encourage them to reclaim their hopes and dreams, and to prepare them for the international program. Then, students will begin six years of study in an international curriculum, designed to equip them with the knowledge, skills, confidence, and diploma to enroll in quality institutions of higher education and to apply for competitive positions.
We strongly believe that one student, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. We are building schools in order to make it happen.
Independence
We actively refuse funding from governments, supranational organisations and multinationals that we deem unethical through our code of ethics.
Transparency
We strive to allocate the highest possible amount of donations towards our programs and activities, reducing management costs to a minimum.
Efficiency
We listen to the actual needs of the people we serve and empower local communities and leaders to solve the issues they are facing.
