We have been providing modern education for pastoralist children ensuring quality early childhood care and primary education since our work of serving the marginalized began. GTF’s primary objective in education is the provision of quality education through teachers training and professional development, school feeding program, tutorial classes and the focus on English language improvement. We believe in ensuring the quality of education at all levels especially in the primary schools.

         Key Statistics

• Both the Dandi Gudina Primary School in Dhebiti village and Didimtu school were the first ever established schools in their respective regions.
• The historic Dandi Gudina school started with 41 students, of which only 2 were girls.
• However, by 2007, the number rose to 397 students, out of which 154 were girls.
• Located on the outskirts of Metahara town, the Dandi Gudina General Secondary School first enrolled 75 students (14 females) during its grand opening in September 2003.
• By 2007, the number reached 371, of which 126 were female.

Currently, we are implementing an integrated project known as the ‘Bishoftu Integrated Women and Children Empowerment Project (BICWEP)’with the overall goal of contributing to the intellectual, physical, social, and moral development of vulnerable street children, women and youth in Bishoftu town through school feeding initiatives, women and youth economic enhancement.

Globally, there is a consensus that major obstacles to realizing to sustainable development in education is due to the under- investment in school age children and adolescents. Child health and learning are critical to human capital development. A well- nourished, healthy, and educated population is the foundational pre- requisite for growth and economic development. A key contributor to the ranking in the Human Capital Index published by the World Bank is the quality of learning in a country, as measured by the new metric Learning Adjusted Years of Schooling (LAYS), which measures not only the amount of schooling, but also the quality of learning.

School feeding programs are beneficial for the physical, mental, and psychosocial development of school- age children and adolescents, particularly those in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). School feeding can have a positive impact on LAYS through increasing attendance, particularly of girls and by improving learning.

Although GTF’s past interventions were primarily focused on the nomads of the Fantalle district; today, however GTF has adopted an ambitious strategic plan to expand to other regions as well. To this end we have constructed schools in regions such as: Gambella, Benshangul-Gumuz, Afar, Somali, Sidama, Amhara and SNNPR.