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Every child has a right to a quality basic education.   From our beginning OLE has emphasized this right to education, found in Article 27 in the Declaration of Human Rights, however I now think this is a one-sided, seriously flawed statement. I now believe that every right should have responsibilities explicitly connected to it.  We…

“Follow the money”, I was told in a recent discussion about OLE’s “business model”. That makes a lot of sense. It get it. One way or another we must to generate enough sustainable income to match sustainable expenses, with a bit more for a rainy day. However business models for satisfying basic human needs must meet multiple requirements. It is a fatal error to focus only on the financial balance sheet.

One of OLE’s goals is to promote the use of terms that carry with them connotations that increase their power and meaning. “Solutions Based Learning (SBL) is our latest promotion.  We like this term because it focuses the mind on the importance of developing and implementing solutions to problems rather than simply describing them. “Talk…

It is exciting to see OLE’s Theory of Change, being implemented around the world, also working well in New Jersey. David Kirp, in the New York Times, Highlights the effectiveness of change in the Union City school system, compared with the different approach taken in Newark. OLE’s most recent implementation is the Tiger Girls program…

Global Giving’s Syrian Refugee Relief Fund has given $25,000 to the Tiger Girls program to support the training of 12 Syrian women coaches, provide 250 digital tablets, and allow 1,200 Tiger Girls to participate in team-based learning and quality education in the Zaatari Refugee Camp near the Syrian border in northwest Jordan. Please consider adding…

Two weeks ago in the Zaatari camp in Jordan for 80,000 Syrian refugees I was struck by the energy and hope of the  adolescent girls there who are excited by OLE’s Tiger Girls program. Now, Global Giving is now matching dollar for dollar, up to $1,000 for each contribution, to the Tiger Girls program ….

At dinner this evening in Beirut, the mother of my host family spoke of a conversation she had a few weeks ago with a Syrian widow with two boys, ages 8 and 10.  They had fled Syria but had not been able to get the papers needed that would enable them to stay in Lebanon. This…

OLE has been given an award from the UNHCR Innovation Fund to implement its TIGER program (These Inspiring Girls Enjoy Reading) for adolescent Syrian girls in UNHCR’s Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. Dr. Rowe will travel to Za’atari, in the northwest part of Jordan the first week of November where he will interview the ten…

OLE Kenya launched the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Challenge program in Nairobi, Kenya the first week of May with support provided by the Public Affairs office of the US Embassy. The YALI program is an initiative by President Obama to support an emerging generation of African leaders as they work to drive economic growth,…