Gord Bontje, ABW board member and philanthropist, celebrates opening four more classrooms with students at Keringet School on Jan. 26, 2020 in Kenya. (A Better World Canada)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

more children in schools

A Better World Canada sets new targets for 2030

Mar 9, 2020 | 2:34 PM

A Better World Canada, which is based in Lacombe, hopes to put 75,000 children in schools by 2030.

The organization has education facilities in countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Afghanistan. They say the target is part of their ongoing efforts to tackle poverty in some of the world’s poorest regions.

“This is the best way to break the cycle of poverty – put as many children as we can into schools,” says Eric Rajah, co-founder of ABW.

The 2020-2030 target has a three-pronged approach — building classrooms, water wells, and health clinics.

Water wells are built in local communities and then water is pumped to the schools. Mainly deep-bore water wells are constructed and will serve populations of around 5,000. Each one is equipped with solar technology to provide about 23,000 litres of water daily.

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Key donors are showing a lot of enthusiasm, the group says.

“So if we’ve got the track record and the capability and we’ve got investors who are prepared to support it, then you’ve got to feel pretty good about it,” admits water projects director Stu MacPhail.

ABW already has nearly 50,000 children in classrooms that they’ve built. They will need to raise at least $5 million for new classrooms and another $5 million for health and water projects to meet their goals by 2030.