commitment to success in schools through academic resources

Led by our CEO, Harvard anthropologist Helen Davis, the One Pencil team collaborates with local community leaders and educators to execute targeted development projects to promote health and learning. Recent academic research in Bolivia and the Kunene region comprised of northern Nambia & southern Angola have demonstrated that the reinforcement of academic skills, through consistency and practice, directly correlates with childhood success and improved lifetime outcomes. This process starts with the most basic of necessities like school supplies, clean water, and a safe learning environment. Although intuitively obvious that these are the prerequisites to productive learning, the children and communities we serve do not have consistent access to these fundamentals. The cost of a pencil should never prohibit a child from gaining the skills they want and need to succeed in school, and so our primary and foundational program provides school supplies to thousands of children at the beginning of every school year. We will maintain these efforts, so that all children included in the program can expect and rely upon new school supplies at the beginning of each academic year.

Previous support for schools came from donations and individual funds. In 2018 One Pencil Project established 501(c)(3) and since has begun using the benefits of its tax exempt status to fundraise and better support its mission.

commitment to COMMUNITIES through clean water & Community development

One Pencil began a collaboration with University of New Mexico’s Engineers Without Borders (EWB) in 2009. The goal was to find an organization who used sustainable practices in their work and who aimed to create local community ownership of development projects. As of 2018, two fully functioning wells have been installed in the Tsimane territory of Bolivia. These wells are dug and maintained through community support. Community members are trained on how to maintain and repair the well, and all parts can be purchased at low costs in San Borja (a neighboring market town). You can learn more about UNM-EWB here.

In the fall of 2019, One Pencil collaborated with the Namibian Red Cross to successfully refurbish wells that had fallen into disrepair in the towns of Orue and Okau, Namibia. These efforts restored clean and reliable drinking water to a collective population of roughly 500 people during one of the worst droughts in the recorded history of the region.

commitment to policy and people

Detailed information regareding One Pencil's program goals, timelines, and project outcomes will be provided to participating communities and local leadership.