Education Changes the World
The strategy of VIA Don Bosco 2022-2031
At VIA Don Bosco, our aim is the development and social integration of young people, girls and boys alike, throughout the world. In our view, this requires access to quality education for all. To make this fundamental human right a reality, we work with a network of partner vocational and technical schools. We fund and support them in order to strengthen their capacity, thereby developing a high-quality educational offer.
With our partner schools, we draw our inspiration from Salesian pedagogy and the figure of Don Bosco, a 19th century Italian priest who dedicated his life to young people. Don Bosco also bequeathed to us values such as support and active listening to others, trust and transparency, excellence, recognition and respect for differences and optimism. Moreover, it was these values that led Don Bosco to develop an educational approach based on what he called ‘preventive education’. With this development, Don Bosco broke with the repressive education system that was still prevalent at the time.
“Whatever you do, do it extraordinarily well”, Don Bosco used to say to the young people and adults who worked on his projects. This maxim also inspires us on a daily basis.
To achieve our mission, we have established the following strategic priorities for 2031:
1.To contribute to improving the quality of vocational and technical education worldwide
To this end, in 2022 we launched the development of a reference tool, an ‘education quality compass’, in collaboration with various external partners. The aim of this compass is to facilitate the analysis of the context and situation of each school, from their accessibility for young people and their families to the integration of graduates into the world of work. Thus, by identifying good practice on the basis of a reference tool, we aim to make an active contribution to improving the educational offer of our partner schools.
Our goal is that, by the end of 2031, all the VIA Don Bosco partner schools will meet the basic criteria of our compass in terms of the quality of education offered. Within this timeframe, we also want to contribute to a demonstrable improvement in the quality of education in at least a minimum of 40% of our partner schools.
2. To promote gender equality and inclusion in education
VIA Don Bosco wants to help eliminate the gender barriers that still limit access to education for girls and young women, as well as providing them with the possibility of completing their technical and vocational education.
By the end of 2031, we want to facilitate the enrolment of 80,000 girls and women in the vocational training centres with which we work. By the same date, another of our objectives is to have 85% of the female students enrolled obtain the diploma of their choice. We want to create inclusive, safe and non-violent educational environments in all our partner schools (the ‘safe schools’ concept). Within the scope of this objective, our goal is that, by 2031, all the vocational training centres with which we work will have introduced minimum standards for the prevention of gender-based violence.
3. To strengthen the financial sustainability of our partner schools
As many of our partner schools do not receive public subsidies, they have to provide their own funding. VIA Don Bosco has set itself the strategic goal of investing 80 million euro in its partner schools by 2031, to ensure that they can continue to operate.
At the same time, we are putting in place support plans to help our partner schools improve their financial and administrative management tools. With certain pilot schools, we are extending the collaboration to include strengthening their own sources of income and financial planning.
4. To ensure that students in technical and vocational education acquire global citizenship skills
VIA Don Bosco helps schools in Belgium and in our partner countries to equip young people with global citizenship skills.
We want to develop a spirit of solidarity in young people, as well as a sense of responsibility and a critical mindset so that, by engaging in concrete actions, they can contribute, individually and collectively, to a fairer and more sustainable society.
And finally, we plan to invest 80 million euro by the end of 2031 in educational projects with our partner schools in the field.