Marling’s school was far – at 10 she was walking over an hour to class and back every day. With flash flooding, treacherous roads, and gendered violence walking to school at such a young age was dangerous. Although they wanted her to go to school, her parents were worried about her walking alone every day. With both parents needing to work full time and no public transportation options Marling might have to drop out. 

Marling’s situation is common for students in rural Nicaragua. They attend single-room schools with mud floors, often mixed in with students from other grades. Undertrained teachers lack basic supplies like books and pencils. If there even is a school nearby. Eventually, parents lose hope, learning is not achieved, and children quit school. 

Young women especially  are at risk of dropping out. Often expected to help with chores, childcare, and contribute to the household income instead of attending school, girls in rural villages are at high risk for dropping out before they reach 5th grade. In a region where families live off less than $1/day, few have enough money to pay for basic necessities let alone transportation or supplies for school. 

Such levels of extreme poverty thus become cyclical: students cannot develop essential life skills to grow, establish a future outside of the domestic space, or contribute to the local economy. For most Latin American children, over half of those who attend school never even learn to read, lack of access to education limits their options for a career. 

Running out of options and her safety at risk, Marling’s parents thought they had no choice. Just when it looked like she would have to drop out, Marling’s village got in touch with Project Alianza. 

Marling’s village gets a school

Led by her father, Don Felix, Marling’s village worked with Project Alianza to build a school. Strong and engaged communities are key to long-term success, so Alianza always involves the community in the planning and implementation of improved education close to home. This engagement helps create buy-in from everyone, guaranteeing greater long-term community investment in the school’s success.

The Project Alianza team hired an architect, sourced material, and a local coffee farmer donated land. Marling’s village came together alongside the Alianza team to help build a school for their children. With a safe structure, portable water, enough classrooms, and working bathrooms - a new school was built. In partnership with the Ministry of Education and the local support of a Community Educator, their new school got a teacher, supplies, and support. By establishing a school in the village, education was suddenly accessible to Marling and the people in Marling’s community. Kids started enrolling. 

An Alianza Community Educator helped Marling read at grade level

Globally, there’s a learning and reading crisis: among children who are attending school, more than half will not learn to read, but literacy is key to succeeding in school and eventually getting a career. Through hiring and training local women as educators, the program is able to accelerate local literacy rates and offer guidance to young students to live healthier, more successful lives. Working alongside public school teachers and after school, these community educators teach children how to read using the proven, groundbreaking method known as Teach-at-the-Right-Level.

Through Alianza’s Teach-at-the-Right-Level approach, literacy scores went up. Marling was able to graduate primary school, becoming the first from her village to do it.

Marling was the first from her community to go to high school

After graduating primary school, Marling set her sights on high school. Through Alianza’s cash conditional transfer program, her family was able to cover basic living expenses as well as cost of supplies and transportation for school. The Community Educator from her community, helped Marling and her family navigate any challenges she faced along the way. 

In contrast to the regional average of 55%, 80% of girls receiving cash assistance from Project Alianza are on track to graduate from secondary school with a projected income increase of 250% over non-graduates. 

Reaching new heights

Marling paved the way for other young women in her village, like her sisters, to follow in her footsteps and pursue their dreams, proving a little support can go a long way in helping girls reach their goals.

In turn, this kind of investment in the future of young people creates a ripple effect of progress and development for the entire community. With each successful graduate comes not only economic growth within a village, but also contributions to their local social and environmental sustainability and to the UN’s Global Sustainable Development Goals.

Someone to believe in and invest in your education changes everything, and when girls like Marling can stay in school, the world gets just a little bit brighter.

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