New Partnership Focuses on Early Learning and Economic Empowerment

Responding to the LEGO Foundation’s Build a World of Play Challenge, EDC, Street Child, and Opportunity EduFinance have teamed up to partner with Sierra Leonean and Liberian communities to provide high-quality early learning and improve livelihoods for women.

Fewer than 30 percent of children in Liberia and Sierra Leone have access to early childhood education, and women in these countries have limited pathways to economic independence. LINKS for Play, which stands for Leveraging Income, Networks + Knowledge Sharing for Play, tackles both challenges. The program builds on EDC’s pioneering work in interactive audio instruction for early childhood, workforce development, and community-led programming for marginalized children.

LINKS for Play empowers women to build a thriving network of play + learn centers in vulnerable communities. Unemployed women acquire early childhood development skills and a reliable livelihood; families gain access to affordable, play-based early care and education; and young children are better prepared for success in school and life.

LINKS for Play will serve 86,400 younger siblings and community peers of primary school learners participating in Street Child’s Educate a Child-funded EFECT program, promoting a strong start and continuity of care and learning for these vulnerable children as well as being an engine of development for their communities.

_{All video footage courtesy of Street Child.}