The vision of an organization is a story that weaves the fabric of its future. EFA's Vision is created by the Executive Director and influenced by our leaders.
We envision a world where everyone possesses sufficient agency to change their circumstances no matter where they come from.
In rural communities across the world, billions of people live in poverty without the power to change their circumstances. Many do not know where their next meal will come from, when they will see their loved ones again, and what will provide fulfillment to their lives.
While most cities are also subject to the atrocities mentioned above, rural citizens are cut off from any resources concentrated in city centres. Most villages lack resources that provide essential opportunities that make up most of a person's agency in the modern world. As a result, generations of families become trapped in the poverty cycle, deprived of the most fundamental human right of freedom.
Furthermore, rural communities are often neglected by the rest of society. Corporations can't extract profit from them, and governments often prioritize innovation within their cities. Therefore, the livelihoods of rural villages are often determined by non-profit organizations.
Inside a left-behind child's home in a rural village in Ningxia, China.
Outside a left-behind child's home in a rural village in Ningxia, China.
We aim to provide rural communities with the agency they need to thrive without significant external investment or labour. While governments and corporations hold substantial power to create social change, it is naive to hope for change without taking action.
Rural communities do not need to cower under the thumb of unjust policies that marginalize underrepresented villages. EFA is developing solutions that villages can realistically implement within local communities, from education to healthcare to finance. Through working with EFA, rural villages can build grassroots social systems that can be sustained by the local workforce.
Unlike existing solutions, EFA will create social change without billions of dollars in external investment. These solutions will lessen rural villages' dependence on governments and cities so that they can function as individual entities while retaining a place in the larger society.
You can discover how EFA is breaking the poverty cycle in our mission document.
We hope that no child ever has to go to school on an empty stomach, take care of elderly grandparents by themselves, or drop out of school. No one should ever spend their childhood toiling in the fields, with nothing to look forward towards. We see a world where every child can joyfully go to school and look forward to creating their own destiny and living their own life.
The notion that a person's life path is determined by where they are born is a terrible injustice; the fact that most people within rural villages lack any option to change their circumstances is downright unacceptable.
We believe every individual, regardless of their past, should be provided sufficient agency to change their life circumstances.
As an organization of altruistic and ambitious individuals with the power to create an impact, we will never rest until everyone in the world can access life-changing opportunities. As Nelson Mandela once said, “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice.”