Equipping children from poverty with tech skills

London, January 2025. World Villages for Children, a charity whose mission is ending poverty through education, welcomed 1,534 new children into their Sisters of Mary education programmes in Guatemala, Honduras, Brazil, and Tanzania in the January 2025 new academic year.

These children come from some of the most deprived communities in the world, with no access to basic needs such as food, safe shelter, clean water, or education. Without electricity most have no access to the internet for learning and cannot acquire digital skills.

• 74% of low-income households are not connected to the internet (UNICEF State of the World’s Children 2024)
• In Latin America, 53% of people aged 0-25 years old have no access to internet at home (UN Children’s Fund, Recovering Learning: are children and youth on track in skills development?, UNICEF, 2022)

The focus this International Day of Education on Friday 24th January is to reflect on “the power of education to equip individuals and communities to navigate, understand and influence technological advancement” (UNESCO International Day of Education). Navigating an accelerating technological landscape is only possible if we teach children the skills to use technology well and responsibly.

Digital exclusion threatens to exacerbate existing inequalities for the poorest children. Without the knowledge of, and skills to use new technologies, people living in the poorest countries are locked out of industries and employment that require digital skills.  

World Villages for Children and the Sisters of Mary change the outcomes for children born into extreme poverty, by focusing on education and equipping every child in our programmes with technology skills to make them digitally competent. Every school is equipped with computer laboratories and classes teaching computer skills and digital literacy.

In vocational classes, the focus is on training all our children in new technologies to prepare them for employment in industries growing more reliant on technology. These range from the automotive industry, to engineering, accountancy, and cyber security, and many more.

Through a thorough vocational education, every child in our schools is empowered with a knowledge of technology and equipped to enter the workforce with the required digital skills so that they may build life changing careers and lift themselves and their families out of poverty.

For media inquiries, please contact

Carey Evans

Fundraising and Communications Manager

Notes to Editors