Worldfund’s mission is to raise the quality and relevance of education in Latin America—the key to transforming lives and breaking the cycle of poverty. They do this through scholarship funding and through teacher and principal training programs. There is an excellent introductory video about Worldfund on their website.

Photo: Michelle Viegas, Director of Programs & Strategic Outreach, and Erin Sawaya, Vice President of Development and Communications, speak to Better World Books employees.

Presentations from our partners always have loads of great information, but there’s usually a key fact or two that jump out for me. In this case it was that $600 can provide a scholarship to a child for a full year (in case you’re interested here’s a link to the donations page).

Photo: Rosa Valdez, a Book Scanner at Better World Books’ Mishawaka location, discusses literacy in Latin America with Erin Sawaya of Worldfund.

Worldfund currently impacts 86,000 students annually, in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Venezuela. Their goal is to reach 250,000 Latin American students annually by 2015.

Photo: Bill Hajicek, Better World Books Quality Assurance, in discussion with Michelle Viegas of Worldfund.

In addition to Worldfund visiting us, we had the chance to visit some of the Worldfund beneficiaries in Brazil back in 2008.   What a great experience.  Don’t miss the blogs about the Starfish School and Women and Education in Brazil.  Here are some fun photos from that trip:

Photo: Above – Jesse Ault, head of Customer Care for BWB, builds a bookshelf at the Starfish School. Right – the completed bookshelf.
Photo: “Book Getter” Aaron King has a little fun with the kids at the Starfish School.	Photo: BWB Founder Xavier Helgesen learns from students at the Starfish School.

Worldfund’s mission is essential, as fewer than 30% of students in Latin America complete secondary school. The absence of an educated workforce is a critical factor stunting economic development and discouraging investment in Latin America . However, Worldfund is already making an impressive impact – in just three short years, they have already raised over $2 million to fund school networks that support more than 30,000 children across Latin America .

If you choose Worldfund as your partner this semester, here’s the impact your qualifying books can make:

500 books: Fund a one-year student scholarship at a top quality school
1,000 books: Fund the purchase of materials for a 35-student classroom
2,000 books: Fund four student scholarships at a top quality school
5,000 books: Fund a teacher’s salary for a full year
10,000 books: Fund two teacher’s salaries for a full year

We’ve already developed new posters for Worldfund campus book drives, complete with space to write the name of your student group– see below! Better World Books is moving towards greener materials – all Worldfund posters will be printed with biodegradable “eco-ink” on 25% post-consumer recycled paper, in a carbon-neutral printing process.

Better World Books is proud to include Worldfund as a potential partner for your campus book drive this semester, along with our other great literacy partners, Books for Africa, Room to Read, and the National Center for Family Literacy. Talk to your Regional Director today to find out how you can get involved in a book drive for Worldfund!