Guinea-Bissau struggles with an 80% illiteracy rate, a legacy from colonial times when the country was known as Portuguese Guinea and reading was banned for African natives. Aguipade has a regular educational program for elementary school and adult vocational education, targeting the endemic problems that come with poverty and ignorance.

Public education in government schools in Guinea-Bissau can be a mixed experience. It is not uncommon for the government to lack sufficient funds to pay teachers and to miss paydays. Physical facilities often lack maintenance and repairs. The result is schools that are crumbling and dilapidated, absent teachers and students that do not receive proper instruction.

Aguipade’s elementary teachers are dedicated professionals. All have excellent credentials and formerly taught in government schools. Aguipade’s teachers receive $50 monthly. You can sponsor a teacher in our school and help a student in one of the world’s poorest nations to learn to read and write.

Aguipade’s vocational programs are designed to teach basic job skills to adults. Citizens of Guinea-Bissau, called Bissau Guineans, are enterprising and eager to engage in cottage industries to bootstrap their lives.