History

Paraguayan inspiration and our sister organization

The history of Teach A Man To Fish is closely connected with Fundación Paraguaya - our sister organisation based in Paraguay. The common agenda of Teach A Man To Fish and Fundación Paraguaya is combating poverty through high quality, financially sustainable education.

Fundación Paraguaya is a non-profit social enterprise, which develops innovative solutions to poverty and unemployment in Paraguay. It was Fundación Paraguaya that established the first Financially Sustainable School in Latin America at their San Francisco High School in Cerrito, Paraguay.

Teach A Man To Fish is now laying the foundations for replication of the Financially Sustainable School model internationally.

To find out more about the remarkable school in Paraguay, please click here.

Our history in a nutshell

Teach A Man To Fish was born out of a drive to share the pioneering work of the Fundación Paraguaya with like-minded educators and social entrepreneurs around the world.

Founded by Nik Kafka and a dedicated group of individuals passionate about the role of education in poverty reduction,  Teach A Man To Fish became a registered charity in January 2006. The organization is based in London, UK.

2006

• International Teach A Man To Fish Members’ Network established as a channel for information sharing about our innovative educational approach
• Through the Network, links with a large number of local NGOs in developing countries were established
• First ‘Schools for Rural Entrepreneurs’ competition launched to identify innovative small scale projects using elements of our approach – 11 projects across four continents receive funding

2007

• Over 15 partner organizations internationally took their first steps towards replication of the Financially Sustainable School model: from worm-composting to snail farming, from Armenia to Zimbabwe
• Teach A Man To Fish and Fundación Paraguaya launched the “50 Schools in 10 Years” commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative
• First ‘Education That Pays For Itself’ International Conference took place on December 2007 in Paraguay
• First Pan-African Awards for Entrepreneurship in Education were launched

2008

• Teach A Man To Fish received funding approval for its first direct replication of the Financially Sustainable School model in Bolivia
• Teach A Man To Fish provided Technical Assistance for Financially Sustainable School initiatives in Vietnam and Nicaragua
• Flagship school in Paraguay won second place in World Challenge 2008, a competition organized by BBC World, Shell & Newsweek

2009

• Five new school projects in Kenya, Uganda, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Paraguay launched
• Teach A Man To Fish provided Technical Assistance for Financially Sustainable School initiatives in Brazil and Uganda
• Nik Kafka, Managing Director of Teach A Man To Fish, was honoured as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum