Working with Muslim Populations
Community Development in Afghanistan
Enlivening Education in Indonesia
Qur'anic Schools
Islamiyyah schools are distinctive entities in Nigeria that provide both religious and secular instruction to over a million children. In a report written under the Educational Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP) Initiative, EDC assesses the basic characteristics and predominant instructional practices of these schools in three states of Nigeria. Palestinian Development
Internet Access in Yemen
Systemwide Reform in Egypt
Watch videos showing the impact of this project on classrooms: Educational Technology in Pakistan
Interactive Radio Instruction in Somalia
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Whether working at the community level, with government ministries, or in Qur'anic schools, EDC partners with Muslim populations around the globe on such key issues as improving opportunities for women and girls, youth/community development, increasing literacy and numeracy, implementing active learning methods, and expanding the use of technology.
Afghanistan is rebuilding itself following years of war, natural disaster, and Taliban rule. EDC works with UN-Habitat, with funding from USAID, to conduct the Afghanistan Literacy and Community Empowerment Program (LCEP). LCEP works in nearly 200 rural Afghani communities to develop village-level governance, encourage savings and credit activity, support micro-enterprise, and build literacy and numeracy skills among women and youth.
Working in the world’s most populous Muslim country on a project that will eventually reach 2,000 schools, EDC is helping local districts take on management of schools that were formerly run by the national government. This means moving control of teacher training to the local level, developing early childhood education, building resources including libraries, and establishing public-private alliances to strengthen elementary education.
Through ethnographic research in Morocco, Yemen, and Nigeria, Helen Boyle of EDC’s International Education Systems Division (IES) illustrates the various and changing roles of Qur'anic schools in both preserving and transforming social, educational, and religious practices.
EDC’s Palestinian Youth Empowerment Program or Ruwwad provides opportunities for Palestinian youth and youth-serving organizations to offer humanitarian assistance and the planning and implementation of programs that affect their daily lives. Ruwwad, which translates from Arabic into “pioneers,” also provides youth with valuable leadership and entrepreneurial skills.
Rachel Christina of EDC’s International Education Systems Division (IES) uses an ethnographic study of a leading Palestinian educational NGO to explore the dynamics of donor-state-NGO relationships in educational development. Her book, 
In Yemen, where only 30 percent of girls and women are literate, an EDC pilot project is wiring high schools to the Internet. EDC and its partners, iEARN and World Links, will train teachers to use the new technology in the classroom as well as conduct research on the impact of the initiative, notably on instruction for girls.
EDC is revitalizing education in Egypt through community involvement, professional development for educators, implementing national standards in learning, and work force preparation.
In remote areas of Pakistan, access to schools is restricted and education primarily consists of rote memorization and repetition led by teachers with little education themselves. EDC and its partners are using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve schools in the areas of policy and planning, professional development for educators and administrators, literacy, and public-private-community partnerships.
EDC’s Somali Interactive Radio Instruction Program (SIRIP) provides audio programs and supplemental materials to improve instruction in basic reading and math as well as selected life skills for approximately 400,000 Somali children in formal, non-governmental and Qur'anic schools.
