Samantha Peñalver, founder of Born to Learn.

I’m Samantha Peñalver, the founder of Born to Learn. I’ve spent the last 10 years in Tanzania promoting holistic education in the rural communities where Born to Learn is based. As part of our work in the area, we constructed an education centre made out of plastic bottles and recycled materials to help demonstrate the importance of respecting the environment. To this day, we’re improving the lives of many children, young people, women and families through the power of education. At Born to Learn, we believe that education is what drives change and ultimately transforms the future of any given society. In societies suffering from extreme poverty, education shouldn’t just be a matter of going to school. It’s hugely important to create a sustainable model that covers nutrition, health and emotional wellbeing, and provides tools that enable students to become independent. The Born to Learn strategy is entirely focused on achieving this goal. At Born to Learn in Moshi, Kilimanjaro, we offer classes for young people ranging from preschool to vocational training, as well as female empowerment sessions. We place great emphasis on offering a creative and holistic education that encourages lateral thinking in the students who come to the centre. Younger children work on projects in groups of five, ensuring that they’re given more personalised attention. We also offer extracurricular activities such as sports, drama, chess and project-based sessions, along with English, mathematics and art classes, to name just a few. What’s more, we run a female empowerment program where we provide women with training in business, accounting and English. The vocational training programs we’re incorporating this year are focused on English lessons and training for different professions, and targeted at young people who haven’t had the opportunity to pursue a formal education. Everyone is provided with breakfast, lunch and a snack, which we try to supply from our own vegetable garden and fruit trees. This year, Born to Learn has begun an intervention project in the Kigoma Region (Lake Tanganyika), where we’re supporting the orphans of fishermen in the area of Ujiji, as well as over 300 albino and disabled people. In order to carry out projects like these, it’s vital that we devote lots of time to studying, understanding and integrating ourselves into the potential beneficiaries’ local culture and ways of life. It’s equally important to listen, from a place of humility, in order to understand what locals want and need in the communities where we’ll be working, always considering issues from their viewpoint instead of our own. This knowledge is where the real value of the non-profit sector lies, and is the key to truly promoting any intervention project that aims to change the societies in which it is implemented. At Born to Learn, we’ve always believed in the importance of building business partnerships with socially responsible companies that implement CSR policies. Corporate social responsibility balances both economic and social development, always with a focus on sustainable growth, and can act as a bridge between the commercial market and the non-profit sector. In line with the concept of CSR, economic growth requires social development in order to remain sustainable in the long term. Society increasingly demands that companies be socially responsible—and many employees wish for their personal and professional skills to contribute to the resolution of today’s social issues. This adds social value to those companies that promote CSR founded on solidarity. In addition, this type of agreement is vital for NGOs that, although well versed in the ins and outs of local life, do not have the necessary funds to implement all that they’d like to achieve in order to enact change and remain sustainable over time. This is why it’s so important to have the support of large companies like Meliá Hotels International, enabling us to leverage their influence and develop sustainable programs that are efficient and can foster a greater social impact. It’s a win-win situation for everyone. Companies like the Meliá group understand the importance of a solidaritybased CSR strategy. In the countries where they’re active, such as Tanzania, they can make a huge difference in communities and help build a better future for many people. Born to Learn is proud to collaborate with a company that reinvests in the communities where it works.