Pencils of Promise

About our Partnership

Around the world, 250 million children of primary school age lack basic reading, writing and math skills. We strongly believe that every child deserves quality education, no matter where they are born or what resources are available. Therefore, as part of our Hakkasan Group Inspires initiative, we have partnered with Pencils of Promise. This innovative organization provides students around the world with much-needed access to education through school builds and literacy programming.

As one of our core philanthropic pillars, Hakkasan Group Inspires has already committed over $150,000 to constructing schools and improving education around the world since 2018.

Ghana

Our first construction project with PoP occurred in Korve, Ghana. Korve is a community in the Volta region where 173 currently enrolled students eagerly awaited the school we helped to make possible. Due to our support and financial donations, the school was inaugurated in March 2019.

We have been able to transform an ordinary classroom experience into one that is unlocking the promise of education for an entire generation of students in Korve. Increasing literacy rates by 85%, numeracy by 88% and test scores by 90%.

Along with PoP, we created a customized impact website that shares the community’s story, as well as photos of the entire build process so we can document firsthand the impact we have been able to achieve in this much-needed community.

Read more about Hakkasan Group’s impact in Ghana and further updates from Korve are available here.

Due to the overwhelming affect of the initial school campaign, we have committed to funding the building of further schools.

Laos

Our second school project is located in Kon Ngiew, Laos and was completed just before the end of 2019. With a population of around 302, Kok Ngiew is located within the Phon Xay district. Here, members of the community engage in farming and other agricultural and livestock-related activities. The Khmu language is spoken. The new school will benefit the entire local community and 323 students.

In Laos, a lack of educational infrastructure is one of the greatest barriers to accessing quality education _{(BBC News Asia)}. 15% of people in Laos are illiterate, with even higher illiteracy rates amongst ethnic minorities _{(World Bank 2015)}.

Pencils of Promise works with 126 communities in Laos to ensure that students overcome these, and other, barriers to accessing quality education. Currently, PoP is impacting over 38,000 students and teachers in Laos.

Read more about Hakkasan Group’s impact in Kon Ngiew, Laos

Guatemala

For our third school Hakkasan Group partnered with Grammy Award winning artist Zedd and Pencils of Promise (PoP) to construct a school in the Aldea Tonquín I community of Guatemala.

In Guatemala, where 59% of the population lives below the poverty line, socioeconomic status is one of the biggest barriers to accessing quality education _{(World Bank 2018)}.

The average length of schooling for a Guatemalan child is only four years and 24% of the population is illiterate _{(US Aid 2014; World Bank 2014)}. This is one of the highest illiteracy rates in the Western Hemisphere.

Pencils of Promise works with 190 communities in Guatemala to ensure students overcome these, and other, barriers to accessing quality education. Currently, PoP is impacting over 38,000 students in Guatemala.

The over 2,000 members of the Aldea Tonquín I community work in agriculture cultivating corn, beans and cardamom. The community was devoted to providing a valuable education to its students and contributed 20 percent of the resources and labor required for construction.

PoP establish partnerships with communities who are deeply committed to their children’s education. The support of the Aldea Tonquín I community ensures the sustainability of the school that it will remain a quality learning environment for generations to come.

The new structure will serve 196 students, spread throughout 8 classes.

PoP, strives towards a world in which every child can experience and benefit from quality education. In Aldea Tonquín I, students were learning in a structurally unsound building. Additionally, they were easily distracted, and classrooms were overcrowded, often forcing grades to double up. These conditions clearly posed a hazard to student safety and well-being, as well as to engagement and learning.

A quality learning environment is critical to increasing student attendance, engagement and overall literacy outcomes.

We are delighted to be able to partner with the Aldea Tonquín I community to build a new three-unit classroom block!

The project broke ground in December 2019 with the burying of a time capsule and the inauguration for the new school will occur in 2021.

Read more about Hakkasan Group’s and Zedd’s impact in Aldea Tonquin I, Guatemala.

We are incredibly proud to have been able to fulfil these exciting projects and look forward to continuing our partnership with Pencils of Promise into the future.

With an education, nothing is impossible.