Community Development

Education is a basic right for all children and essential for poverty reduction, gender equality, maternal health, child mortality reduction, sustainable development, and peace. Limited access to education disproportionately affects minorities and indigenous people in remote areas.

Recognizing the need to provide special assistance to these communities, GPF Philippines GlobALS has been serving as a state-approved provider of the Department of Education’s Alternative Learning System since 2011. GlobALS learners have the opportunity to receive elementary and high school diplomas through accreditation and equivalency programs as well as vocational training to learn skills for employment or to start a business.

In Malaysia, the Orang Asli, or “original people,” live in remote regions of the Malay peninsula, with little access to necessities such as clean water, electricity, and education. Many Orang Asli children struggle with low literacy skills, which limit future opportunities. Since June 2020, GPF Malaysia has been bringing out-of-classroom learning to the Orang Asli children through the Mobile School in partnership with ECM Libra Foundation. The Mobile School enables community teachers to carry out learning sessions within the village, utilizing Play-Based Learning, STEM activities, arts, and sports to foster interests in learning.

GPF Malaysia also introduced a cost-effective and easy-to-use solar light to address the daily energy needs of Orang Asli families. As of 2025, they have illuminated over 1,400 homes, built more than 260 sanitation facilities, and brought access to clean water to 4,400 families and counting.

In Brazil, Community Development efforts led by GPF Brazil bring together a wide network of partners to focus on intercultural relations, education innovation, and youth entrepreneurship. GPF Brazil and local partners are part of a national youth council body, Conjuve, that defines youth policy in the country.

Since 2020, GPF Brazil has reached tens of thousands of youth across Latin America through online forums, peacebuilding workshops, and youth enterprise programs.