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Providing critical support to vulnerable children

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Foreword

Our vision is a world in which every child attains the right to

equal treatment and the opportunity to

succeed in life.”

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Dear Friends,

I am both honored and amazed at the success and achievements of the Equal Opportunity Initiative. Every day vulnerable children are served through our programs, as a result of the people we work with – our ever growing and active volunteer team and our diverse network of partners and supporters.

We have built on a strong foundation of results and as always our strategy is to foster self-respect and confidence in the individual child. We are providing increasingly supportive efforts at the individual, community and institutional levels, by the understanding that when you empower a person in one area, it inevitably has a ripple effect into other areas and into the lives of those around, creating the potential for a better and stronger future. In the pages following, you’ll clearly see this principle at work.

The Equal Opportunity Initiative is only as strong as the partners and donors who support us. Simply put, we would not have been able to regularly reach thousands of children through numerous projects without your generosity and commitment. With your support we can provide the opportunities to aid in the development of children everywhere and help to build a brighter future.

Sean Peter KellyExecutive DirectorEqual Opportunity Initiative

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An EOI Educational Development Center set up for the Ma’an Juvenile Detention Facility, Jordan

DID YOU KNOW…@ 115 m

illion children in developing nations are not given the chance to attend school?

Educational Development Center

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Providing free access to educational resources and technology, this project combines a multi-lingual library, computer lab, and knowledge station into an Educational Development Center, supplying the tools to educate and empower marginalized youth and engage their futures effectively.

EOI volunteer assisting with book strategy in Jordan’s sole Female Protection Center

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Libraries

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Equipping underdeveloped communities with lifelong literacy skills, this project stimulates critical thinking as well as encourages reading-for-leisure in children. Additionally, as part of our commitment to literacy, thousands of books are added to rural libraries.

DID YOU KNOW… children learn an average of 8,000 new words each year as a result of book reading?

Children experimenting with touch screen computers at the Bethlehem Computer Lab

DID YOU KNOW… the average first w

orld nation spends around $4,000 per student each year. In contrast, developing nations spend an average of $40 per student each year?

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Computer Labs

Designed to service children, this project provides well-equipped Computer Labs to create opportunities for research, recreation and IT skills by supplying open access to educational resources and facilities.

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Brazilian black-belt Francimar Bodão coaching a young orphan at an EOI self-defense program.

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Skills Training

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Development training programs designed to build self-confidence, boost communication skills, encourage fitness, and equip children and youth with needed talent that can open up opportunities to ensure future success in their lives.

DID YOU KNOW… a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their nam

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Orphan children and EOI volunteer enjoying the amusement park.

DID YOU KNOW… that 1 out of every 2 children w

orldwide lives in poverty?

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Excursions and Events

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Complementing existing education and care systems, these activities play an important role in the psychosocial development of children and are an excellent way to foster higher level thinking as well as create happy, life-lasting memories.

Underprivileged children with EOI volunteers at the cinema.

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Volunteer Engagement

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DID YOU KNOW…approximately 1 out of every 15 children have lost one or both parents due to all causes in developing countries?

Providing volunteerism and leadership training, this project empowers the participants to make a positive impact in the community, enabling future leaders to fulfill their social responsibility through community development projects.

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www.equalopp.org

Equal

Initiative