Education is not just a personal prerequisite allowing for a good job and decent life. Education is central to the development of society as a whole. Experts on family planning know that giving girls and women access to education, and thus self-determination, is more effective than just distribution of condoms. The better educated women are, the more informed are their family planning decisions. Another example is: training farmers to understand how to increase sustainable productivity of their land. This also enables creation of new jobs in their communities through small businesses or food processing
industries. African intellectuals like Yacouba Konaté from Ivory Coast are convinced that young people on the continent need local role models also in the fields of art, design, science. Finally, educated and open minds are the basis for democratic institutions and a peaceful settlement of conflicts.

With their project “Lives changed through education”, Frankfurter Rundschau will tell stories about people in different countries to show that gaining access to education is the key not only to individual unfolding but the first and most important step for developing a whole society. Access to education in the least developed countries (LDCs) improves all other aspects of development: voluntary family planning, economic growth, access to health, equal and peaceful society. This impact of education on development is
statistically proven, but often not yet understood by the public. The project will highlight the positive effects of education on development by reporting about people whose lives not only changed significantly through education, but may also have a positive impact on their society.