Introducing Amala’s new strategic plan for 2024-2027: Expanding Hope
By Polly Akhurst and Mia Eskelund Pedersen, Amala Co-founders and Co-executive Directors
Today is a momentous day for Amala, as we officially launch Expanding Hope —Amala’s new strategic plan. We are thrilled to share this next step in our journey with all of you who have supported and believed in Amala’s mission over the years.
When we founded Amala seven years ago, our goal was simple but ambitious: to address the severe lack of quality education for refugee youth. The question that drove us was How can we ensure that refugee youth access an education they - like all young people - deserve? An education that equips them with the skills needed for their lives and livelihoods, and that prepares them to thrive.
Over the last three years, Amala has evolved as a pioneer in post-primary education for displaced youth. Through powerful partnerships, predominantly with refugee-led organisations, we have multiplied our impact—growing from serving 200 students annually to 1,500.
The Global Secondary Diploma became the first accredited upper secondary education programme specifically for refugee youth. The accreditation from two leading agencies, CIS and NEASC, has opened up new doors for our graduates, giving them hope for their futures.
We are immensely proud of our alumni, who are not only pursuing higher education, but also start businesses, lead community projects, and become changemakers and leaders.
Inside an Amala classroom in Kakuma Camp in 2018
What makes our programmes impactful is that they are built with refugee youth, not just for them. From the curriculum, which reflects and centres their lived realities, to the way our programmes are delivered—with refugee youth supporting their peers — everything we do supports the young people that we work with to develop their sense of agency.
However, the work is far from done. When we first started Amala in 2017, there were 60 million displaced people globally. Today, that number has doubled to 120 million. The need for quality education solutions that are contextualised, flexible, and can be deployed at scale is only increasing.
This is why our new strategic plan focuses on scaling our impact.
For the first time, we’ve set a specific goal: by 2040, we want to enable millions of refugee and conflict-affected youth to access transformative education—an education that helps them change their lives, communities, and the world around them.
This goal has been our north star in developing the strategy. We have been guided by the question: How do we move tangibly closer to this goal over the next three years?
Part of the answer is continuing to grow our existing programmes, working with mission-aligned partners, and ensuring we can scale effectively while maintaining the quality that makes Amala unique.
We also know we must go further. If we are serious about positively impacting millions, we must also go beyond our current programmes, and find different ways to partner with others to bring our model of transformative education into more emergency settings.
Finally, we recognise that sustainable growth will require a strong funding model that allows us to scale our impact in a way that lasts. These areas of our approach will result in a step change in our impact in the period, expanding hope through transformative and sustainable refugee education.
We are so excited to share this journey with you, and we are deeply grateful to everyone who has been part of Amala’s story so far. It’s your support, collaboration, and belief in what we’re doing that has brought us to this point, alongside the brilliant young people who have trusted us with their education and time.
Amala graduation in Amman, Jordan in early 2024
As we embark on this next stage, we are optimistic that together we can truly expand hope for refugee youth and open up new possibilities for their futures. Here are three ways you can help:
Give: We are raising funds to turn our strategic plan into reality. Increasing our regular giving is crucial for supporting us to triple the number of students we will reach over the coming three years. A generous donor is matching all new regular gifts and increases in existing giving, making this a fantastic opportunity to be part of our growth story. Give and find out more about the match HERE.
Partner with us: We aim to expand our network of partners to help refugee youth access transformative education. If you know of organisations working in the refugee education space, please connect us. We are also seeking partnerships with schools to fundraise and advocate for our work. If you are interested in our schools partnership work, get in touch.
Help us to advocate: A key part of our plan involves greater communications and advocacy to address the vast education gap for refugee youth. If you have contacts in media, research, or know of events and conferences we should attend, we’d love to hear from you.
You can get in touch with us on polly@amalaeducation.org or mia@amalaeducation.org
Let’s expand hope for refugee youth, together.
