Why Investing in Empowerment, Not Aid, Is the Future of Education
In briefAI summary — tap to read
Mike Leggett from Fundon Aweno shares how his organization invests in empowering teachers and youth in Curaçao through capacity-building and mentorship rather than traditional aid. By training local educators to become protagonists of change and developing older youth as mentors (called animators) for younger peers, Aweno builds self-directed leadership and community service from within, addressing challenges like youth exodus and limited opportunity.
Key takeaways
- Aweno's teacher training program develops local educators as problem-solving protagonists rather than dependents on external experts, enabling them to innovate teaching methods and recognize student potential beyond standardized exam results.
- The organization's youth mentorship program pairs 16-25 year-olds with 10-15 younger youth in small groups, addressing isolation, discrimination, and family instability while fostering character, purpose, and entrepreneurial thinking.
- By shifting mindset from self-interest alone to integrating personal well-being with community service, the program counters the brain drain of talented youth leaving the island, inspiring some like one participant to launch three successful businesses.
- Aweno operates free of charge to local schools and families, remaining independent of aid dependency and aspiring to full self-funding through grants and partnership, with open-source learning materials designed for global sharing.
- Qualitative metrics—youth stories, parent feedback, and community projects initiated by the groups—anchor the program's evidence alongside quantitative tracking of participants and broader family impact.
About Mike LeggettMike Leggett is founder of Fundon Aweno, an NGO in Curaçao focused on education and youth development. He holds a master's degree in capacity building and adult education from Guelph University and has spent 25 years working in education and sustainable development in Canada and internationally before relocating to Curaçao with his wife.
AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.
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Program: Why Investing in Empowerment, Not Aid, Is the Future of Education
Speaker: Mike Leggett
We bring you a new program every week on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education and how they contribute to service to others.
In this talk, Mike Leggett shares insights from over two decades of international experience in transformative education and capacity building. He explores how shifting from models of aid to models of empowerment can unleash the potential of teachers and youth to become catalysts of social change. Drawing from the work of Fundashon Awenyo in Curaçao and beyond, he invites a deep rethinking of what it truly means to invest in people, not programs.
Mike Leggett is an educator and capacity-building specialist with over twenty years of experience working with schools and educational systems across Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, and the Pacific. He holds a Master of Science in Education and Capacity Building from the University of Guelph, where his research explored models of transformative learning in rural Colombia. Now based in Curaçao, Mike leads Fundashon Awenyo, a non-profit organization dedicated to reimagining teacher development and youth empowerment as pathways to social transformation.
Through Awenyo's programs, he works alongside educators and young people to cultivate leadership, critical reflection, and a spirit of service, helping communities strengthen their own capacity to learn and grow. Michael’s approach is deeply collaborative and rooted in the belief that education should not merely transmit knowledge, but awaken the potential within each individual to become an active agent of change.
Members and guests, please welcome Mike Leggett!
To learn more, go to:
https://www.awenyo.org
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