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Hope Education is founded
Hope Educational Foundation International (HEF) was founded in 2004 with the mission of preventing, through education, the most devastating systemic threats to children and youth. Since that time, we've been developing, implementing, evaluating and adapting prevention education programs dealing with two particular systemic threats, namely, HIV/AIDS and intestinal worms. -
iMatter Curriculum Development
iMatter can really be considered the heart of Hope Education – the program that started it all. It was the first program developed by Hope Education, and it was designed to address the HIV/AIDS problem in Swaziland. 2005 was a year of program and curriculum design, during which time the iMatter curriculum took shape. -
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First Teacher Trainings in Swaziland
The first year in Swaziland, iMatter was used in 37 schools with over 24,000 learners. The 10 lesson, age-appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention material focuses on HIV/AIDS prevention by targeting the underlying causes of the epidemic. These were identified through field research to include: lack of self-worth, diminished value of individual life, failure to consider consequences, failure to plan for the future, and the importance of making good choices at each stage of development. -
iMatter South Africa launched
iMatter In 2006 we began working with Reaching a Generation in South Africa. They helped us develop the iMatter teacher training program, and under the funding of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) we began implementing in South Africa in 2008. Since that time, we have worked in 6 out of the 9 provinces and have reached an estimated 1.7 million children. -
5 Year PEPFAR Funding Received
What is PEPFAR? In 2008, we recieved a 5 year grant from PEPFAR to implement iMatter in support of PEPFAR's goals to assist those suffering from HIV/AIDS. This grant supported all of our iMatter efforts in South Africa, and eventually expanded to include our other South Africa-based programs as well. -
1,000,000 iMatter books distributed
In 2009, HEF hit the milestone of 1 million iMatter books distributed in Swaziland and South Africa. -
Families Matter Program launched
Created by the CDC, Families Matter helps empower the parents and caregivers of pre-teens by establishing helpful prevention skills. Certified facilitators work with small groups of parents over a 5-week period on how to effectively communicate to their child safe and healthy prevention methods against HIV/AIDS. More about our Families Matter! program -
Teritary Program Launched
The Tertiary Program was a peer education program for university students. Peer educators were trained to design and implement HIV prevention campaigns on campus. These campaigns were shared via radio and television broadcasting and social media to reach the largest number individuals. -
Hygiene Matters Pilot Program launched in Central African Republic
HEF launched the first Hygiene Matters pilot in the Central African Republic in partnership with the Ministries of Education and Health, and with the cooperation of WHO. This was the first test of the deworming/hygiene education program that HEF later launched in Togo. -
H E Foundation established
In 2012, Hope Education became registered as a South African Non-Profit Company under the name H E Foundation. This was the start of rapid staff growth in South Africa. -
Tertiary Program Ends
The Tertiary Program ended in 2012 with a reach of 2,583 student leaders and over 200,000 individuals via mass media. The program was a showcase of young leaders' energy and capacity to motivate their peers and raise awareness. -
Project AIM launched
The program encourages children to focus on what they want their lives to look like, and helps them devise practical steps to making those dreams a reality. By targeting youths’ attention toward a future goal, the program has been shown to decrease engagement in sexual risk behaviors. More information. -
Hygiene Matters Togo Launches
The program comes as a complement to current national efforts to reduce helminth infections throughout the country. HDI, UNICEF, and the WHO have been working in Togo to develop a mass medication program. Hope Education’s program is developed to prevent infection and re-infection by teaching children how to stay worm-free BEFORE they receive deworming medication. The pilot will reach 100,000 children. More information. -
5 Year PEPFAR Grant completed
Hope Education started working in South Africa in 2008, funded by a five-year grant from the US government’s PEPFAR program. What have we accomplished? -
iMatter program handed over to South African Department of Basic Education
On Saturday, October 19, we held a ceremony near Pretoria to mark the partnership between the South African Department of Education (DoE) and Hope Educational Foundation (HEF) in Gauteng and North West provinces on the iMatter program. The program has now been transferred to the control of the DoE for continued implementation. More information. -
First 1,000 Teachers Trained in Togo
By the end of December, 2013, HEF and their partners trained their first 1,000 public school teachers in Lomé, Togo to use the Hygiene Matters curriculum in classrooms. These teachers represent 52,000 children.
