Small Grants Programme
About the project
Ending the global education crisis means helping children all over the world get better access to learning and support services. Theirworld helps to fund initiatives that share our vision of improving access to education and development for every young person.
Theirworld’s Small Grants Programme gives grants of up to £10,000 to registered charities and non-profits helping disadvantaged and overlooked young people in the UK and around the world.
A shared vision
Local community and voluntary organisations are crucial to broadening access to education and improving health outcomes for young people. They tend to come into being because of a passion for helping advance opportunities for children. However, they can often lack the resources or profile to secure the funding they need to deliver on their vision. Theirworld’s Small Grants Programme was set up in 2004 with the purpose of helping organisations all over the world carry out their work to support and empower youth.
The programme focuses on issuing grants to groups that aim to improve community health and education, particularly in relation to children and caregivers. Small grants typically range from £1,000 to £10,000, and usually take less time to both apply for and be awarded than more substantial grants. They can be a way for community organisations to pilot new work or get a project off the ground.
Theirworld is proud to have been able to provide funding for dozens of programmes, projects and initiatives in the UK and around the world that share our vision of a world where every child has the best start in life, a safe place to learn and skills for the future.
We couldn’t do our work without the help of Theirworld. With their funding we’ve created and distributed booklets across the UK - from hospices to schools - to help young people with their grief.Sibling Support, an organisation that helps young people cope with the loss of a brother or sister
Making a big difference
From mentoring programmes to sports provision, children’s cancer care to school-based projects, our small grants can make a little go a long way for children in vulnerable circumstances. In the UK, Theirworld’s small grants have helped literacy programmes in areas where English is often not young people’s first language, and healthy breakfast initiatives for homeless children.
Our commitment to improving opportunities for girls is reflected in grants to organisations delivering inclusive education in countries including Greece, Zambia and Uganda. Children living on the street in Pakistan and unaccompanied minors in Greece have benefited, as have under-resourced schools and early years programmes in South Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Kenya.
We’ve also delivered grants to numerous programmes whose aim is to help young people with emotional difficulties, including children who have lost siblings and young women who lack positive role models.
Theirworld’s Small Grants Programme means we can help local organisations making a big difference to the lives of young people. The breadth of the programme’s reach reflects our goal to end the global learning crisis and help provide the quality education every child deserves.
Some of our recent grantees
Action of Love international
Location: Soroti District, Eastern Uganda
Action of Love international created the From Bed to School programme which will provide essential medical treatment, basic medicines, and appropriate mobility aids to 40 children living with disabilities in Uganda so they can go back to school and participate fully in family and community.
Vannimann Charitable Foundation
Location: Vavuniya District, Sri Lanka
The Vannimann Charitable Foundation will establish 10 Evening Learning Circles in community halls and village centres to deliver literacy and numeracy sessions to 400 children aged 7–14. The initiative transforms unsupervised after-school hours into safe, structured learning environments, improving literacy, numeracy, and child safety with sustainability.
Women Promotion Centre
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
Women Protection Centre will support 400 street connected children with learning and educational materials that covers areas of literacy, numeracy, health education, creative therapy and game education. These will help to street connected children enrich their capacities and increase their self-awareness and self-confidence.
Lluvia Health Organisation
Location: Lagos State, Nigeria
The Lluvia Health Organisation created a caregiver-led, play-based, early childhood development initiative reaching 50 caregivers through monthly in-person circles and moderated virtual groups, where trained facilitators guide low-cost play for early learning. The Nurture Plus Early Learning & Family Support Circles initiative also supports nutrition, safety, health-seeking, responsive caregiving, and caregiver wellbeing, improving daily stimulation and developmental of vulnerable children aged 0–5 in Nigeria.
Park Primary PSA
Location: London, UK
Park Primary School will transform a retired double-decker bus into a fully functioning school library in the playground of Park Primary School in Newham, East London. Due to rising pupil numbers, the school’s former library space was removed to create additional classrooms, leaving pupils without a dedicated reading space. The bus library will offer a creative, space-efficient solution that restores access to books, promotes reading for pleasure and provides a safe, inspiring environment for at least 1540 pupils to learn, read and thrive in the first year of operations.
Strengthening Togetherness Access and Growth (STAG)
Location: Nigeria
STAG will launch a girls-first, offline STEM learning programme that will reach 250 crisis-affected children aged 8 to 15 across IDP camps, refugee sites, slums, informal settlements, and safe houses in Lagos State. They will learn with nine structured 45-minute sessions using reusable STEM kits designed for low-literacy learners, combining hands-on “unplugged” problem-solving with simple offline building challenges.
PAIMAN Alumni Trust
Location: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan
The programme Resilient Futures, created by the Paiman Alumni Trust, will equip 400 marginalised youth with digital literacy, climate resilience, peace-building and entrepreneurship skills. Through three hubs, youth-led projects and community dialogues will strengthen employability, gender equity, social cohesion, and resilience to radicalisation.
Wings of Potential
Location: London, UK
The ReadAhead initiative by Wings of Potential is an early literacy intervention designed to give children the best start in life by helping them overcome barriers to education and ensuring full inclusion in the classroom. Working with 39 schools and 300+ children, ReadAhead helps children overcome reading difficulties, engage fully in classroom learning, and empowers them to reach their full academic potential.
Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association
Location: Portsmouth, UK
The Portsmouth Down Syndrome Association delivers a specialist School Advisory Service for children aged 4–11 with Down syndrome, supporting successful inclusion within mainstream education. Their expert-led service provides termly school visits, tailored guidance on differentiation, assessment and target setting, and a detailed annual report to inform each child’s Annual Review. They are supporting 17 pupils directly, while also equipping teachers, SENCos and support staff with skills that benefit the wider school community.
Ulimbwende Link
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
The Seeing Differently Initiative by Ulimbwende Link will create inclusive learning environments for 350 neurodivergent children in three public primary schools in Mathare slums. The project provides training to 25 teachers on neurodivergence, implement sensory simulations, and introduce low-cost classroom adaptations like visual schedules and calm spaces. By fostering empathy and understanding, the initiative seeks to reduce stigma, improve participation, and ensure neurodivergent children are fully included in mainstream education.
Stimulus for Transformative Development (STRADE)
Location: Mzuzu prison, Malawi
STRADE will provide access to ECD education to 105 children aged 2-6 from female prisoners in Mzuzu prison. This project will train caregivers, renovate the ECD centre in prison, procure learning materials, provide fortified foods for children, establish ECD garden and plant fruits and vegetables, training guardians and caregivers in childcare, climate change, peace building and in child protection.
Transform Training
Location: Nottinghamshire, UK
Transform Training have created Breakaway Clubs providing weekly arts sessions for 40 young people with learning disabilities aged 14-25 across two Nottinghamshire clubs. Through music, dance, drama, and visual arts, members develop independence, confidence, and emotional resilience during the challenging transition to adulthood – when many lose support and face isolation. Young people create performances, build friendships, and contribute to communities through the Breakaway Ambassador programme, working toward employment, education, or independent living.
Green Girls Platform
Location: Salima, Nafulu Village, Malawi
The Green Girls Platform integrates Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) into Environmental Education so young people understand climate change and develop community solutions. This project will be implemented in flood-prone Salima, equipping 150 young people with STEM skills over 10 months.
Foundation for Upcoming Engineers and Scientists (FUES)
Location: Arusha, Tanzania
The FUES created a Mobile Digital Lab addressing the digital divide affecting rural students in Tanzania by rotating digital equipment across three primary schools, delivering hands-on Digital and STEM training to 250 students aged (10-16), including 40 students with disabilities, using adaptive teaching and mentorship. The project will also train 30 teachers in inclusive digital practices. The initiative aims to increase digital and STEM competency by 85% and establish a scalable model for equitable digital education nationwide.
Joblinge
Location: Germany
Joblinge delivers high-quality coaching, mentoring, job-readiness training, internships with employers and targeted placement support to young refugees through shared nationwide standards, transparent reporting and continuous learning. Their Outcome-First Apprenticeship Fund will enable access to the programme to five young refugees.
The fund helps young refugees access apprenticeships and build sustainable career pathways in Germany by providing premiums to cover support that is not financed through public funding. Its outcome-based approach means that funding is linked to successful placement in an apprenticeship – putting measurable results for young people at the centre. The small grant will enable access to this fund to five young refugees.
Applications for the Small Grants Programme are now closed
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