Orangi Township is a large cluster of low-income, informal settlements situated in the western part of Karachi, Pakistan. It is the city's largest slum, or katchi abadi, with a population of about 1.2 million. Katchi abadis are "unofficial" and therefore there is little in the way of government support for community development. Inadequate government involvement in providing infrastructure has resulted in these poor communities actively working together to meet the challenges of housing, water, sanitation and education. Educated youth are taking the initiative to provide effective, flexible and affordable education to children living in their communities by setting up small schools within Orangi. However, these young social entrepreneurs lack the necessary capital for materials, equipment and schooling space. In response to this lack of resources, our partner organisation in Pakistan, the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP), piloted the idea of providing small start-up grants (£110) to young teachers for purchasing materials and equipment, and for securing schooling space. OPP also support teacher-training initiatives and provide technical advice. The initiative has proven extremely successful with 332 new schools established, which are currently providing education to 45,477 children from poor families living in Orangi’s low-income settlements. Another significant result, given the gender disparity in literacy rates and related educational opportunities in Pakistan, is the increasing enrolment of girls in schools resulting in a boy to girl student ratio of 10:9. There are currently over 2,600 educated young people (mostly from Orangi but some from the adjoining towns) working as teachers through this scheme. Support is needed for a further 96 small schools, through which approximately 12,400 children will gain access to affordable, high quality education. Funds will be used to support the following activities: · Providing small start-up grants to young teachers to purchase stationery, blackboards, tables and chairs. · Conducting teacher training and documentation of the process to share the lessons learnt and ensure sustainability. · Strengthening links between schools. All schools are being developed and run by educated young people living within poor communities and will be open to all children within the communities, irrespective of ethnicity, religion or gender. The small grants given through this initiative prove that it is not necessary to have huge amounts of money in order to make a significant change in the lives of children through better education.