Our Mission

The value of education and its impact on improving lives is undeniable. The global need for education — especially for underserved and hard-to-reach populations worldwide — is equally undeniable. Seeds of Empowerment believes that with the aid of technologies and specialised curriculum (such as the Stanford Mobile Inquiry-Based Learning Environment and our global learning initiatives) we provide an opportunity to empower children and meet their needs. We are fully committed to assisting the hard-to-reach population through our pedagogies and innovative technology.

Our Beginnings

Dr. Paul Kim (founder) visited underserved communities around the world and was struck by their poor education environment. Upon witnessing the conditions they lived in, he sought to find a way to improve them. With his expertise in educational technology, Paul felt strongly that basic and accessible devices, such as mobiles, could provide the simple, flexible, and robust solutions needed in the extreme conditions he found in developing countries.

With this in mind, Paul set out to create mobile learning technology designs specifically tailored to work in just about any conditions and without depending on any infrastructure. About this time, Paul met Neha Taleja (co-founder) at a conference in Silicon Valley and she expressed her strong commitment to give back to her home country.

Paul is a leading innovator of educational technology and the CTO and Assistant Dean at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. Neha, a learning designer, is a native of India who experienced the struggle for education first-hand growing up yet was able to succeed against difficult odds. Together Paul and Neha share a passion to make those educational opportunities reachable for the world's underserved. With a vision to reach the unreached, to educate, and to empower, Seeds of Empowerment was born.

"When I visited these countries, I saw how the children lived. It was then that I realised that these children are truly just as bright as the best of us. It was only that they didn't have the chances we did. That's when I decided to create Seeds of Empowerment."
— Dr. Paul Kim, Founder

What We Do

Seeds of Empowerment programs seek to be a catalyst and to change the story in:

• Underserved and hard-to-reach communities
• Countries with highest rates of out-of-school children and highest rates of illiteracy
• Fragile and conflict-affected regions or otherwise developing areas
• Regions with a need to bridge the digital literacy gap
• Regions with underperforming students including those that are at risk or have high dropout rates

Our Approach

• We use Stanford technology (SMILE) to initiate mobile learning projects across the world
• We give children a voice by publishing the books that they write into our 1001 Stories database
• We empower children to be leaders to support those who are underserved
• We support and send funding back to the communities that we visit

Expanding Global Operations

In late 2016 Dr. Paul Kim brought on a full-time management team to further facilitate operations. Under the leadership of Seeds of Empowerment, the organization received a full overhaul of its website and branding. Additionally, enhancements were made to the organisational structure with new members who form a young and passionate executive team. Seeds of Empowerment continues to run its projects across countries where assistance is most needed and ensures that the vision to empower children remains unchanged.