From Hanoi to Tamil Nadu – a Navitas Education Trust update
For the past 11 years, Navitas has been proud to operate the Navitas Education Trust (the NET). Hear what three of our partners, KOTO, Indigo Foundation, and CAMFED have achieved in the past year.
KOTO
KOTO is a social enterprise that empowers at-risk and disadvantaged youth in Vietnam through its holistic hospitality training program. NET funding has supported the KOTO Hospitality Traineeship Program for disadvantaged young people in Hanoi since 2023.
This past year, NET funding has supported Class 44, a cohort of 15 trainees. At the end of last year, the Class 44 trainees participated in KOTO’s annual Winter Appeal, an invaluable and transformative experience. They travelled to remote areas of Ha Giang province to:
- provide community cooking classes to support local tourism
- conduct personal hygiene workshops for children
- deliver gifts and serve warm meals to local residents
Quynh Hoang Thi Thuy, a KOTO team member shared: For our trainees, it was a deeply moving experience that reinforced their commitment to making a positive impact.
indigo foundation
indigo foundation is an innovative and independent community development organisation that works with local community partners around the world to empower women and girls, improve education and health outcomes, and defend human rights. NET funding supports the Advancement and Empowerment Programs in India, including after-school tuition, tailoring and typing, and IT training and library fund programs. indigo foundation works closely with the Program for Education and Awareness Building (PEAB). PEAG includes seven Village Education Centres (VECs) – after-school tuition programs run by community volunteers to mentor and give educational support to students.
The VECs help students like Nivetha. Nivetha lives with her family in the village of Pasumbur, which is little more than a cluster of dwellings surrounded by agricultural land in the Maduranthakam district, south of the busy metropolis of Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
Nivetha is now in Grade 11. She has attended after school tuition sessions at a Village Education Centre (VEC) since she was in Grade 5. The VEC closest to her home is held on the back porch of the home of her tutor, Mrs Samundeshwari. Around twenty students gather there with their school textbooks for two hours after school each day. They help each other revise the day’s lessons and do their homework. They ask their tutor to explain anything they can’t understand.
When in Grade 10 Nivetha struggled initially with science and maths. Her tutor and other senior students helped her whenever she had a question. Her tutor also helped her create a study plan for her final exams. Nivetha achieved an outstanding score of 466 out of 500 in her Grade 10 exam and was one of four girls in the Program who scored above 80%. Nivetha decided to study in the science and maths stream in Grade 11, but her progress was initially hampered while her government school endeavoured to recruit a science teacher. A PEAB science teacher stepped in and provided Nivetha with extra tuition on Saturdays until her school recruited a teacher.
Nivetha wants to complete her secondary school studies and then do an undergraduate degree in Law at a government college. This will depend on support from her parents and brother. Nivetha’s parents have expressed their gratitude to the PEAB team for the support given to both their daughters.
You can read the full article and more about Nivetha’s story in the indigo ink newsletter on pages 6 – 8.
CAMFED
CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education) breaks down barriers for girls in rural communities. NET funding is extending the reach of 50 Learner Guides (young women who have completed school who support the next generation of girls) in rural Zambia.
CAMFED CEO, Angie Murimirwa, made the TIME 100 Most Influential People of 2025 list earlier this year!
She shared: “This recognition honours and celebrates the transformative power of education and the impact of our formidable global movement. For a girl in rural Africa, education changes everything – it unlocks her power to shape her future. Thank you, TIME, for highlighting CAMFED’s work, and to our partners and champions for making it possible.”
The list recognises each individual’s impact, innovation, and achievement. Angie was one of the first students to be supported by CAMFED through school and is now at the helm of CAMFED’s global movement.
About the NET
The Navitas Education Trust funds education projects to help people gain better access to education, creating positive far-reaching impact for many communities around the world. For the last 11 years, we have partnered with forward-thinking and sustainability-oriented organisations bringing education to disadvantaged communities around the world.
In FY25, the Navitas Education Trust (NET) is supporting five incredible NET partners: Classroom of Hope (Indonesia), KOTO (Vietnam), indigo foundation (India), CAMFED (Zambia), and Vietnam Foundation (Vietnam).
Impact at Navitas
At Navitas, we consider our impact through three lenses: as an educator, an employer, and a global citizen. Community contribution and development outcomes, which includes the NET, is one of our twelve priority impact topics, falling under the lens of global citizen.
Learn more