Core Purpose

To achieve long-term improvement in the lives of the poorest families in developing countries through comprehensive primary education.

Core Beliefs

  1. Full and universal primary education is essential to the progress of all developing nations.  A basic level of educational attainment (literacy, numeracy) expands future opportunity and broadens technical horizons, enabling modernization, and thus is a key factor determining the standard of living of impoverished households. 
  2. Where substandard educational standards exist, programmed donations, in collaboration with local educational authorities, will lead to significant and sustainable improvement.
  3. The elimination of unequal standards in primary education contributes to a more stable and harmonious society, regardless of political considerations

Core Values

  1. Equality of opportunity for all children
  2. Transparency in all dealings and reporting
  3. Perseverance

 

 

Why Kang Yun is different

  • Achieving multiplier effects through an exhaustive, long-term approach.  Operating on the premise that change is more likely to be lasting and self-perpetuating where an entire community has shared in the benefits, Kang Yun Foundation seeks to raise educational standards for all the inhabitants of a defined, contiguous area at once, rather than disperse its efforts across a range of unattached projects and project locations.  For the first five years after its inception, Kang Yun focused its work on a single administrative division in Yunnan province, southern China – Pingbian county, home to a population of around 145,000 living on remote, mountainous terrain.  Over the course of a series of site inspections, Kang Yun personnel, accompanied by local officials, identified every primary school in the county that was determined to be unsafe and in need of reconstruction.  Then, developing a close and transparent partnership with the county education authorities and local government, Kang Yun provided funds and oversight to rebuild each of those schools, as well as to operate a teacher award/retention program.  Having completed its rebuilding work in Pingbian, Kang Yun is starting the process anew in Jianhe County, in the neighboring province of Guizhou.
  • Adopting a scalable model of donation and support. As Kang Yun develops its public support, its aim is to match each donation to discrete, appropriately scaled projects, with the result that every donor will be able to measure specific indicators and results. So, for example, a large donation might support the broad-spectrum improvement of primary education within an entire given locality, such as a county, whereas a smaller donation would fund individual, supplementary projects in the same area.
  • Encouraging partners to establish autonomous charitable models.  Kang Yun has recently sponsored a fund-raising program designed to be run by the education department of Pingbian county. The Internet-based model enables donors to select amongst specific requests and educational proposals posted by Pingbian county teachers. 

 

Back