At the Fadjiguila Community School in Bamako, 128 second-graders are packed into a single classroom. Despite the classroom’s cramped confines, the children are doing something unusual for their age in Mali. They are reading and writing.

For nearly a decade, EDC’s Akazi Kanoze projects have been helping the Government of Rwanda improve opportunities for hundreds of thousands of young people who are coming of age during the country’s economic transition. Akazi Kanoze originally delivered livelihood and work-readiness trainings for out-of-school youth, but it was so successful that the program’s core approach — which included Work Ready Now! and partnerships with local employers — has been scaled up nationally, reaching over 92,000 high school and TVET students each year.