Goldman Sachs Foundation Grant Will Support Girls' Education in India

ATLANTA (June 21, 2007) - CARE announced today a grant from the Goldman Sachs Foundation to strengthen education programs for adolescent girls in India.

The grant will support CARE's work in residential schools in India's largest state, Uttar Pradesh, where only 43 percent of girls and women are literate. The initial phase of the project will improve quality of and access to education in 27 government-operated schools serving at least 2,000 disadvantaged girls. CARE then expects to see the model replicated throughout India's network of 92 such schools, in cooperation with government officials.

"When girls go to school, entire communities benefit, through reduced birth rates, healthier children and improved family incomes," said Sarah Bouchie, CARE's director of Basic and Girls' Education. "We're grateful to the Goldman Sachs Foundation for sharing our vision of education as a key to a better future."

Stephanie Bell-Rose, president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, said: "Our support of CARE's program empowering women and girls is an important addition to our efforts to improve the academic performance and lifelong productivity of young people worldwide. This endeavor is one that we believe has important implications - not just for the individual students, but for their communities and the Indian nation as a whole. For any country to reach security and prosperity, it must develop the talents and skills of young people, both boys and girls, from all walks of life."

The project seeks to ensure access to improved math, language and science learning in government schools known as Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya (KGBV), which target girls between ages 10 and 16 from marginalized communities. CARE will provide training to 108 teachers, introduce improved teaching materials and methodologies and monitor the progress of students.

CARE's work in KGBV schools is also supported by Oracle Corporation.

In combination with programming funded by other donors, CARE's education interventions in Uttar Pradesh, India, will reach about 40,000 students, primarily girls, between ages 6 and 16.

This is the Goldman Sachs Foundation's first grant to CARE.

About the Goldman Sachs Foundation
The Goldman Sachs Foundation is a global philanthropic organization funded by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. The Foundation's mission is to promote excellence and innovation in education and to improve the academic performance and lifelong productivity of young people worldwide. It achieves this mission through a combination of strategic partnerships, grants, loans, private sector investments, and the deployment of professional talent from Goldman Sachs. Funded in 1999, the Foundation has awarded grants of $94 million since its inception, providing opportunities for young people in more than 20 countries.