Yomira when still at high school

After FairMail’s first social impact measurement last year we are happy to present the new figures of FairMail’s social impact over 2014.

When FairMail was set up in 2006, besides bringing photos with an original perspective into the market, our – more important – goal was to accomplish our social mission:

“to give at-risk teenagers the opportunity to create a better future for themselves.” 

But how much impact did we create in our eight years of operation and in 2014 specifically? And what did the teenagers accomplish with their earnings?

“Earning while learning”

In 2014 the 52 teenage photographers earned 32.080 euro (20.530 euro in 2013) to invest in their own education, their families’ housing and medical care.

This way, for the first time in FairMail’s 8 year history passing the 150.000 euro mark in total direct earnings by the 52 FairMail teenagers.

The top earners in Peru and India were Elmer and Sandhya with 2.025 and 3.564 euro respectively. In second place came Yomira and Dhiraj with 1.349 and 2.132 euro each.

FairMail dropout rate is much lower than national average

These earnings are crucial for the teenagers to be able to fulfill their dreamed future plans. But money alone is no guarantee as success also depends on their perseverance, family situation and motivation for FairMail.

Due to a mix of these reasons, 21% (20% in 2013) of the teenagers who started FairMail did not make it to the retirement age of 19 years old. These 11 teenagers either lost motivation along the way, were drawn back into problems by “old friends” or faced such big personal problems that they could not continue with FairMail.

85% (86% in 2013) of all the kids that started FairMail either finished or are still in secondary school. Not bad considering the background of the teenagers FairMail works with. Also if you compare the percentage to the national average of 52% of all Indian teenagers that makes it to tenth grade (or 65% of all children in Peru finishing high school).

95% of FairMail teenagers continue learning after finishing high school

Of those FairMail teenagers who finished high school during their time with FairMail 52% (40% in 2013) has continued on to (pre-) university. 43% (47% in 2013) of them have continued with some sort of vocational training. Only 5% (13% in 2013) decided not to continue studying at all after finishing high school, because they could get a job which didn’t require vocational training.

83% of “retired” FairMail teenagers have broken the chain of poverty

At this moment 65% (68% in 2013) of the FairMail teenagers are still studying something. Of those not studying anymore 77% (55% in 2013) has a decent job (varying from administration to construction to sales). 29% (23% in 2013) has his or her own business or is self-employed (varying from a bakery to producing soccer balls and from photography to mechanic). This way they have broken the chain of poverty and can start building a family that will provide much better opportunities for their children than the families where they grew up in. (8% of the ex-FairMail teenagers already have kids of their own!)

Not all is success though. Still 17% (22% in 2013) of the retired teenagers are either unemployed or have a marginalized or an unstable job (varying from doing household chores to being in jail). 2 out of 3 teenagers who are in this situation happen to be teenagers that didn’t finish the FairMail program until the age of 19. This only shows the importance of FairMail’s long term approach and guidance.