Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province is the poorest province in the country. The rugged terrain coupled with poverty make accessing education a challenge for the families there. Literacy rates are as low as 15% for girls, have of the national average.

In places like the Kohat district, nearly four out of every five children are not enrolled in school. The government schools are too far away — often more than a two hour's walk. And, in many cases, the available education is of such low quality that it would hardly benefit the children.

Association for the Creation of Employment (ACE), a local NGO based in the Northwest Frontier Province, is committed to improving educational opportunities in their area. ACE is working towards the goal of enrolling every child in the Kohat district in school. They work with local schools to encourage children to enroll and stay in school. Confronting the problems of the distance to school and poor-quality education, ACE is establishing community-based schools and conducting teacher training. ACE is also training their parents in income generation to ensure that the communities themselves help realize the goals of this project, as well.

Through the NetAid World Schoolhouse, ACE has been able to make a significant difference in the lives of many families. Their work supported by World Schoolhouse has been in two phase and achievements including:

Phase I: In 2003 during the project's first phase, ACE enrolled over 14,000 children into school—far more than the original goal of 7,400. Working through local religious leaders and organizing public discussions and events, ACE built broad support for education in communities that had previously not sent their children to school.

To sustain its success, ACE worked closely with community members to create village education committees to promote and sustain educational development. In addition, teachers were given extra training. Parents were offered training in income generating activities such as driving, tailoring and detergent making.

Phase II: Building on experiences from the first phase, activities focused on increased enrollment into both existing government schools and new 20 community schools. Students were also assisted with school supplies and teachers received training in order to help improve the quality of education. The communities were actively engaged as well through community based meetings organized by ACE to discuss support to the community based schools and the education of village children.