LEAD Impact refers to a vision of communities achieving their education and development goals while celebrating their unique languages and cultures.

It's an injustice that ethnolinguistic minorities cannot yet access the same opportunities to realize their educational, economic and social goals that speakers of national and international languages take for granted.

Despite 2300 languages being spoken in Asia, few are represented in formal education systems. This means that minority children are left to sink or swim while trying to learn in a foreign language. As a result, they are more likely to do poorly and drop out, perpetuating a generational cycle of poverty and exclusion. Exacerbating their vulnerability, many ethnolinguistic minorities are subsistence farmers living on lands at high risk for environmental degradation or exploitation.

Even well intentioned development projects can inadvertently or explicitly convey the message, 'you'll never succeed without leaving behind your language and culture.' Such ethnocentrism robs minority communities of their inherent human dignity and inevitably leads to conflict.

There is an alternative. Communities can use their languages and cultures as an asset in achieving the future they desire for their children. As ethnolinguistic minorities gain confidence in multiple languages, they will be better able to engage in healthy relations with others, contribute productively within broader society as national and global citizens, and improve their quality of life.