Entrepreneurship education for agency, resilience, and opportunity: Insights from government-nonprofit collaboration in the School Enterprise Challenge national rollout in Honduras

• In Event: Equity, Agency, and Education Policy

Proposal

Entrepreneurship education (EE) is often narrowly framed as a pathway to economic growth, employability, or business creation. However, in contexts marked by inequality, limited opportunities, and persistent social challenges, EE can serve as a deeper emancipatory tool, fostering agency, dignity, and resilience among youth and their communities. This paper presents applied research on the ongoing national implementation of the School Enterprise Challenge (SEC) in Honduras, carried out through the partnership between Teach A Man To Fish (TAMTF), a nonprofit organization, and the Ministry of Education (MoE) under the national school entrepreneurship program, “Aprender para Emprender,” co-designed as part of this partnership. The study examines how a collaborative government-nonprofit initiative provides youth and schools with practical tools and experiences that enable them to address challenges in their own educational and local contexts, cultivate essential skills, and generate ripple effects of change within their communities, based on insights from the first three years of implementation.

The program responds to pressing educational and social needs in Honduras, including limited access to skill development opportunities, high levels of inequality, and ongoing challenges related to irregular migration and local violence. EE, as implemented through SEC, provides a structured framework for students to develop entrepreneurial competencies, engage in real-world problem solving, and undertake projects that are socially meaningful within their school communities. Projects are designed with a community-oriented focus, fostering values of solidarity, responsibility, and dignity. Rather than imposing a one-size-fits-all model, the program emphasizes adaptability to local contexts, enabling students and schools to align initiatives with the specific needs and realities of their communities. In this way, EE acts as a tool for fostering positive engagement, strengthening community ties, and promoting constructive action in environments where resources and opportunities may be limited.

A central feature of the program is its focus on building agency among youth. Students actively plan and manage their own micro-enterprises over several months, making decisions about market research, product or service design, financial management, and teamwork. Teachers guide students through experiential learning, providing mentorship while allowing learners to exercise ownership over their school business projects. This approach reinforces self-efficacy, motivation, and critical thinking, enabling students to envision possibilities beyond the immediate constraints of their environment. Participating schools report that students demonstrate greater initiative, problem-solving capacity, and collaboration, while teachers note enhancements in their pedagogical skills and renewed professional empowerment. The development of entrepreneurial mindsets in this context can be interpreted as an emancipatory act: it equips young people with the confidence, knowledge, and practical experience to take meaningful action in their own lives and communities.

The program also emphasizes the broader social purpose of EE, aligning with aspects of local peacebuilding and conflict prevention. By engaging students in collaborative, constructive projects that address tangible school and community needs, the program nurtures prosocial behaviors, cooperation, and mutual accountability. Student projects often respond to concrete challenges, such as improving nutrition, supporting underprivileged peers, enhancing school infrastructure, or generating didactic materials. These initiatives encourage respectful engagement with peers, teachers, and families, fostering a culture of problem solving and civic responsibility. While not a formal peacebuilding intervention, the program’s focus on agency, cooperation, and community responsiveness contributes to social cohesion and resilience in school communities facing structural vulnerabilities.

Implementation relies on a close partnership between TAMTF and the MoE, demonstrating the importance of government-nonprofit collaboration for scaling EE nationally. The partnership is founded on a shared vision for entrepreneurship education, with clearly delineated roles and responsibilities at national, departmental, and school levels. Nonprofit staff provide technical guidance, teacher training, and a monitoring platform for real-time tracking of student projects and program outcomes. MoE staff support integration within existing curricula, facilitate coordination across administrative tiers, and contribute local knowledge to ensure relevance in diverse school contexts. This collaborative approach has enabled the program to reach over 12,000 teachers and thousands of students across Honduras’ 18 departments while building local capacity and fostering ownership among educators and administrators.

Key insights from the first three years were gathered through mixed methods, including surveys of 429 educators in participating schools. Findings indicate substantial gains in student motivation, skill development, and understanding of basic business concepts, alongside improvements in collaboration, communication, and leadership abilities. Teachers report that students exhibit increased confidence, initiative, and engagement in school life. Moreover, student projects often address practical community needs, such as selling nutritious snacks, reinvesting profits into school resources, or inspiring family-level entrepreneurial initiatives, demonstrating how EE contributes to both individual skill acquisition and localized social change.

The paper reflects on lessons learned from this ongoing applied research, including the critical role of sustained government support, the value of clearly defined collaboration frameworks, and the importance of adaptable program design that respects local realities. While meaningful early outcomes are evident, challenges remain in ensuring long-term sustainability and systematically assessing impact across geographically dispersed, resource-constrained contexts. The findings offer guidance for similar initiatives in other settings, illustrating how government-nonprofit partnerships can leverage EE as a tool for youth empowerment, capacity building, and social development.

Finally, the national rollout of the School Enterprise Challenge in Honduras illustrates that EE can extend beyond conventional economic aims to function as an emancipatory pedagogical strategy. By equipping students and schools with practical tools, fostering agency, reinforcing social values, and promoting adaptive problem solving, EE contributes to resilience, community engagement, and localized positive change. Applied research from the ongoing initiative provides insights into the mechanisms, conditions, and collaborative structures necessary for scaling such programs, offering inspiration for policymakers, educators, and nonprofit organizations seeking to empower youth and strengthen communities in contexts of inequality and social challenges.

Authors

• Nik Kafka

• Alejandra Soleno, Teach A Man To Fish (UK) ltd (HN branch)