Voices of the
Community
Periodically, asUgo gives the floor to the
socialprofit organisations we work with,
offering an open exchange about their
reality and their motivating road to
impact Today, an inspiring discussion
with Coline Ponthiere (Communications
Manager) and Yvette Umuhire (Director
Of Development Flanders) from Be
education
What does Be education do?
What’s the mission?
We bring people together who want to
work on education that is more
sustainable, and with a high focus on
quality for all We believe in a collaborative approach between
professionals that helps teachers and children to bloom. We do this by putting
the spotlight on existing solutions from
the sector, carried by people from the field
In our vision, innovation and knowledge are
essential cornerstones
What do you like most in your
organisation?
We are driven by people and a strong
On harassment, for example, we might
organize round table discussions The
audience will be mixed: people from the
administration, political decision takers,
researchers, and teams of teacher,
directors and parents
In our vision, innovation and knowledge
are essential cornerstones in this
dynamic We always try to include a
scientific focus on where we stand on
the matter in Belgium, including the
potential for short and medium term
evolutions
community feeling Putting together a lot
of actors concerned by a same problem
or theme is therefore at the core of what
we do It’s very energizing
We are really proud to complete these
exchanges by highlighting expertise of our members As said, we are really
community people
How did your organisation get where it is now?
Good question One can see it from different angles
We launched in 2019 The trigger came
from a philanthropic foundation that was
supporting different topics. They noticed
that several organisations struggled with
the same challenges Already back then,
there was a strong belief that sharing
means and creating exchanges could make a difference. That spark has
remained vividly present
Similarly, it is an adventure of kindred spirits We build further on the solid foundations put in place by the amazing
team that was there at the start Just like them, we share the conviction of including fundamental research and feedback from the field in the core of our activities.
Moreover, everyone is very driven by working on qualitative education for all
It is a (very) solid driver Currently, we focus on four themes: 1 School dropout and inequality, 2 Skills for the 21st century (STEM and related), 3 Bullying and happiness at school, 4 Helping youngsters to become responsible citizens
Thank you We are indeed increasing
our efforts in Flanders This said, as a
truly Belgian organisation we have
always had a mix of members of
Wallonia, Brussels and Flanders
Strategically, that diversity has always
been important for us We really do our
best to walk the talk ourselves too
Recently, we did want to take extra
steps in Flanders indeed Before doing
so, we did a market analysis to
understand if giving now an extra boost
would be worth it It had to make sense
We wanted to bring added value to
potential new members, and vice versa
We are starting where it matters most:
listening Our first step is to understand local needs, so that the action we take
truly serves the ecosystem
Exchanging all together about shared
problems and/or solutions that work helps people, and reinforces the overall dynamic
With the recent arrival of Yvette, Be education is giving a solid boost to the development of Flanders.
Congratulations. Do you want to tell us more about it?
Your organisation leaves a lot of space for younger generations to contribute to impact.
That’s true But to be honest, it is actually a coincidence (smiles) This said, I do see it as a positive point indeed I feel that it helps in our day-to-
day We are somehow a bit more
sensitive to listening to the different audiences
What (small or large) achievement
have you been most proud about?
What gives most satisfaction?
Regarding our expansion to Flanders, I
don't know if in my career as a
Communications Manager I would have
twice the opportunity to think about or
work on how to properly and smoothly
operate the linguistic transition of our
contents, so that they're 100% bilingual.
It's thrilling to be able to professionally
experience that
Partnerships are therefore essential to
finance our mission and support our
direct and indirect work benefiting
553,671 students, 29,083 teachers and
3,581 schools in 2025
It is by reinforcing ties, increasing the
access to tools and creating visibility
that we want to further grow our impact
Exploring what members do and how
they do it, offers extra drive They invest
What are your concerns, and your hope?
Without surprise, the budgetary reality
remains the biggest challenge. As for
our hopes, we would like to foster even
greater collaboration, as working
together allows our members to amplify
their individual impact
a lot of time and energy in solutions for
education That creates a lot of hope
What would be the ultimate dream?
We would love to be recognized as the
main reference, as entry point for
teachers, researchers and parents alike
We want to be the connection point between all players of the education
ecosystem We want to be a catalyst of catalysts
Coline Ponthiere
Communications
Manager
Yvette Umuhire
Director Of
Development Flanders
For more information on Be education: https://beeducation be/
