Escuela Nueva Foundation in Colombia has been internationally recognized because of its pedagogic model for quality rural education in rural areas (especially in multi-grade and poverty-stricken schools) that has attracted the attention of many countries’ governments. The model’s success in raising schools’ quality relates to its comprehensive focus on academic improvement, equity in education opportunities, and the community's involvement (the model counts, for example, with a Children’s and a Parents’ government that run the school). FEN operates as a social enterprise that generates surpluses to reinvest them in their social objective (to strengthen Escuela Nueva pedagogic model) and enlarge its area of impact.

FEN don’t implement its model, but only provides technical assistance to already existing schools, regardless of their own financial scheme. FEN claims its model is in itself a tool to make schools highly self-sustainable because: a) it is systemic – works with teachers, students, and parents in all educational aspects; b) uses the promotion of social participation as its transversal dimension – all stakeholders participate in educational decisions, which motivates their ownership of the projects; c) it is trans-sectoral – it promotes the formation of skills as the basis of entrepreneurship reducing rural children’s migration to the cities, and emphasis is put on children’s application of their knowledge within their family and community; d) it complements the training of local stakeholders with mechanisms for the discussion and dissemination of innovations; e) it is cost-effective – although initial expenses are heavy not so the future incidental ones; f) it promotes inter-culturality – the national curriculum is reinforced but they place strong emphasis on the relevance of education and the appreciation of rural life and local knowledge, which has immediate effects in the community’s life and, as a result, in the involvement of parents in the learning process.