Scholarships and grants

Paying back student loans can be a stressful process, but the founders of Lumni have devised a plan that makes perfect sense for both your wallet and your peace of mind:

Here's a brilliant notion: let college students pay back their college loans based on a percentage of their actual income. Lumni has figured out how to do this -- while earning a profit for investors who make the loans -- relieving students of the stress of making exorbitant loan payments after graduation and giving them some flexibility in how much they must earn.

Read more about this solution, or discuss this topic below.

Winners Collaborate on New Education Venture

Created: 09/15/09 by andrea boston

Eric Glustrom and Ashley Shuyler are firm believers in the liberating powers of education.

Generational Thinkers

Created on 09/1/2009 by Makoko

Location

main

The world needs individuals who are very much concerned about making life comfortable for the next generation. Helping to alleviate extreme global poverty is something that should be a matter of great concern for this current generation.

Master’s in Counseling Psychology in Community Mental Health

Created on 08/26/2009 by Rosanne Johnson

Normal
0

false
false

About You

Organization: California Institute of Integral Studies, Community Mental Health Program Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

Section 1: About You

First Name

Rosanne

Last Name

Johnson

Website URL

Country

United States

Section 2: About Your Organization

Organization Name

California Institute of Integral Studies, Community Mental Health Program

Organization Website

Organization Phone

415-575-6208

Organization Address

1453 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103

Organization Country

United States

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Name Your Project

Master’s in Counseling Psychology in Community Mental Health

Country your work focuses on

United States

Describe Your Idea

Normal
0

false
false
false

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}

Community Mental Health (CMH) is a radical departure from most counseling psychology education programs. Built from the bottom up in partnership with community mental health agencies, CMH is training a diverse mental healthcare workforce to meet the needs of vulnerable communities through culturally competent recovery and wellness-based therapy models.

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What makes your idea unique?

Partnerships with public and community agencies have set the stage for CMH to produce highly qualified and socially-engaged therapists and also to bring together the academic and provider communities in new, mutually beneficial ways. CMH works with the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) and a wide variety of local public and community agencies to identify and recruit potential students with personal and professional experience in the public mental health care system from amongst their staff and clientele. Approximately 50% of the program’s students identify as students of color. Courses take place nights and weekends to accommodate these working students’ schedules.

The innovative CMH curriculum has been designed to emphasize critical elements of community mental health services provision such as case management and treatment planning, dual diagnosis, recovery and resiliency theories, treatment of severe and chronic mental illness, and therapy across difference. CMH promotes a holistic view of the individual in the context of their family, community, and culture and incorporates concepts of “family” that reflect the experiences and perspectives of African American, Asian, and Latino clients.

CMH is committed breaking down barriers to mental health care in impoverished communities. Through its “Clinics Without Walls,” CMH students will provide free counseling and workshops on-site at facilities that have never before offered such services to their clients, such as the Valencia Gardens housing project. All CMH students are placed in public or community agencies for their required three-semester internships.

Do you have a patent for this idea?

No

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

This Entry is about (Issues)

What impact have you had?

The program is in its second year of operation with a total of 41 students, half of whom are students of color. Students represent an astoundingly broad range of diversities in race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, career background, family composition, and professional interests. This fall, the first cohort of 16 students is beginning their three-semester supervised internships in community mental health agencies.

CMH Program Chair Steven Tierney, Ed.D. was recently elected co-chair of the Northern California MFT Educators Collaborative, where he coaches colleagues throughout the region to integrate community mental health into their programs. He is often engaged by this and other MFT professional organizations to conduct training for other graduate institutions in community mental health education. CIIS has received a three-year Workforce Education and Training grant from the County of San Francisco to implement the CMH program’s curriculum, outreach, and community partnership strategies into its five other counseling psychology programs which educate upwards of 500 students each year.

Problem

CMH is addressing the crisis in providing culturally competent mental health care to a diverse and complex population. Fifty-five percent of Californians are from racial and ethnic minorities, but less than 30% of California’s licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) identify as a person of color.

People of color, the poor, immigrants, and children and youth suffer disproportionately from treatable mental health issues related to trauma, refugee and immigrant experiences, substance abuse, and unaddressed physical health issues. Social factors such as poverty, language and cultural barriers, and mistrust of counselors and the mental health care system present obstacles to accessing needed mental health care. Poor children and youth in particular suffer from mental illness stemming from the effects of domestic and community violence, sexual abuse and assault, and post-traumatic stress disorder. These youth are at risk of poor life outcomes without the skillful intervention of multilingual, multicultural therapists.

Actions

• Numerous partnerships with public and community agencies

• Raising scholarship funds from foundation, corporate, and government sources. CIIS has to date raised more than $325,000 for CMH student scholarships to be distributed over the next several years. These funds will help students complete the program within 2 ½ years – without being saddled with crippling student loan debt.

• The incoming three-year grant from the County of San Francisco will expand critical student support services such as peer counseling, professional mentoring, and career advising.

• In addition to the feedback provided by our agency partners, the program also regularly incorporates input from students. For example, last May, the program conducted a community meeting in which students and faculty discussed the first year’s experience in depth.

Results

The Community Mental Health program is training up to twenty students per year – half or more of whom will be students of color – for careers as therapists and administrators in the public and community mental health sector. As licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) working full-time in community settings, each program graduate will treat 20-25 new and returning clients per week. Each Community Mental Health 20-student cohort eventually increases the available mental health workforce by more than 25,000 hours per year of treatment for disadvantaged and minority clients. In addition to seeing clients, over the course of their careers, these graduates will write, mentor, teach in universities and in mental health agencies, help shape public policy, and administer and manage government and nonprofit mental health agencies.

CIIS will broadly disseminate the innovative CMH curriculum and service models broadly throughout the education and public mental health services fields so that other schools and programs can diversify and modernize their recruitment and training.

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.

Over the next three years, CIIS and CMH will continue its strategies of keeping program costs low for students and building and strengthening valuable community partnerships.

As mentioned above, scholarship funds raised from a wide variety of public and private sources are making the program affordable to its target demographic of returning, working students from modest- and low-income backgrounds. CIIS will continue to seek funding from new and current sources to keep tuition within students’ reach.

CIIS and CMH will also continue its successful strategy of identifying and building meaningful partnerships with public and community agencies throughout the Bay Area.

What would prevent your project from being a success?

A significant drop in the amount of scholarship funds donated to CIIS would likely negatively impact students’ ability to pay tuition and to graduate with their master’s degrees in a timely manner.

How many people will your project serve annually?

101‐1000

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

$1000 - 4000

Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?

Yes

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What stage is your project in?

Operating for 1‐5 years

In what country?

United States

Is your initiative connected to an established organization?

Yes

If yes, provide organization name.

California Institute of Integral Studies

How long has this organization been operating?

More than 5 years

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

Yes

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?

Yes

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?

No

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?

Yes

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

Community Mental Health has been designed from the bottom up with the input of therapists and administrators of dozens of Bay Area public and community agencies. The program’s Community Advisory Board provides guidance and feedback to CIIS faculty and staff on the program’s clinical training, research, and community service. Current members represent the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Alameda County Behavioral Health Care System, Larkin Street Youth Services, Central City Hospitality House, Episcopal Community Services, Harm Reduction Training Center, Instituto Familiar de la Raza, Mission Mental Health, San Francisco Community Clinics Consortium, San Mateo County Mental Health, and Westside Community Services. These partnerships are at the heart of the program, ensuring that diversity, inclusivity, and social engagement characterize every aspect of the Community Mental Health program.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?

Over the next three years, CIIS and CMH will continue its strategies of keeping program costs low for students and building and strengthening valuable community partnerships.

As mentioned above, scholarship funds raised from a wide variety of public and private sources are making the program affordable to its target demographic of returning, working students from modest- and low-income backgrounds. CIIS will continue to seek funding from new and current sources to keep tuition within students’ reach.

CIIS and CMH will also continue its successful strategy of identifying and building meaningful partnerships with public and community agencies throughout the Bay Area.

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

CIIS’ longstanding relationships with the SFDPH and over 120 public and community mental health agencies have inspired CIIS to create a counseling psychology curriculum that reflects contemporary evidence-based practices, the needs of local community agencies, and the mandates of the California Mental Health Services Act (Prop 63). Prop 63 was passed in 2004 in order to expand and improve public mental health care services by promoting recovery and resilience-based models of care; training therapists to be culturally- and community-competent; empowering mental health care consumers and their family members to participate in the profession; and destigmatizing mental health care, especially among the state’s most vulnerable populations.

CMH is designed to address the frustration of therapists and administrators in the public sector in finding and training new mental health care providers to provide effective services to disenfranchised populations. For example, an SFDPH director of clinical training told CIIS that “What I see here everyday are dual and triple diagnosis clients, living on the streets, with major substance abuse issues, who are resistant to both therapy and medication. Many of the interns and staff that come in here have no idea what it’s like to work with this sort of client population, and frankly many do not do a very good job. If you can train people to know what to expect and you can give them the tools to do the proper job with these clients, you will be doing a great service for the community.” CIIS has worked closely with SFDPH Deputy Director of Health Barbara Garcia, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Fellow, in engaging these organizations.

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

Founded in 1968, The California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) is an accredited institution of higher education with a current enrollment of 1,300 students in masters-level, doctoral, and bachelor’s degree programs in psychology, philosophy, religion, anthropology, health studies, and the humanities.

CIIS is a critical source of the next generation of mental health service providers in the Bay Area and beyond. CIIS’ School of Professional Psychology is one of the largest schools of graduate psychology in the Bay Area, educating 445 Masters in Counseling Psychology (MCP) students and more than 175 Clinical Psychology students each year. In 2008, CIIS’ master’s program graduates passed the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) MFT clinical licensing examination at a rate of 86% -- the highest in the state among schools of psychology of its size.

CIIS students provide critical mental health care services at approximately 120 community agencies throughout the Bay Area, where they are in high demand due to their reputation for knowledge, sensitivity, and professionalism. CIIS’ five Counseling Centers were recognized in 2008 as the “Best of the Bay” for affordable psychotherapy services by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Thousands of individuals, couples, and families of diverse languages and cultural backgrounds are seen by CIIS psychology graduate students and post-graduate interns at the Counseling Centers each year on a modest sliding scale (average payment $30/session). Collectively, over the course of this year alone, CIIS students will contribute nearly 100,000 hours of free and low-cost, high-quality therapy to those who otherwise might not be able to afford mental health care services. Many of these students will go on to professional positions in California hospitals, clinics, schools, and community-based organizations.

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

Through another organization or company

If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Changemakers Impact Stories I

Created: 08/26/09 by Alison Hockenberry

Being involved with Changemakers can mean a big boost to your goals. Participation often leads to further connections and opportunities that have a significant impact on the growth and reach of organizations working toward change. We keep you updated here, and congratulate the whole Changemakers community for supporting these projects.

Funding for a Finalist

FACTORfiction vs. FRIEND²O²Rfoe

Created on 08/14/2009 by leo_hphp@yahoo.ca

Location

main

What is identity and do you have a right to one; were you born with it or was it loaned to you to return upon death? What is Copyright and have you copied right or wrong? If LIFE was not OPEN SOURCE what would we breathe...am i an example of life or death These questions, along with many more about "Public Domain" have interested the members of teamLEOnardo [since Leonardo da Vinci left his work to our hands, understanding, and/or overstanding?].

Tool Kit for Social Change

Created: 08/11/09 by Alison Hockenberry

We’re building a tool kit together – find and share tips for launching your idea, growing your organization, finding funding, and using social media.


Your first stop should be the Changemakers Support and Resources Group where anyone can post tips, ask questions, and find answers.


Check out these online fundraising tips from  Echoditto, a leading communications firm serving non-profits (including Ashoka!).

H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths Workshops and Field Trip Project

Created on 08/10/2009 by hbutts

Normal
0

false
false

About You

Organization: H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

Section 1: About You

First Name

Heather

Last Name

Butts

Website URL

Country

United States

Section 2: About Your Organization

Organization Name

H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths

Organization Website

Organization Phone

800-284-3055

Organization Address

3260 Netherland Avenue, Bronx, NY 10463

Organization Country

United States

Is your organization a

Non‐profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Name Your Project

H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths Workshops and Field Trip Project

Country your work focuses on

United States

Describe Your Idea

Normal
0

false
false
false

MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths will collaborate with non-profit organizations which have after-school and weekend programs to provide workshops in the areas of physical health, mental health and life-skills.  The activities will be carried out by H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths’ workshop leaders, directors, officers, staff, advisory board and volunteers.   

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What makes your idea unique?

Youth Statistics - Why H.E.A.L.TH for Youths is so necessary
H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths will focus in and around the New York metropolitan area, with the hope to eventually branch out regionally, nationally and internationally. According to the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development's 2008 Annual Report http://www.nyc.gov/html/dycd/downloads/pdf/2008_annual_report.pdf, while 33% of the city's overall youth budget is earmarked for after school and extra-curricular activities, and great strides have been made to assist families in these areas, there is still a great deal of work left to do - and this work can be done by non-profits such as H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths. Additionally, while rates for certain health care issues are on the decline among youths, for teens 15-19, rates of pregnancy remain at 93.2 per 1,000 in New York City, as opposed to 72.2 Nationally(http://www.getthefactsny.org/policymakers/documents/NYC-NEWYORK.pdf).Rates of smoking remain high (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/csi/noid-youth.pdf). In 2005, an estimated 93,000 of the 280,000 public high school students in New York City used alcohol (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/survey/survey-2007subsAbuse.pdf).

Do you have a patent for this idea?

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

This Entry is about (Issues)

What impact have you had?

We are a new organization, but we know that we will have a great impact. We will also be able to demonstrate our impact through an evaluation/survey process, as well as interviews and other evaluation metrics.

Problem

H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths will focus in and around the New York metropolitan area, with the hope to eventually branch out regionally, nationally and internationally. According to the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development's 2008 Annual Report http://www.nyc.gov/html/dycd/downloads/pdf/2008_annual_report.pdf, while 33% of the city's overall youth budget is earmarked for after school and extra-curricular activities, and great strides have been made to assist families in these areas, there is still a great deal of work left to do - and this work can be done by non-profits such as H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths. Additionally, while rates for certain health care issues are on the decline among youths, for teens 15-19, rates of pregnancy remain at 93.2 per 1,000 in New York City, as opposed to 72.2 Nationally(http://www.getthefactsny.org/policymakers/documents/NYC-NEWYORK.pdf).Rates of smoking remain high (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/csi/noid-youth.pdf). In 2005, an estimated 93,000 of the 280,000 public high school students in New York City used alcohol (http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/survey/survey-2007subsAbuse.pdf).

Actions

The workshops will be provided to underserved ages late teens-early 20s in low-income areas of New York and New Jersey. The students will participate in at least one workshop each week. There will be 10-15 students in each workshop. The program will have around 45 students the first year and over 100 students in the years after.
H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths programs benefit poor, distressed and underprivileged youth because the programs encourage the overall growth of the participants by focusing on the areas of health and life-skills. H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths programs benefit collaborating non-profits because H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths will provide health and life-skills workshops currently lacking form many after-school programs, which will in turn improve the quality of the after-school programs and enhance the appeal and reputation of these programs.

Results

Through intensive workshops using innovative educational tool such as multimedia, computer gaming film, interactive discussion and field trips, students will be able to discuss healthcare and educational issues of concern and work with experienced professionals to lessen risk factors for unsafe behavior that could lead to detrimental consequences.

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Please address each year separately, if possible.

H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths will have its first annual meeting in June 2009. We will continue to work with the Columbia University Law School and hope to secure additional funding in the coming months. We have approved by-laws and various policies for the organization and have secured our 501(c)(3) status (attached).
We will need an infusion of funding, as well as support from the community, our Board (of directors and advisory) and the students themselves.

What would prevent your project from being a success?

- Lack of Funding.
- Lack of general support.

How many people will your project serve annually?

101‐1000

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

$100 ‐ 1000

Does your project seek to have an impact on public policy?

Yes

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What stage is your project in?

Operating for less than a year

In what country?

United States

Is your initiative connected to an established organization?

Yes

If yes, provide organization name.

H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths

How long has this organization been operating?

Less than a year

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

Yes

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs?

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses?

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government?

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

We have already secured partnerships with several universities, non-profit organizations, individuals, and partners. These will be the backbone of our workshops and field trips. We will take the students on trips to various museums, restaurants, animal welfare centers, colleges, all to expose them to programs, environments and experiences that they would not otherwise be exposed to. There will also be an academic component through SAT/LSAT/MCAT preparation that will prepare students for life after high school and college.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization?

-Funding
-Support from other organizations
-Support from our users (students) and our organization (Board of Directors, Advisory Board).

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

Working with other non-profits that were lacking in these type of workshops, services and trips for young people. We realized that we could create an organization to provide these services to other non-profits as well as young people in the community.

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

Our current board:

Anthony Antonucci - Former Police Officer - Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Expertise in dealing with at-risk youths, post-traumatic stress disorder and juvenile delinquency issues. Training specifically in dealing with at-risk youth, emergency management and violence prevention.

Heather Butts, JD, MPH, MA - Regulatory Specialist at Columbia University Medical Center; adjunct teacher at Columbia University School of Public Health and Board member of several non-profits the focus on young people and underserved populations. Background in psychology in education, as well as teaching and counseling young people.

Hugh F. Butts, MD - Psychoanalyst in private practice in New York with decades of experience working with trouble youths and underserved populations. Expertise in post-traumatic stress disorder, forensic psychiatry and juvenile delinquency.

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

Through another organization or company

If through another, please provide the name of the organization or company

CHHCS

RW - WE, RECYCLED WORTH - WECYCLED EARTH

Created on 07/11/2009 by leo_hphp@yahoo.ca

Bicyclists all over the world deserve to "share their wealth of health" with anyone. Offsets of every kind (to pay fines, bills, traveling expenses on other vehicles (-cycles in tow) worldwide, etc., imagine it…!) will be given, for using a bicycle (or electric motorized cycle) as your primary transportation.

About You

Organization: RW WE, RECYCLED WORTH - WECYCLED EARTH Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

Section 1: About You

First Name

adas

Last Name

brehann

Website

Organization

RW WE, RECYCLED WORTH - WECYCLED EARTH

Country

Canada

Section 2: About Your Organization

Organization Name

RW WE, RECYCLED WORTH - WECYCLED EARTH

Organization Website

Organization Phone

5148452654

Organization Address

Montreal Quebec

Organization Country

Canada

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Are you a traveler or travel company?

Yes

Name Your Project

RW - WE, RECYCLED WORTH - WECYCLED EARTH

Country your work focuses on

n/a

What is the likely impact of your idea? (150 words max)

RW WE (Are double-you we? It takes two to tango & sometimes more - your old self & the new ‘recycled/re-educated/re-inspired’ ones) will impact Earthlings, of Earth, through reversing every kind of 'IF' (Individual Footprint(s)), by ramping up the transition away from carbon related travel, by replacing it with ZERO EMISSIONS vehicles, travel & other rewards. ***IMPACT-RESULT: ‘Team RW WE’ kicks off on an ongoing global journey. One which will always being imbued with new volunteers, to promote our innovative initiative of providing support to tour little known places & unknown cultures. ‘WE’ will bring each tribe to the world stage [with education & videos about those cultures (as if curious & cautious children & vice versa) without ruining the indigenous nature of…& unique reason for traveling to & sharing of…time honored understanding] & the WISDOM which ALLOWS each of our tribes, to sustain ONENESS, with & within our environment(s).

Why is promoting global travel and engagement important? What makes your idea innovative? (200 words max)

From antiquity, the importance of uniquely knowing other tribes, sharing & communicating with each about the environment which supports its longevity has always helped to balance consumption to prevent the overuse of resources. Those tribes have now become our 'global village', in a domino effect of action & a house of cards, waiting to be toppled by increasing climate changes. Our idea is as innovative as smoke signals in the sky…or is that a hurricane…and earth will continue to innovate. Every tribe from every arc of the Earth, MUST read into the 'world wide smoke web' to contribute accordingly, by asking your self, “Are you, you (RW) from your future, or the Recycled noW” & “Can WE ‘travel’ back in time to discover/understand our ignorance, to re-ignite our journey with earth-lingering love for all life, in the present/gift, the world over, the planet around Recycled Wisdom”? Yes WE Can!

Describe Your Idea

Bicyclists all over the world deserve to "share their wealth of health" with anyone. Offsets of every kind (to pay fines, bills, traveling expenses on other vehicles (-cycles in tow) worldwide, etc., imagine it…!) will be given, for using a bicycle (or electric motorized cycle) as your primary transportation.

What would it take to launch or spread your idea? How much would it cost to make your idea a reality? (150 words max)

To ‘launch’ RW ‘WE’ need everyone to earnestly NEED to pitch in, & a unique website to ‘spread’ the love & care for earth will allow for this 'reality' to happen. RW ‘WE' need sponsorship-teams composed of small businesses & individuals matching one another's donations. ‘WE’ need GOV’s & NGO's contributing to a partnership-fund to level the playing field but not remove the advantages of any company's longevity as a leader in their respected field(s). Join RW ‘WE’ transitioning from FEAR OF POLLUTION to ZERO POLLUTION. Make your life healthier & simpler with RW ‘WE' -cycling for life. ‘IF’ YOU ARE alive…YOU ARE a leader…& RW ‘WE' will follow your lead in re-cycling YOUR earth. Condé Nast Traveler, IS our ‘lead’ launch pad for making RW ‘WE' your ‘reality’. Humanity is ready. Are you…ready to join the global-cycle tribe? [RW WE, estimates 70,000USD startup; 1 yr tour & website]

Describe your work as a social innovator (150 words max)

My work, in (n=social) ovation: to understand/innovate where humanity went off course, to grasp/innovate the significance of collective observation, to be an example of communicating/innovating ‘with’ others by being a better listener, to focus-on/innovate others’ gifts, so those gifts can transform the lives of any listener, to change/innovate my habits (even when they do not suit my wants) in order to better understand humanities needs. Last yet not least, to better the way for others to live off the grid [of control] & onto the earth grid freeing humanity from the ten-thousand-fear old trick of giving slaves more income, & rising prices, to “make” us all “believe” we’re free while oppressing us mentally with unnecessary propagandist media. ‘WE’ don't push the envelope; ‘WE’ mail it back to slave masters with messages of love in the face of persecution. Sow, if I am you. Are you me, reaping RW WE?

Please send me more information about Conde Nast Traveler and special offers

Yes, I would like more information about Conde Nast Traveler and special offers.

LEO - Low Earth Orbit - HPHP - Human Powered Helicopter Project

Created on 07/6/2009 by leo_hphp@yahoo.ca

LEO: an airborne cycle for personal, sport & public transportation. As bicyclings Wright Brothers are Changemakers of a generation, LEO is a record-setting, environmental, hovering inspiration born of da Vinci's sketches/memory & handed to us to enter Igor I. Sikorsky's competition: http://vtol.org/awards/hph.html

About You

Organization: LEO - Low Earth Orbit - An End to Poverty Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

Section 1: About You

First Name

a

Last Name

b

Website

Organization

LEO - Low Earth Orbit - An End to Poverty

Country

Canada

Section 2: About Your Organization

Organization Name

LEO - Low Earth Orbit - An End to Poverty

Organization Website

Organization Phone

5148452654

Organization Address

Montreal, Quebec

Organization Country

Canada

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Are you a traveler or travel company?

Yes

Name Your Project

LEO - Low Earth Orbit - HPHP - Human Powered Helicopter Project

Country your work focuses on

n/a

What is the likely impact of your idea? (150 words max)

Earth impact: from bicycle enthusiasts to an airplane industry, from E=mc² to breakthroughs in science & technology in far less time & even less time from Burt Rutan, Richard Branson & Dr. Peter H. Diamandis to a thriving 'public' space industry & FROM ACROSS TIME, Leonardo's drawings flew into teamLEOnardo's hands, to inspire travel starved minds & bodies exhausted by imposing immigration rules, to ignite human awareness of our ability to reverse climate change. With help from our hp-friends, Greg @ http://www.pedaltheocean.com/ & Marcelo @ http://xof1.com/ LEO educates through imagination by turning history's wrongs into rights, by saying 'YES WE CAN' to a human-solar powered future. As “Earthlings”, we need to take transportation into our hands; as adults, we need to leave a legacy of following through with childhood inspirations/innovations &/or life-dreams! LEO, impacting HEARTS, MINDS & BODIES beyond age, gender &/or past failures in another’s hand is our…DREAM IMPACT!

Why is promoting global travel and engagement important? What makes your idea innovative? (200 words max)

Global (or further than yesterday) travel is the cornerstone upon which all nations (dreams) were built. Through thick & thin, engagement was the tool through which Intellectual Property could be shared, benefiting everyone involved. Centuries of innovation with Chinese hovering toys have circumnavigated Earth, inspiring American dreamers (Canadian, USian, Mexican), giving flight to countless conversations & innovations in aeronautical design. Naturally, our mission/our flight plan, is… the freedom to hover & roam… LEO is our seed of innovation on the wing! Next, we plant/partner LEO with eco- & geo-tourism & development projects to encourage global tourism; to offer a new & very important perspective of the land where “the people live” & to personally engage humanity with the most natural & pleasing resource available, to flying creatures; the beauty & fragility of our planet, from above! It’s teamLEOnardo’s dream that it’s important to you, that LEO’s… DREAM AWAKENS!

Describe Your Idea

LEO: an airborne cycle for personal, sport & public transportation. As bicyclings Wright Brothers are Changemakers of a generation, LEO is a record-setting, environmental, hovering inspiration born of da Vinci's sketches/memory & handed to us to enter Igor I. Sikorsky's competition: http://vtol.org/awards/hph.htmlLearning from all who have tried/died trying: http://www.humanpoweredhelicopters.org/sikorskyprize/index.htm pledge to innovation. Wonderful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=caHCbuh_Yyc Thanks Prof Naito!

What would it take to launch or spread your idea? How much would it cost to make your idea a reality? (150 words max)

Reality? HISTORIC EVENT! LEO prepares to win Sikorsky's Competition. The human & solar powered (public) transportation dream is realized as the healthy choice for billions. A change in human being/mobility requires new immigration laws. Earth from above, in Condé Nast Traveler’s 2nd article, PedalLEOtour2010: raising the ‘travel bar’ to hovering above GREEN, helps to sustain a human powered (helicopter) industry. Global relations change. After dreaming up a ‘far-fetched-flying idea’ my Wright Brothers must have wondered if bicycles would be ‘sustained’ by 'twittering, innovating or recycling' their inventions. SO, sustaining LEO is in the hands of the hungry! The REALITY is the cost of life! With an ability to willingly cross borders, LEO announces the beginning of the END of POVERTY. Later, we upgrade LEO with a solar-electric engine giving older people a new way to explore retirement/a new life, encouraging youth to stay healthy & young. LEO's REALITY…POVERTY’s END…DREAM LAUNCH!

Describe your work as a social innovator (150 words max)

As Earthlings our work is so innovative, it is not yet well known worldwide, but greatly received in local regions. Our seed/kind of grassroots innovation comes from (35+) years of travel experience between the mates of teamLEOnardo. From Los Angeles to Nepal, Alaska to South America, India to Europe and Australia to Japan & many more places/routes in between, our unique brand of social innovation begins, where our birth places end - sowing in us all an indigenous nature to roam - free from the ignorance of borders in our new global village, Earth! In teamLEOnardo's workshop, the sound of social innovation is in the voices of contributors visiting their investment from time to time, where helping out gives them a "hands on" experience of home/hand-made fun, education & community supported activity! The PedalLEOtour2010 will be LEO's way of giving back to all the 'global villages' visited along the way. For teamLEOnardo, social innovation is giving LEO your 'two cents' by reserving a pilot's seat in your name with comments & suggestions, by pitching in where LEO needs help, & by reminding others to stay tuned for Hover Day. VOTE for your FREEDOM, earthling, thank you! DREAM SHARED!

Please send me more information about Conde Nast Traveler and special offers

Yes, I would like more information about Conde Nast Traveler and special offers.

Save World Biodiversity through Travel

Created on 06/29/2009 by stammke

Ecology Project International envisions a program to bring youth from biodiversity hotspots in Latin America (Costa Rica, Galapagos Islands, and Mexico) to visit the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the world’s first National Park in M

About You

Organization: Ecology Project International Visit websitemore ↓↑ hide↑ hide

Section 1: About You

First Name

Kelsey

Last Name

Stamm

Website

Organization

Ecology Project International

Country

United States

Section 2: About Your Organization

Organization Name

Ecology Project International

Organization Website

Organization Phone

+1 (406) 721-8784

Organization Address

P.O. Box 9192 Missoula, Montana 59807

Organization Country

United States

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Are you a traveler or travel company?

No

Name Your Project

Save World Biodiversity through Travel

Country your work focuses on

Costa Rica

What is the likely impact of your idea? (150 words max)

Individual transformation - To gain first-hand experience in the natural world, as well as the disastrous results of unabated human impact on nature is a transformative experience – one that is vital for youth world-wide if they are going to play a role in forging solutions to global environmental challenges. Changing the research paradigm - EPI shares its collaborative vision and partnerships with researchers from around the world. Investing local residents in research is fundamental to successful conservation. Capacity building - EPI's programs foment shifts in attitudes and behaviors regarding the importance of conservation and the value of local flora and fauna. EPI participants also gain practical skills and scientific knowledge. Increased environmental protection - Participants finish EPI programs not only armed with a broader education, but these students directly contribute to saving threatened and endangered species. Empowerment – EPI’s programs empower youth to take an active role in international conservation.

Why is promoting global travel and engagement important? What makes your idea innovative? (200 words max)

Deeply engrained in our approach is the ethic of international dialogue and collaboration. EPI’s programs are unique: no one else creates scientific partnerships that involve local residents in research and experiential education in Latin America, and 2009 marks the first time our students from Latin America participated in our Yellowstone Ecology Program in Montana. In our model, visiting students from other countries meet their local peers who are collaborating on the same project. We are creating global impact through local participation, capacity building, and empowerment. At each project site, local and visiting students participate in the same program – but in a different language – and come together for a day of cultural exchange and scientific collaboration. They present to each other their findings on the data that they collected and its analysis. Global conservation is more efficient when it is trans-cultural and sensitive to the realities of different countries. When we partner students in this fashion they realize that no matter who you are or where you come from, you can make a difference in the world and exchange ideas about how to make it better.

Describe Your Idea

Ecology Project International envisions a program to bring youth from biodiversity hotspots in Latin America (Costa Rica, Galapagos Islands, and Mexico) to visit the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the world’s first National Park in Montana and Wyoming, where they will participate in hands-on scientific projects, learn about conservation, interact with Montana peers, and be inspired to apply their knowledge of conservation.     

What would it take to launch or spread your idea? How much would it cost to make your idea a reality? (150 words max)

To spread our idea, EPI needs the funds to launch a publicity and media campaign to raise awareness with students about our programs. According to our research, it would take approximately $100,000 to fund an effective media campaign. Our organization is based on an innovative business model; all students pay tuition to participate, investing them in the program outcomes. Because we work with underserved populations, the majority of our students are not able to afford the full cost of participation. We maintain a scholarship fund, and provide up to 90% tuition assistance for local student participation (they comprise 2/3 of our total enrollment). To extend this opportunity to reach more youth, EPI also needs financial support for scholarships for thousands of individuals each year, amounting to $150,000. These scholarships for low-income youth will be matched 2:1 by the tuition paid by our participants.

Describe your work as a social innovator (150 words max)

EPI’s first program was developed in Costa Rica in the 1990s. Prior to EPI's presence in Costa Rica, local residents were not included in the conservation solution for Leatherbacks at Pacuare Nature Reserve. Most Costa Ricans in the area had eaten sea turtle eggs or meat. The Reserve employed armed guards to keep locals away and residents were discouraged from being on the beach during the nesting season for fear that they were there to poach turtle eggs. When EPI first proposed this collaboration, Reserve staff expressed the concern that EPI would be "training future poachers" in their protection techniques, and that locals would have no interest in learning about sea turtles and their habitat. Now, after nine successful years of our program, local residents are embraced by Reserve staff and seen as collaborators in a shared goal.

Please send me more information about Conde Nast Traveler and special offers

Yes, I would like more information about Conde Nast Traveler and special offers.

Maria mother of charity

Created: 06/24/09 by nshinka lupupa

Location

main kasama
Zambia
10° 12' 42.0012" S, 31° 10' 41.9988" E

helping the zambians have their lives uplifted by educating vulnerable children. with the funds they obtain as a school as at now are not adequate to complete some unfinished blocks, however, the school develops and relies on a few fee paying students.

Dispositif d’Autosuffisance en Manuels à l’Elémentaire ( D.A.M.EL)

Created on 06/24/2009 by tmbaye906

 

About You

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Location

Project Street Address

Project City

Project Province/State

Project Postal/Zip Code

Project Country

n/a

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Country your work focuses on:

Website URL

What stage is your project in?

Please select one

YouTube Upload

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

Please select one

Name Your Project

Dispositif d’Autosuffisance en Manuels à l’Elémentaire ( D.A.M.EL)

Describe Your Idea

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Describe your idea in fewer than 50 words.

What makes your idea unique?

What is your area of work? (Please check as many as apply.)

What impact have you had?

Describe the primary problem(s) that your project is addressing.

Describe the steps that your organization is taking to make your project successful.

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Success in Year 1:

Success in Year 2:

Success in Year 3:

Do you have a business plan or strategic plan? (yes/no)

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 1:

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 2:

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 3:

Describe the expected results of these actions.

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What would prevent your project from being a success?

Financing source

If yes, provide organization name.

How long has this organization been operating? (i.e. less than a year; 1-5 years; more than 5 years)

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs? (yes/no)

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses? (yes/no)

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government? (yes/no)

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

How many people will your project serve annually?

What is the total number of employees and total number of volunteers at your organization?

What is your organization's business classification?

Please select one

Have you received funding from any of the following groups? (Please check as many as apply.)

Nouvelles Perspectives pour la Promotion de l’Alphabétisation (N.O.P.P.A.L)

Created on 06/24/2009 by tmbaye906

 

About You

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Location

Project Street Address

Project City

Project Province/State

Project Postal/Zip Code

Project Country

n/a

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Country your work focuses on:

Website URL

What stage is your project in?

Please select one

YouTube Upload

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

Please select one

Name Your Project

Nouvelles Perspectives pour la Promotion de l’Alphabétisation (N.O.P.P.A.L)

Describe Your Idea

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Describe your idea in fewer than 50 words.

What makes your idea unique?

What is your area of work? (Please check as many as apply.)

What impact have you had?

Describe the primary problem(s) that your project is addressing.

Describe the steps that your organization is taking to make your project successful.

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Success in Year 1:

Success in Year 2:

Success in Year 3:

Do you have a business plan or strategic plan? (yes/no)

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 1:

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 2:

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 3:

Describe the expected results of these actions.

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What would prevent your project from being a success?

Financing source

If yes, provide organization name.

How long has this organization been operating? (i.e. less than a year; 1-5 years; more than 5 years)

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs? (yes/no)

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses? (yes/no)

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government? (yes/no)

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

How many people will your project serve annually?

What is the total number of employees and total number of volunteers at your organization?

What is your organization's business classification?

Please select one

Have you received funding from any of the following groups? (Please check as many as apply.)

Our Lady of Nazareth Primary School

Created on 06/24/2009 by ourlady

About You

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Location

Project Street Address

Not applicable – located within Mukuru kwa Njenga slum

Project City

Nairobi

Project Province/State

Nairobi Province

Project Postal/Zip Code

00200

Project Country

Kenya

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Country your work focuses on:

Kenya

Website URL

http://Not applicable

What stage is your project in?

Operating for more than 5 years

YouTube Upload

Not applicable

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

<$100

Name Your Project

Our Lady of Nazareth Primary School

Describe Your Idea

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Describe your idea in fewer than 50 words.

Our Lady of Nazareth Primary School educates 1700 students from the Mukuru kwa Njenga slum in Nairobi. In addition to quality classroom instruction, students have access to an extensive library, computer classroom, science lab, art room, music program, counseling, health care, and meals program.

What makes your idea unique?

OLN provides a holistic education for children in the slum, catering for their physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual needs rather than emphasizing solely academic learning. Through the tree planting project, parents and students have planted more than 6000 trees within the school grounds to purify the air quality and provide students with experiential learning about environmental science and stewardship. The school compound also contains a large field and sports pitches for physical education. To address the issue of child hunger, younger students receive porridge every morning and all students receive a hot lunch daily. Students also receive de-worming and basic health care regularly. Two trained counselors help children address the psychological challenges of childhood and their home living situations. Students who perform well on the national primary school examination can receive a scholarship for secondary school and later university, supporting their continued academic development.

What is your area of work? (Please check as many as apply.)

Children & Youth , At risk youth , Behavioral issues , Early childhood development , Education , Girls' development , Mentorship , Play , Hunger , Mentorship , Scholarships and grants , Environment & Sustainability , Renewable energy , Urban , Food , Health care , Sports , Wellness , Hunger , Arts and culture , Social work , Spirituality , Sports .

What impact have you had?

Each year, Our Lady of Nazareth Primary School educates more than 1,700 students according to the prescribed syllabus in Kenya, in addition to offering instruction in the non-examinable subjects of art, music and computer. Academic performance remains high, particularly in light of the challenges many students face at home. In the first term of 2009, Our Lady of Nazareth placed 18 out of 64 schools in the Eastern District of Nairobi. Moreover, approximately seventy percent of each graduating class goes on to pursue some form of secondary education or training. Through the scholarship program, those students who have performed very well on their national examinations are provided with the full cost of pursuing further education. Currently, there are forty sponsored students in secondary school and twenty-four students being sponsored for university, in fields as diverse as accounting, commerce, library science and medicine.

Describe the primary problem(s) that your project is addressing.

The students at OLN live in the surrounding informal settlement, Mukuru kwa Njenga, where overcrowding, poor sanitation, lack of regular access to water and electricity and rapid spread of disease are common. Many of the students do not receive proper nutrition at home and must supervise themselves as their parents work long hours for meager wages. Alcoholism, domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, the death of family members and single parent households are all major challenges that these families face. These stressors strongly affect the educational achievement of students in primary school.

Describe the steps that your organization is taking to make your project successful.

Our Lady of Nazareth Primary School seeks to address the needs of the children in an integral way, addressing common barriers to academic success for children living in informal settlements. For example, many students receive only one meal per day, if that, at home. Therefore, the school began a program to provide uji, or hot porridge, for the lower primary students. This gives the children energy to focus in class and nutrients to grow healthily. The program will soon be extended to include all students from Pre-unit through Standard 5.

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Success in Year 1:

Within the next year, Our Lady of Nazareth wants to develop and expand the art and music programs offered to the students so that they can develop their talents in these areas as well. Many students have natural abilities in these creative enterprises but have no opportunities for guided instruction to improve them within the basic primary school syllabus.

Success in Year 2:

Expansion of the porridge program to Standard 5 will require additional staff resources and larger food purchases. Likewise, the implementation of the plans for the art, music, computer and science facilities necessitates increased staff capacity and the purchase of equipment. Thus the administration must work to secure additional fundraising and leverage existing resources.

Success in Year 3:

By 2012, the school will plant 12,000 new trees within the property. As the trees grow, they mitigate some of the air pollution in Mukuru kwa Njenga and provide shade from the harsh sun. Students will also learn about environmental conservation and natural science. Eventually, mature trees will be harvested for fuel, reducing the school’s reliance on purchased firewood.

Do you have a business plan or strategic plan? (yes/no)

Yes, providing quality education for the poorest children in Kenya.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 1:

Ensuring high student performance levels, particularly on the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education examination, would increase the opportunities of the students for further studies in secondary schools or other post-primary educational and vocational programs. Furthermore, as student performance increases, donors are more encouraged to support the mission of the school, further expanding the school’s capacity to provide quality education.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 2:

Continuing to foster a constructive relationship between the Marianists and the City Council of Nairobi, who jointly contribute to the school administration, would allow the school to develop in positive directions. Strengthening that relationship can occur as both parties honor existing agreements, particularly concerning staffing, so that the focus of the school’s development remains on improving the quality of education offered to the children.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 3:

Job assurance for teachers would help to motivate the staff to dedicate their efforts towards creating an effective learning atmosphere within the classrooms rather than searching for another work position elsewhere. Educators who feel secure in their positions can devote additional time to developing creative lesson plans and adopting innovative teaching methods.

Describe the expected results of these actions.

When the staff members dedicate themselves to educating their students through creative and effective teaching methods and when the administration of the school runs smoothly, student performance on national examinations should rise. Our Lady of Nazareth can create a learning environment that is conducive to high educational achievement and to the maturation of the students as they learn to become responsible adults. In addition, through the continued development of the music, art and computer programs, students can apply themselves to non-academic excellence in diverse fields.

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

The defining moment for Our Lady of Nazareth Primary School occurred in 1997, when the Marianists took over the management of the school from the Sisters of Mercy. At that time, the school population was approximately 900, the school facilities were underdeveloped and the compound completely lacked trees. Under the leadership of the Marianists and the Administrative Council, the student population has reached more than 1700; computer, music, art, feeding and counseling programs have been established; and more than 6000 trees have been planted. In addition, partnerships between local businesses, NGOs, primary schools in other countries and individual supporters have grown tremendously. Also beginning in 1997, the Marianists hired additional staff and increased the size and quality of the library. This year, the Marianists have opened a family centre located near the school, to address the needs and challenges of the students’ parents through adult education, counseling and empowerment.

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

The manager, Fr. Martin Solma, works with the seven-member Administrative Council as a team to run the school, implement policies and devise new programs. The council includes representation from the library, counseling and bursar departments, as well as the Senior, Deputy and Head Teachers. Several of the members have worked at Our Lady of Nazareth for more than ten years and all have specialized knowledge to contribute to the group. The Administrative Council meets approximately three times per month to discuss new possibilities for school programming, to assess their desirability and feasibility and to approve new initiatives. Through discussion and coordinated efforts, the members of the Council address the challenges facing the school, common issues arising among staff or students and any potential barriers to the effective provision of services for the children.

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

The school librarian saw a notice about Changemakers in the Daily Nation, Kenya’s major national newspaper, and forwarded it to the main office.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What would prevent your project from being a success?

A lack of funds could seriously limit the ability of the school to cater for the diverse needs of its students and force the school to downsize some of its programs, such as music, art, and computer. All of these programs have on-going funding needs and an interruption in financial flows might necessitate the restructuring, reduction or even elimination of these important educational initiatives. Additionally, poor administration can adversely affect the running of the school and detract from the central mission of providing high quality education for these children. Likewise, personal politics among the staff, if left unchecked, can distract teachers from their core work. Thus the effective functioning and coordination of the Administrative Council is highly important to the implementation and improvement of all school programs. Finally, a poor working dynamic between the Marianists and the City Council of Nairobi could adversely affect the management of the school.

Financing source

Yes

If yes, provide organization name.

The school is a ministry of the Marianist District of Eastern Africa, whose ministries primarily focus on providing quality education for the poor.

How long has this organization been operating? (i.e. less than a year; 1-5 years; more than 5 years)

The Marianists have been in Eastern Africa since 1961, at which time they ran Mang'u High School and Aquinas High School.

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

We have an Administrative Council, a Parents’ Council, a Marianist District Council and an Advisory Board.

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs? (yes/no)

Yes

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses? (yes/no)

Yes

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government? (yes/no)

Yes

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

Numerous educational partners support our mission of providing a holistic and integral education for the children of Mukuru kwa Njenga. For example, the World Food Program contributes nutritious food to the lunch program. AAR, a large medical care provider, regularly assists with health assessment and treatment for the students. Letter exchanges with schools in the United States and Great Britain help the children to develop a broader view of the world. The City Council of Nairobi provides some teaching staff and other resources to maintain a high educational standard.

How many people will your project serve annually?

1001-10,000

What is the total number of employees and total number of volunteers at your organization?

62 employees, 4 steady volunteers and many short term volunteers from the USA.

What is your organization's business classification?

Non-profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

Have you received funding from any of the following groups? (Please check as many as apply.)

None of the above.

MARIA MOTHER OF CHARITY RELIEF HOME

Created on 06/24/2009 by Mary Lusambo

ALLEVIATING POVERTY IN MY COMMUNITY THROUGH EDUCATION EMPOWERMENT BY OFFERING FREE EDUCATION  AND INTRODUCING COMMUNITY SURVIVAL SKILLS FOR THE VULNERABLE.

About You

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Location

Project Street Address

Mungwi Road

Project City

Kasama

Project Province/State

Northern Province

Project Postal/Zip Code

+260/10101

Project Country

Zambia

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Country your work focuses on:

ZAMBIA

Website URL

What stage is your project in?

Operating for 1-5 years

YouTube Upload

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

<$50

Name Your Project

MARIA MOTHER OF CHARITY RELIEF HOME

Describe Your Idea

ALLEVIATING POVERTY IN MY COMMUNITY THROUGH EDUCATION EMPOWERMENT BY OFFERING FREE EDUCATION  AND INTRODUCING COMMUNITY SURVIVAL SKILLS FOR THE VULNERABLE.

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Describe your idea in fewer than 50 words.

EMPOWER THE VULNERABLE SOCIALLY, ACADEMICALLY, ECONOMICALLY, POLITICALLY AND SPIRITUALLY SO THAT THEY COMPETE FREELY IN ALL LIFE CHALLENGES.

What makes your idea unique?

MY IDEA IS INDIGENOUS AND I AM DIRECTLY INVOLVED IN COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION.I AM PART OF MY COMMUNITY AND SO I AM ABLE TO INTERACT FREELY WITH THE TARGET GROUP AND GET THE FIRST FEEL OF WHAT AFFECTS THEM. I RELY ON WHAT I HAVE IN THE HANDS TO ACHIEVE WHAT I HOPE FOR.

I BELIEVE IN LOVE AND SELF CONVICTION WHEN DEALING WITH THESE SOULS AND I AM THEREFORE ABLE TO HELP THEM JOYOUSLY.

I HAVE MANAGED TO MAKE GROW THE CHARITY WITHOUT ANY KIND OF SUPPORT FROM EXTERNAL OR INDEED INTERNAL SOURCES. I HAVE MANAGED TO PRODUCE BREADWINNERS ALREADY WHO ARE AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO THIS NOBLE CAUSE.THIS IDEA HAS ACHIEVED ALOT.

THE SCHOOL HAS INTRODUCED AN ADULT LITERACY CENTER WHICH HAS SEEN A GOOD NUMBER OF PARENTS ENROLLED INTO DIFFERENT GRADES. THEY HAVE LIKED THE IDEA AND THEIR ACADEMIC RESPONSE IS POSITIVE.

WE ARE RUNNING OUR LESSONS USING AN EASY LEARNING TOOL CALLED"BREAKTHROUGH TO LITERACY". THIS IS A SYSTEM WHICH EMBRACES LEARNING IN A VERNACULAR LANGUAGE. THIS MAKES READING AND WRITING VERY EASY EVEN WHEN IT IS INTRODUCED IN AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE.
BOTH ADULT PUPILS AND THE REGULAR PUPILS HAVE FOUND THIS TYPE OF LEARNING TO BE VERY INTERESTING.

What is your area of work? (Please check as many as apply.)

Children & Youth , At risk youth , Behavioral issues , Boys' development , Child care , Child exploitation , Child labor , Child protection , Early childhood development , Education , Education reform , Girls' development , Mentorship , Play , Youth development , Youth leadership , Development & Prosperity , Adult education , Business , Communications , Community development , Consumer protection , Corporate social responsibility , Economic development , Employment , Energy , Fundraising , Globalization , Housing , Hunger , Income generation , Information technology , Infrastructure , Labor , Mentorship , Networking , Poverty alleviation , Rural development , Scholarships and grants , Social Enterprise , Sustainable development , Technology , Rural , Water , HIV/AIDS , Recreation , Sports , Substance abuse , Human Rights & Peace , Abuse and violence , Child exploitation , Civil rights , Conflict resolution , Gender equity , Human trafficking , Hunger , Indigenous cultures , Intercultural relations , Men's issues , Racial equality , Security , Tolerance , Vulnerable populations , Women's issues , Public Participation & Engagement , Citizen participation , Citizen sector , Corruption , Cultural preservation , Ethics , Intergenerational relations , Law , Mentoring , Public policy , Social work , Spirituality , Sports , Transparency , Volunteerism , Women's Issues , Youth leadership.

What impact have you had?

GREAT IMPACT AS I SEE SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL AND ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION IN THE LIVES OF MY TARGET GROUPS.

Describe the primary problem(s) that your project is addressing.

POVERTY ALLEVIATION

Describe the steps that your organization is taking to make your project successful.

EMBARKED ON A SCHOOL PROJECT WHICH OFFERS FREE EDUCATION TO THE VULNERABLE CHILDREN AND ADULTS.
LINKING THE PROJECT WITH POSSIBLE FUNDING AGENCIES WHO SHALL HELP US GROW STABLE INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES.

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Success in Year 1:

INTRODUCTION OF A MODERN BOARDING FACILITY ACCESSIBLE BY FEE-PAYING STUDENTS AS AN INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITY ALSO BENEFITING PUPILS WHO CAN NOT ACCESS THE SCHOOL DUE TO THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE SCHOOL AND THEIR HOMES.

Success in Year 2:

INTRODUCTION OF A SKILLS TRAINING CENTER EQUIPPED WITH WOOD/METAL WORKSHOP MACHINERY, SEWING MACHINES, KNITTING MACHINES ETC.. FOR SERVICING THE VULNERABLE BUT INDIRECTLY ACTING AS AN INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITY.

Success in Year 3:

INTRODUCTION OF MODERN SOCIAL AMENITIES WHICH SHALL ATTRACT MANY FEE-PAYING PUPILS TO THE SCHOOL THEREBY BROADENING THE INCOME BASE FOR THE GOOD OF SELF-SUSTENANCE.

Do you have a business plan or strategic plan? (yes/no)

NO
THE DUTCH STUDENTS AT WORLD SCHOOL ARE DEVELOPING A BUSINESS PLAN AND A PROJECT PROPOSAL FOR US.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 1:

COMPLETE THE CONSTRUCTION AND FURNISHING OF THE SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE IN ORDER TO EXPAND THE SCHOOL INTO A FULL FLEDGED SCHOOL.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 2:

EQUIP THE SCHOOL WITH MODERN EQUIPMENT SUCH AS SCIENCE AND COMPUTER LABORATORIES IN ORDER TO EXPOSE OUR PUPILS TO FULL TECHNOLOGY AND ALSO ATTRACT MANY FEE-PAYERS WHO ARE THE MAIN SOURCE OF OUR INCOME.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 3:

ELECTRIFY THE SCHOOL SO THAT THE PUPILS WILL BE ABLE TO CONNECT TO THE GLOBAL NETWORK THROUGH INTERNET FACILITIES AND ALSO SEE THE PUPILS ACCESS MODERN EDUCATIONAL EQUIPMENTS WHICH NEED THE USE OF POWER(ELECTRICITY).

Describe the expected results of these actions.

EXTEND THE LEARNING OPPORTUNITY TO AS MANY VULNERABLE CHILDREN AND ADULTS THEREBY ERADICATING POVERTY IN MANY LIVELIHOODS.

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

I GREW UP IN THESE COMMUNITIES AND MY PARENTS STRUGGLED TO GIVE ME AND THE REST OF MY FAMILY MEMBERS THE HUMBLE EDUCATION THAT WE HAVE TODAY. I HAVE PERSONALLY TESTED POVERTY AND SO I KNOW ITS IMPACT IN UNEXPLAINABLE TERMS.

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

THE SOCIAL INNOVATOR BEHIND THIS IDEA IS THAT POVERTY WHICH HAS STRICKEN MOST HOMES IN MY COMMUNITY CAUSING YOUTHS TO RESORT TO SOCIAL VICES SUCH PROMISCUITY, THEFT,DRUNKENNESS AND THEREBY BRINGING FORTH INCURABLE DISEASES SUCH AS HIV/AIDS, SHALL BE REDUCED.

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

I FIRST HEARD ABOUT CHANGE MAKERS THROUGH "TEACH A MAN TO FISH" WHO SENT ME AN INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS COMPETITION.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What would prevent your project from being a success?

LACK OF INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES AND LACK OF INFORMATION LEADING TO POSSIBLE FUNDING AGENCIES.

Financing source

N

If yes, provide organization name.

N/A

How long has this organization been operating? (i.e. less than a year; 1-5 years; more than 5 years)

1-5 YEARS

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

YES

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs? (yes/no)

NO

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses? (yes/no)

NO

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government? (yes/no)

YES

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

THE ZAMBIAN GOVERNMENT IS A STAKEHOLDER IN ALL EDUCATION RELATED BUSINESSES. IT ACTS AS A REGULATORY BOARD THROUGH THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND IT INSPECTS ALL BUSINESSES TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY ARE IN CONFORMITY WITH THE SET RULES AND REGULATIONS.
GOVERNMENT ALSO SUPPORTS THE SCHOOLS BY ISSUANCE OF PRACTICING CERTIFICATES AND WHICH ARE AUDITED ANNUALLY. THEY ALSO PROVIDE US WITH TEACHING AIDS LIKE BOOKS(READERS) AND THEY INVITE US TO EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS.

How many people will your project serve annually?

100-1000

What is the total number of employees and total number of volunteers at your organization?

1 PRINCIPAL
1 SENIOR TEACHER
12 TEACHERS
5 CDEs

What is your organization's business classification?

Non-profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

Have you received funding from any of the following groups? (Please check as many as apply.)

Scaling Best Practices from a High-Performing, Locally-Led Primary School in Arusha, Tanzania

Created on 06/23/2009 by LucyKamptoni

Over the past 5 years, Shepherds Junior School, located in Arusha, Tanzania, has grown from a single classroom of just 6 pre-schoolers to become a high-quality pre- and primary school that now serves over 300 children at 8 grade levels (ages 2-12) in the villages of Moivaro and Kimandolu.  Last year, with investment by US nonprofit Epic Change, the school qualified to participate in national exams for the firs

About You

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Location

Project Street Address

PO Box 1888

Project City

Arusha

Project Province/State

N/A

Project Postal/Zip Code

N/A

Project Country

Tanzania

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Country your work focuses on:

Tanzania

Website URL

What stage is your project in?

Operating for more than 5 years

YouTube Upload

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

<$50

Name Your Project

Scaling Best Practices from a High-Performing, Locally-Led Primary School in Arusha, Tanzania

Describe Your Idea

Over the past 5 years, Shepherds Junior School, located in Arusha, Tanzania, has grown from a single classroom of just 6 pre-schoolers to become a high-quality pre- and primary school that now serves over 300 children at 8 grade levels (ages 2-12) in the villages of Moivaro and Kimandolu.  Last year, with investment by US nonprofit Epic Change, the school qualified to participate in national exams for the first time by expanding to include its first Class IV classroom, and students performed #1 out of 117 schools in the Arusha district.  The ideas presented below are the key factors that have led to the school's success:CURRICULUM

  • Primary English Language Immersion:  In Tanzania, government primary schools are taught in Swahili, while secondary schools are taught in English, which makes the transition to post-primary school extremely difficult.  In addition, language learning seems to be most effective when students are very young.  At Shepherds Junior, we begin teaching all subjects in English at age 2, though Swahili classes remain a core part of our curriculum.  All of our students are effectively bilingual, which we believe also improves their thinking and learning skills in other subjects.
  • Cultural Enrichment:  While our school is an English-medium environment, Swahili courses and clubs and coursework that celebrate our heritage are a core aspect of our curriculum.
  • Social Responsibility:  From the time students enter our school, as young as age 2, we make every effort to expose children to the social issues that confront our community.  Children regularly perform in the community to spread awareness through songs that focus on HIV/AIDS prevention, poems on poverty and child labor, and plays and debates that address the role of women and girls in our society. By cultivating this awareness in young people, we believe we are creating socially conscious young leaders with the skills and knowledge to lead Tanzania and Africa through significant social change.
  • Technology, Connection & Innovation:  In partnership with US nonprofit Epic Change, Shepherds Junior has begun to share our story with the world using social media tools:  our students have shared YouTube videos with peers in the US, and parents and I have blogged to share our story with a broader audience.  Most recently, we mobilized our community to vote online at local internet cafes to win a grant to implement a technology lab at Shepherds Junior school.  We believe that access to technology and participation in global conversations using social media will dramatically improve the quality of education we are able to offer at Shepherds Junior School.
  • Entrepreneurship:  In partnership with US nonprofit Epic Change, Shepherds Junior has begun to cultivate opportunities for our students to directly contribute to raising funds that support our school.  Through school performances, solicitation of auction donations from the community and contribution of artwork, photography and design for products that have been sold to raise funds, students have begun to understand their ability to generate income through their own efforts.

STUDENT BODY

  • Early Childhood Education:  We begin teaching children at age 2, and provide up to three years of schooling before children enter Class I of traditional Tanzanian primary instruction.  These years are instrumental in teaching students basic math, language and play skills that prepare them to effectively participate in our primary classrooms.
  • Diversity & Inclusion:  Many local private schools cater only to affluent students; other, especially charitable & government schools, segregate and serve only the "poorest of the poor." At Shepherds Junior, all children work and play together, learn from one another's diverse backgrounds and circumstances, and have equal access to a great education.  By charging tuition to those who can afford it, we are able to subsidize the costs of orphans and others who cannot.  In addition, we maintain a 50/50 ratio of girls and boys and our student body includes representation from many diverse local cultures and religions, including Masaai, Muslim and Christian students.   Our school is not religiously affiliated.

INFRASTRUCTURE

  • Sustainability:  A school may only provide services if it has the funds available to pay teachers, provide needed materials, and maintain facilities.  At Shepherds Junior, we offer a high-quality education at an affordable cost and, by doing so, are able to subsidize and offer scholarships and other support to orphans and other children who are unable to pay.
  • Local Leadership:  There are some schools in the Arusha area and beyond led by bright, well-intentioned "wazungu" (i.e., foreigners) who provide a valuable education to the youth of Tanzania.  Local leaders, however, have a natural advantage in that they teach children by example that they too may grow and develop into leaders of their communities.  In addition, shared language and cultural experience are very useful tools in developing an effective, engaging educational environment and curriculum.
  • Paid, Trained Teachers:  At Shepherds Junior, we are able to pay very little, but hire only paid teachers who are clearly dedicated to their profession.  By cultivating a sense of community, respect and love for the children, we ensure that teachers focus on teaching to the very best of their ability.
  • Community Support & Parental Involvement:  The parents and teachers of Shepherds Junior are a community that provides mutual support to further our shared goals of educating the children of Tanzania.  We have a parent/teachers committee that meets regularly to discuss issues facing the school.  It is not uncommon for the parents and teachers to volunteer their efforts to ensure the success of Shepherds school and all of our students.  For example, not too long ago, a teacher noticed that one of the orphans in her classroom was not being regularly bathed, nor were her clothes being washed.  To make sure the child wasn't ostracized by her peers, the teacher independently held a teachers' meeting, and among them they bought soap and made plans to share the duties of caring for the child's hygiene.  As a second example, a parent recently volunteered his time as a welder to build the windows of our new classroom.
  • Global Partnerships:  Through financial and non-financial partnerships with organizations like Epic Change, Cross Cultural Solutions, and others that provide volunteers, Shepherds Junior students and staff have been exposed to diverse people and ideas from across the globe.  In addition, by actively engaging in these partnerships, Shepherds Junior has been able to cultivate both volunteer and financial support, as well as knowledge sharing, that has accelerated our expansion.

The demand for the education we provide is constantly increasing, and by expanding our efforts to serve more students at more grade levels, we'll be able to scale the impact of these important lessons learned.

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Describe your idea in fewer than 50 words.

Locally founded in 2003 by “Mama Lucy” Kamptoni, Shepherds Junior is a high-quality pre- and primary-school that aims to engender social responsibility and leadership in its socio-economically diverse student body of over 300 children in Arusha, Tanzania. Last year, Shepherds’ students performed #1 of 117 Arusha schools on national exams.

What makes your idea unique?

Our unique model combines many best practices from our five years of hands-on, locally-led experience building a primary school whose students recently ranked #1 out of 117 schools in the Arusha district on national exams.

Our curriculum immerses children in a second, global language from the outset of formal education, enriches students' understanding of their cultural heritage, teaches social responsibility, entrepreneurship and leadership, and, through a recent grant, we'll soon be able to provide access to technological tools that will add global context to their learning.

Our student body includes children as young as two as we are highly focused on early childhood education, and we foster a diverse learning environment in which students may learn from and grow with one another regardless of gender, culture, religion or socio-economic background.

Finally, we are able to sustain and scale our work through the support of a committed community of local leaders, trained teachers, engaged parents and active partners. Through their dedication, and the sustainable financial support generated through regular tuition payments from hundreds of students, Shepherds Junior is in a unique position to continue to grow and scale our innovative, high-quality pre- and primary-school.

Of course, substantive investment would enable us to scale more quickly and provide our unique, high-quality educational experience to even more children in the short-term.

What is your area of work? (Please check as many as apply.)

Children & Youth , At risk youth , Boys' development , Early childhood development , Education , Education reform , Girls' development , Youth development , Youth leadership , Vulnerable populations , Youth leadership.

What impact have you had?

In five years, Shepherds Junior has grown from just 6 preschool students to over 300 students at 8 grade levels. Our students are recognized by the community as some of the best in the area and just last year, when we expanded to include Class IV and participated in national exams for the first time, our students performed #1 out of 117 participating schools in the Arusha District. Because we charge an affordable tuition to most students, we are able to subsidize costs and offer scholarships to several orphans and other children who could not otherwise afford a high-quality education.

As a secondary impact, over 30 jobs have been created for teachers, assistants, maintenance and cafeteria staff.

Describe the primary problem(s) that your project is addressing.

  • Socio-Economic Segregation: Many local private schools cater only to affluent students; other, especially charitable & government schools, segregate and serve only the "poorest of the poor." At Shepherds Junior, all children work and play together, learn from one another's diverse backgrounds and circumstances, and have equal access to a great education.
  • Inadequate Early Childhood Education: Educational facilities for pre-primary aged children are extremely limited, and we have found that students who attend pre-primary school seem to perform substantively better than their peers who did not attend preschool.
  • Difficult Transition to Secondary School: As mentioned, government primary schools are normally taught in Swahili, while secondary school is taught exclusively in English, making the transition to secondary school very difficult. While we continue formal Swahili lessons throughout primary school, our school is otherwise taught entirely in English.
  • Loss of Cultural Identity: Some, though certainly not all, local schools, are internationally-led and seem to focus on importing curricula and educational standards from other cultures. In some instances, this may result in the loss or de-emphasis of important aspects of our local, shared cultural mores and heritage.
  • Over-Emphasis on Rote Memorization: Over-emphasis on rote memorization for basic math and language skills may result in the under-development of important critical thinking skills for local students. While this is certainly an area in which our school may further improve, by including discussion of social issues and responsibility in our curriculum, we are beginning to encourage our students to move beyond memorization to develop leadership skills that will enable them to address the issues that impact their lives and our community.
  • Connectivity Gap: Web access in East Africa is notoriously limited, meaning that students in Tanzania have a disadvantage in mastering the tools and technologies that could serve them in learning and future careers. By incorporating technology into our curriculum, we hope to bridge this global gap, and to connect our students with their peers across the globe.
  • Culture of Dependency: By nurturing the seeds of entrepreneurship in even primary school students, and by demonstrating, through the role models of our school's founder, local teachers and our active, engaged parents committee, that local people have the power to lead our community, we implicitly combat a pervasive, insidious sense, propagated from years of colonialism, that Africans must depend on foreigners for resources and leadership.
  • Limited Focus on Girls' Education: Historically, education of young women has not been a priority for many local people. By designating at least 50% of our capacity for girls, we help to educate young women, who have been proven to use their education to build stronger, healthier families and communities.
  • Poor Teacher Pay/Quality: Teachers in our area, especially at government schools, are notoriously underpaid resulting in poor teacher quality. While we are still improving our own salaries, our teachers are paid enough to survive, and are deeply committed to their students' learning.
  • Unsustainable NGO & Education Programs that rely exclusively on Sponsors/Donors: Many schoolrooms and classrooms that operate without tuition fall into one of two traps: either they close due to lack of local commitment and resources or, by creating a model subsidized, sponsored and/or led entirely by foreigners, they cultivate a prolonged relationship of dependency in which students depend entirely on foreigners for basic needs. It is unclear what effect this may have on students' sense of independence and self-sufficiency over the long term.
  • Limited Parental Involvement: We have found that parental involvement leads to improved student achievement.
  • Isolation & Exclusion from Global Conversations: By collaborating with global partners, Shepherds Junior students are able to learn from and share with their peers across the globe, and we are able to share our learning with our peer social innovators and potential funders like you both in an effort to obtain funding and resources, of course, but perhaps more importantly to inform the way in which you invest in education and social change in Tanzania and throughout Africa.

Describe the steps that your organization is taking to make your project successful.

After five years and with the majority of our over 300 students now paying tuition, we have created an infrastructure that is now growing organically. By reinvesting tuition dollars and through a partnership forged with US nonprofit Epic Change, we are able to expand annually to create a new classroom for our upper level students to advance to the next grade level.

Our next steps include implementation of a social media technology lab in partnership with Epic Change, using a $10,000 grant that was recently awarded by Ideablob. We also plan to build additional classrooms, a cafeteria, a library and a boarding facility/orphanage. As our longer-term vision, we may build a secondary school at this location and/or build additional locations to serve primary students in other areas.

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Success in Year 1:

Launch Technology Lab & Build Classroom VI. (2009)

Success in Year 2:

Complete cafeteria, library, classroom VII & an orphanage/boarding facility. (2010)

Success in Year 3:

Scale to include secondary education and/or add additional locations to the Shepherds Junior system. (2011 & beyond)

Do you have a business plan or strategic plan? (yes/no)

Yes.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 1:

Launch Technology Lab & Build Classroom VI. (2009)

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 2:

Complete cafeteria, library, classroom VII & an orphanage/boarding facility. (2010)

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 3:

Scale to include secondary education and/or add additional locations to the Shepherds Junior system. (2011 & beyond)

Describe the expected results of these actions.

Shepherds Junior will expand to provide a higher-quality education to a greater number of students and, by increasing overall attendance, will be able to subsidize the educations of an even greater number of orphans and low-income students.

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

The innovations we've implemented at Shepherds Junior were inspired by:

  • My great love for children and my community.
  • A lack of adequate schools in my area offering a high-quality standard of education.
  • My commitment to my community and my loving country Tanzania.
  • The many orphans in my community who have been left behind with no one to pay for their education.
  • Five years of learning and improving our efforts at Shepherds Junior School.

In addition, when I attended secondary school, I was lucky to study with the children of different Ministers who led our country at that time. My family was not well off, but my school mixed children from both rich and poor families. It was really a very good experience, and I decided to adopt the model at my school, Shepherds Junior.

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

"Mama Lucy" Kamptoni was an entrepreneur who sold chickens and eggs until she saved her income to rent land next door to her home in Arusha, Tanzania, where she launched Shepherds Junior School in 2003. Since then, she has grown Shepherds Junior from a single classroom with just 6 preschool students to a school that serves over 300 children at 8 grade levels, all while furthering her own education at a a local university. In 2008, in the first year her school was certified to participate in national exams, Mama Lucy's students scored #1 out of 117 schools in the Arusha District.

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

Through Stacey Monk at Epic Change (stacey@EpicChange.org).

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What would prevent your project from being a success?

Inability to scale quickly enough to keep pace with demand for services.

Financing source

Yes

If yes, provide organization name.

Shepherds Foundation & Shepherds Junior School |
Epic Change

How long has this organization been operating? (i.e. less than a year; 1-5 years; more than 5 years)

More than 5 years (Shepherds Foundation & Shepherds Junior School)|
About 2 years (Epic Change)

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

Yes

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs? (yes/no)

Yes

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses? (yes/no)

No

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government? (yes/no)

No

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

Our partnerships have granted volunteers, in-kind donations and financial resources that have enabled us to scale more quickly than we may have organically.

Our most significant partnership, with US nonprofit Epic Change, has not only resulted in substantial capital investment in our expansion, but has also helped us to create an online presence to share our story, to cultivate an engaged global audience for our efforts, to improve our local fundraising activities, and to discover opportunities, like this one, to connect with potential resources and to share our ideas about education and social change in Tanzania and Africa.

How many people will your project serve annually?

100-1000

What is the total number of employees and total number of volunteers at your organization?

Employees: 31
Volunteers: 4

What is your organization's business classification?

Non-profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

Have you received funding from any of the following groups? (Please check as many as apply.)

None of the above.

Smartkids Foundation

Created: 06/22/09 by Richard Berendsen

Location

main Meppel
Netherlands
See map: Google Maps

The project aims at educating exceptionally bright kids in Ghana. It selects kids based on performance in basic education programmes. These kids could otherwise not pursue further education. When the kids and their parents agree on pursuing further education with the aid of the Smartkids Foundation, the kids sign a contract. In this contract, they pledge to help the Smartkids Foundation once they have finished their education and have gotten a job. The idea is that these bright people will be able to help their own country.

The SmartKids Foundation

Created: 06/22/09 by Robert Sackey

Location

main Meppel
Netherlands
See map: Google Maps

This is a foundation that identifies needy, but brilliant  Ghanaian (African) kids who need financial and other kinds of support, to pursue quality education.The foundation's directors are mostly based in The Netherlands , but source funds for  scholarships from Netherlands, Ghana and all over the world for to support its students. The SmartKids Foundation has had a lot of success locally in Ghana, and have succeeded in providing unique educational opportunities for several bright, but under privileged kids in Ghana.

EXPANSION OF ECD TO THE CENTRAL RIVER REGION NORTH OF THE GAMBIA

Created: 06/19/09 by Ousainou Joof

Location

main Banjul
Gambia

this project is community based early learning and care for children in the rural Gambia, it involves the construction of 3 ECD centers and the rehabilation of 1 old cener in the village of Maka Ali Sarr, the project will be able to employ atleast 10 youth, there will be an imcome gennerating facility for the mothers, the project will cater for almost 60, 0000 people (children and mothers), it will provide education for this merginalised groups of people who do not have any means to get this facilities.

Starfish Africa - Kenya

Created on 06/5/2009 by starfishafrica

 

About You

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Location

Project Street Address

Roysambu, Lumumba Drive (off Thika Road), Jeda Plaza 2nd Floor

Project City

Nairobi

Project Province/State

Nairobi Province

Project Postal/Zip Code

n/a

Project Country

Kenya

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Country your work focuses on:

Kenya

Website URL

What stage is your project in?

Operating for 1-5 years

YouTube Upload

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

<$50

Name Your Project

Starfish Africa - Kenya

Describe Your Idea

 

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Describe your idea in fewer than 50 words.

Some of Kenya’s brightest students, who could potentially impact their country positively, have their talents stymied at a young age because they can’t afford secondary school fees. Starfish Africa seeks out these future leaders and sponsors their education and personal development, hoping to change Kenya - one student at a time.

What makes your idea unique?

Starfish Africa is unique because it goes beyond simply providing “faceless” sponsorships from abroad for school fees like other organizations.

To do this, S.A. has traditionally utilized the three month-long breaks in the Kenyan secondary school calendar to further the development of its sponsored students. During these breaks, sponsored students are required to receive training related to leadership and vocational skills (provided outside their school curriculum by S.A.). Additionally, S.A. requires that its sponsored students participate in week-long service projects throughout Kenya to teach the importance of giving back to Kenya after their sponsorship has been completed.

Additionally, going forward, S.A. is endeavoring to tackle a systemic problem in Kenya's educational system -- a 20-month gap between secondary school and university. This gap does not pose a problem for the wealthiest students, who fill the time with pay-to-play extracurricular activities, but it leaves the vast majority of Kenyan students completely idle. It forces long-term non-activity on bright, capable, and youthful minds.

S.A. plans to first utilize its own students for this new project -- they are perfect candidates for it since they are exceptionally bright but also tremendously needy. Absent a gap year program, the investment we have made in developing a generation of Kenyan leaders will inevitably sour (indeed, many of our females, lacking other immediate options, are susceptible to unwanted marriages and other societal pressures). S.A.'s gap year program will take a traditional problem (the gap period) and seize the opportunity to provide additional education and training, focusing on leadership development, English, and technology. This type of targeted supplemental education is simply unavailable in Kenya, and the dearth of viable, effective leadership in the country is a direct result of that.

What is your area of work? (Please check as many as apply.)

Children & Youth , At risk youth , Boys' development , Education , Girls' development , Mentorship , Youth development , Youth leadership , Development & Prosperity , Mentorship , Poverty alleviation , Scholarships and grants , Mentoring , Youth leadership.

What impact have you had?

Starfish Africa currently sponsors 38 students at 11 of the best secondary schools in Kenya. For our sponsored students, the impact is immense as Starfish Africa targets it scholarships at talented students that are contemplating dropping out of school after 8th grade. Our sponsorships make an impact by: (i) allowing education to continue for these students, (ii) ensuring that the students attend only the best national schools instead of the rudimentary (or worse) secondary schools in their local areas, and (iii) training extra skills (e.g., leadership, computers) that the students would otherwise never have garnered.

This past December (2008) Starfish Africa proudly celebrated the secondary graduation of its first two sponsored students, Collins Ochieng and John Nzioka. For both these individuals and the students we are currently sponsoring, Starfish Africa has had a profound impact by allowing them to continue to build their minds and skills to the betterment of Kenya instead of allowing those minds and skills to be forsaken for lack of school fees.

Describe the primary problem(s) that your project is addressing.

Secondary school (high school) is elective in Kenya, meaning that students or their guardians have to pay fees in exchange for enrollment. When the state-sponsored education ends after Class 8 (grades K-8 equivalent), some students are forced to terminate their education due to the inability to pay these fees or other related pressures. As a result, some of the brightest and most promising students in the country are left by the wayside. Starfish Africa exists to both educate and develop these truly talented but truly needy students in an attempt to empower them to become the desperately needed agents of change in Kenya in the future that they have the potential to be. In doing this, Starfish Africa addresses the problem of wasted potential.

Describe the steps that your organization is taking to make your project successful.

Starfish Africa is taking three main steps to ensure the success of our project:

First, we retain a laser-like focus on accomplishing our mission – empowering bright future leaders in Kenya. We strive to grow and mold the way Starfish Africa administers its sponsorships and programs to accomplish this goal most efficiently.

Second, we hired a Kenyan field officer to provide oversight for our program. Starfish Africa constantly monitors our staffing needs in-country to ensure that our organization can efficiently administer its sponsorships, avoid the travails of corruption in the Kenyan education system, and efficiently accomplish our mission of developing future leaders.

Third, Starfish Africa is planning for the future. The Starfish Africa three- and five-year strategic plans include significant steps to ensure that the sponsorship investments we have dedicated to students to date will be seen to fruition. It is our goal to extend our shepherding of these students into the future until the point that they truly become agents of change in Kenya. The most obvious manifestation of this is the gap year program, whereby we will attack a systemic problem in Kenya in order to bring about true transformative leadership in our sponsored students.

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Success in Year 1:

During 2009, our main metric of success will be the continued successful sponsorship of our 38 extremely capable but needy Starfish students at elite high schools in Kenya. A closely related metric will be the performance of our nine Form 4 students (high school senior equivalents), who we have sponsored since 2005, on the national secondary school leaving examination in December; exceptional performance will further validate their potential as future leaders of Kenya and ensure admission at top-tier public universities. And we need to select another class of roughly 10 Starfish – talented but needy students hoping to join secondary school but lacking the funds to do so.

Success in Year 2:

During 2010, we will continue to pursue the objectives outlined for Success in Year 1 – continued successful sponsorships, exceptional student performance during the school year and especially on the Form 4 year-end examinations, and the selection of another class of Form 1 students. Additionally, success will be defined by the establishment of a Bridge Program for our student-graduates to cover the unique period in the Kenyan education system after secondary school before university (20 months); this gap can render students idle, but we plan to attack this problem by developing a leadership-oriented curriculum to further develop the Starfish students by training them during this “lull”.

Success in Year 3:

During 2011, success will continue to involve setting a standard of excellence regarding our 2009 and 2010 objectives. With two full classes of students (2009 and 2010 graduates) spending most of the year in the Bridge Program, though, success for Starfish Africa will be contingent on much more than just the successful sponsorship of students and the students’ academic prowess. The Program will have to be robust, and its impact on the students’ leadership ability, English and computer proficiency, and other key skills will need to be substantial. In addition to being ready for university, when we send forth our Starfish from under our watch, they will need to be ready for the world.

Do you have a business plan or strategic plan? (yes/no)

Yes. Starfish Africa is in phase one of a three-phase vision overall; phase two is the establishment of a Bridge program and phase three is expanding to other countries. We plan to start executing phase two in late 2009/early 2010.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 1:

Step 1 is the hiring of a full-time Program Director to both oversee our Field Officer, who is currently responsible for implementing our sponsorships, and to establish and implement the Bridge Program. This Program Director ideally will possess intimate knowledge of East Africa, a passion for children and education, and experience with teaching and curriculum development. This Director will be able to solidify our successes in the sponsorship arena while preparing us for the next steps as an organization. We will need to bolster our fundraising activities to raise the funds to cover a salary for this new position.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 2:

Step 2 is the acquisition of a permanent location and/or facility for our Bridge Program. This location can also serve as a headquarters for our break activities, which are held three times yearly during school holidays for our sponsored Starfish. As our Bridge Program matures into a robust leadership development academy, it will be critical to obtain our own physical location, to include full-time billeting for students and classrooms and computers for instruction.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 3:

Step 3 is the expansion of our sponsorship program and related activities into other African countries that experience the same problems that plague Kenya’s aspiring students. Tanzania, for instance, is an adjacent country with a slightly different educational system, but one that sees substantial numbers of bright but needy children leave school prematurely. Tanzania would be a logical next step for our organization as we continue to grow.

Describe the expected results of these actions.

Starfish Africa exists to identify, cultivate, and develop the next wave of leaders in Africa. We implement this mission by targeting one specific population – the extremely bright but needy children who frequently abandon their educations due to school fees and related pressures. We currently outsource their education to elite Kenyan public schools; we find these institutions to be great homes for our gifted Starfish students. But we bolster their standard education with leadership and spiritual development, and we seek to instill in our Starfish a passion for their home communities and country by providing them service opportunities. By implementing our Bridge Program, we will take this to the next level. We will mold our Starfish, who hail from slums and rural farms, and who often lack parents and support networks, from newly-educated but raw teenagers into dynamic and inspired adults. When they show up at university, they will be poised to make a difference.

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

In 2005, Starfish Africa’s founder, Peter Kingston, traveled to Kenya for an extended visit. During his time in Kenya, he became aware of a young Kenyan named Collins Ochieng. Collins was in High School and was considered exceptionally intelligent -- a future leader of Kenya.

Due to his family’s substantial hardships, including the deaths of both parents and his siblings, Collins was set to drop out of high school because he could no longer afford his school fees. However, before leaving Kenya, Peter promised to pay Collins' school fees (~$800/year) for the rest of high school. With this promise, Collins was able to continue and finish his education, and the idea behind Starfish Africa was born. Later that year, Starfish Africa incorporated in the United States and, the following year, received NGO status in Kenya.

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

Peter Kingston is the president and founder of Starfish Africa. In 2000, when he was a sophomore at Princeton University, he traveled to Kenya for a study-abroad experience during which time he participated in service projects and taught English and Christian education. Upon returning to Princeton, Peter completed a senior thesis in 2002 focused on the problem of "brain drain" (i.e., talented individuals in a country leave to pursue opportunities abroad to the detriment of development and progress at home) in East Africa, specifically in Kenya. Mr. Kingston continued to focus on and travel to Kenya after his time at Princeton and he eventually founded Starfish Africa in 2005.

Mr. Kingston believes that Kenya's (and Africa's) main problem is a lack of effective leadership in all spheres of society. By targeting Kenya's brightest students, and by augmenting their standard course of study with service opportunities and a leadership-oriented curriculum, Starfish Africa can mold and develop the leaders Kenya needs.

First Lieutenant Kingston is currently serving active duty with the U.S. Marine Corps. Mr. Kingston will attend Stanford Graduate School of Business after the completion of his military responsibilities in the fall of 2009. Mr. Kingston and his wife Carrie currently live in San Diego, CA.

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

Starfish Africa was originally contacted by Yuting Beverly Lien, Global Outreach Marketing Coordinator for Ashoka's Changemakers, via e-mail correspondence in May 2009.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What would prevent your project from being a success?

The biggest hurdles threatening Starfish Africa's success are the larger challenges posed by Kenya's current economic and political realities. As illustrated by Kenya's high unemployment rate and low GDP per capita, Starfish students will graduate into an economic climate that is challenging at best. Separately, the tribal violence that erupted in late 2007 and the corruption accusations that are commonly directed toward politicians are evidence of political instability that adds to the difficulties in Kenya. These realities challenge Starfish's work to develop students that will grow into future agents of change. That said, it is Starfish Africa's firm belief that the care we take with student selection and monitoring, and our efforts to provide mentorship and training beyond simple sponsorships will allow our students to succeed in spite of these challenges.

Financing source

No.

Starfish Africa does not maintain official connections or partnerships at this time. That said, many informal arrangements exist with partner NGOs and partner secondary schools in Kenya.

If yes, provide organization name.

n/a

How long has this organization been operating? (i.e. less than a year; 1-5 years; more than 5 years)

Since March 2005 (4.5 years).

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

Yes. Starfish Africa has a 9-person board of Directors. Biographical information regarding the board can be found at the following website: http://www.starfishafrica.org/board.shtml

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs? (yes/no)

No.

Starfish Africa does not maintain official connections or partnerships at this time. That said, many informal arrangements exist with partner NGOs and partner secondary schools in Kenya.

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses? (yes/no)

No.

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government? (yes/no)

No.

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

The informal partnerships Starfish Africa maintains with the 11 partner schools its Starfish Students attend allows for efficient placement, monitoring, and sponsorship of its 38 students. Starfish Africa has selected these partner schools carefully and hopes these partnerships will endure for many years to come.

How many people will your project serve annually?

Fewer than 100.

What is the total number of employees and total number of volunteers at your organization?

2 employees, 20-30 volunteers.

What is your organization's business classification?

Non-profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

Have you received funding from any of the following groups? (Please check as many as apply.)

None of the above.

No More Dead End Scores for Kenyan Kids: Building a WISERBridge to Secondary School

Created on 06/3/2009 by WISER

WISERBridge promotes equal access to higher education by improving primary students’ academic outcomes through remedial student revision courses, targeted teacher professional development, streamlined benchmark assessments, collaboration between students, parents and educators, and an incentivized pay system.  WISERBridge enforces accountability to student performance, empowering students, teachers and parents through its vision.

About You

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Location

Project Street Address

P.O. Box 51

Project City

Muhuru Bay

Project Province/State

Nyanza

Project Postal/Zip Code

40409

Project Country

Kenya

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Country your work focuses on:

Kenya

Website URL

What stage is your project in?

Operating for less than a year

YouTube Upload

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

<$10

Name Your Project

No More Dead End Scores for Kenyan Kids: Building a WISERBridge to Secondary School

Describe Your Idea

WISERBridge promotes equal access to higher education by improving primary students’ academic outcomes through remedial student revision courses, targeted teacher professional development, streamlined benchmark assessments, collaboration between students, parents and educators, and an incentivized pay system.  WISERBridge enforces accountability to student performance, empowering students, teachers and parents through its vision.Unlike many educational programs, WISERBridge does not focus on resources like textbooks to increase educational outcomes.  Instead, it focuses on the interaction between the key people involved in education, the teachers and the students.   Our main goal is to raise the KCPE exam scores to a 275 average by November.  Given a comprehensive baseline examination in January as a mock KCPE, students in Standard 8 scored a 193 average out of 500 possible points.  By the end of the first term in March, students increased their average on another comprehensive, mock KCPE assessment to a 230 average.  In only one term, Muhuru Bay is almost half way to their goal of a 275 average, an increase of nearly 20%.  WISERBridge has spawned other ideas for development within the division.  Since communities in Muhuru Bay are held accountable to specific quantitative goals, many find innovative ways to improve the standard of education in the community.  For example, in order to increase the amount of time students are able to revise at night, parents and schools have invested in solar lighting.  The attitude of students, parents, and educators in the primary schools has shifted from hopeless to inspired, with educators and students competing against one another and working incredibly hard to achieve specific, measurable goals.  

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Describe your idea in fewer than 50 words.

WISERBridge promotes equal access to higher education by improving primary students’ academic outcomes through remedial student revision courses, targeted teacher professional development, streamlined benchmark assessments, collaboration between students, parents and educators, and an incentivized pay system. WISERBridge enforces accountability to student performance, empowering students, teachers and parents through its vision.

What makes your idea unique?

Unlike many educational programs, WISERBridge does not focus on resources like textbooks to increase educational outcomes. Instead, it focuses on the interaction between the key people involved in education, the teachers and the students. Master teachers at each primary school are provided with a supplemental incentive for teaching extra hours to prepare students for the KCPE exam. At each of the 11 primary schools now involved in the program, 7-8 extra hours of instructional time are added to the school week for Standard 8 students, with a heavy focus on the core subjects that will help students in secondary school – English, Mathematics and Kiswahili.

Selected by the headteachers to lead these revision courses, teachers are then kept accountable to the student results through a pay for performance metric. Teachers are expected to help their students grow a specified amount of points each term, and in turn, are rewarded when students achieve these measurable outcomes. While there have been several experiments to see the effects of pay for performance in Kenya, the focus on specific quantitative results, differentiated by the scores at the different primary schools, is unique. In addition, WISERBridge provides access to remedial revision courses for all students registered in Standard 8. There are no restrictions as to age, gender or geographic location. Thus, every child or adult enrolled in Standard 8 receives an ample opportunity to increase their performance.

Most importantly, WISERBridge has spawned other ideas for development within the division. Since communities in Muhuru Bay are held accountable to specific quantitative goals, many find innovative ways to improve the standard of education in the community. For example, in order to increase the amount of time students are able to revise at night, parents and schools have invested in solar lighting. The attitude of students, parents, and educators in the primary schools has shifted from hopeless to inspired, with educators and students competing against one another and working incredibly hard to achieve specific, measurable goals.

What is your area of work? (Please check as many as apply.)

Children & Youth , At risk youth , Boys' development , Education , Education reform , Girls' development , Youth development , Youth leadership , Development & Prosperity , Community development , Economic development , Poverty alleviation , Rural development , Scholarships and grants , Sustainable development , Urban development , Rural , Urban , Health education , HIV/AIDS , Wellness , Human Rights & Peace , Civil rights , Gender equity , Men's issues , Vulnerable populations , Women's issues , Men's Issues , Transparency , Women's Issues , Youth leadership.

What impact have you had?

While the implementation of WISERBridge is only five months old, it has had an incredibly and measurable impact in the Muhuru Bay community. Our goal is to raise the KCPE exam scores to a 275 average by November. Given a comprehensive baseline examination in January as a mock KCPE, students in Standard 8 scored a 193 average out of 500 possible points. By the end of the first term in March, students increased their average on another comprehensive, mock KCPE assessment to a 230 average. In only one term, Muhuru Bay is almost half way to their goal of a 275 average, an increase of nearly 20%. In fact, one school increased their students’ average 71 points from their original baseline scores of the same children. And this is only after three months of intensified review. While the same jump in growth is not feasible for the next two terms, a 275 point average was an unthinkable number just five short months ago. Because of this growth, 100% of the girls selected to become a part of WISER are expected to be from the Muhuru Bay community.

In addition to these outcomes, there are numerous immeasurable outcomes that demonstrate the impact of WISERBridge. Attitudes toward education, school culture, collaboration amongst primary school teachers, and primary school competition have all been affected in a positive way by WISERBridge. While teachers are motivated to help their students perform with transparent outcome, and they are in direct competition with other primary schools, there is also a sense of shared responsibility amongst the teachers in the community. They realize that the goal is to increase the academic average and rigor in all of Muhuru Bay. This sense has even urged leaders in the community to monitor the results of their local schools, encouraging the entire community to play a part in increasing the academic standard for primary students in Class 8.

Describe the primary problem(s) that your project is addressing.

In the beginning, WISERBridge was created as a supplemental program to address the problem that our larger organization, WISER (Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research) was having in finding qualified candidates for our secondary school for girls. Currently, only 5% of girls in Muhuru enroll in secondary school. Most are forced into early marriages without hesitation; funds for secondary school are given to boys in the family or are even just used to survive. If a girl acquires the funds for secondary school, it is often through prostitution, where women are seen as selling their bodies to feed their mids. In fact, most girls in Muhuru Bay do not achieve the 250 point average required to even enter secondary school. The average for Muhuru Bay last year was only a 213, the lowest in all of Migori District, and arguably one of the lowest in the country.

Muhuru Bay is not unique, however. According to a speech made on 18 February 2009 about the enrolment rates of children in schools, President Kibaki of Kenya stated, “At secondary level, the net enrolment rate stands at 25.2 percent for boys and 23.2 percent for girls." While Kenya suffers from a low net secondary enrolment as a country, in hardship areas like Muhuru Bay, the problem is much worse. Thus, in order for girls to even qualify to enter the doors of a secondary school like WISER, an institution rearing to be one of the best secondary schools in the country, we needed to increase the academic rigor of the community. The headteachers and administrators of the 9 public primary schools in the area and the Executive Director of WISER created the idea for the program, WISERBridge.

Describe the steps that your organization is taking to make your project successful.

What makes WISERBridge a successful program is that all important steps were designed and implemented from the key stakeholders and community members in Muhuru Bay. In addition, WISERBridge is always soliciting feedback and adjusting course based on this feedback in order to make it as effective as possible. Most importantly, every step is taken carefully so as to ensure that it is moving students towards making substantial academic outcomes. The steps that have been involved in these ongoing processes are as follows:

1.) Initial Brainstorming of Program – Critical thought and strategic thinking took place between master teachers, educators, community officials such as chiefs and divisional officers, and WISER Board members to make the program as simple and effective as possible with a limited amount of resources. The focus became on the people involved in the program, with two-thirds of the budget going directly to the supplemental payments of the teachers. From these ideas, the WISERBridge determined its quantitative and qualitative goals as well as its strategic plan.

2.) Acquiring SEED Funding – In order to acquire the $10,000 USD needed to fund the initial year of the program, a grant was written and fulfilled through the Goldman Sachs Foundation.

3.) Organizing Logistics - The basic components of the program consist of 7 hours of extra instructional time, before or after school with a heavier focus on English, Mathematics and Kiswahili, the subjects that students score the lowest in. The WISERBridge Director and headteachers also coordinated: the creation and distribution of streamlined assessments, differentiated schedules of instructional time for each of the nine primary schools in the area, the distribution of additional resources, the pay for performance metrics, a handbook of teacher and student expectations.

4.) Investing Teachers and Students – WISERBridge gauged the best way to invest teachers and students in the program, providing positive reinforcement for the teachers with the pay for performance metric. Teachers receive a food allowance that increases term to term if their students reach benchmark goals. Students receive awards for improvement and performance based on their end of term exam results. Awards range from solar powered flashlights to movie viewings in town, and have proven extremely effective in increasing student motivation. In addition, they also participate in “student exchanges,” in which they visit the highest performing primary school in the division so that they are motivated in achieving.

5.) Increasing Rigor in the Classroom – After logistics and investment were secured, the WISERBridge Director focused on the rigor in the classroom, ensuring that lessons are organized, relevant and effective, teachers are following schemes of work, teachers are engaging students in lessons, assessment data is utilized from formative assessments, and students have ample time for independent work. Teachers are scored on a 3-point rubric for each of the topics above by both the WISERBridge Director and other educators that observe the lessons.

6.) Increasing Parental Awareness and Involvement – Parents are given opportunities to learn more about WISERBridge and their students’ performance. They are invited to awards ceremonies, receiving awards for their children’s performance. In addition, several schools have increased parental involvement through the use of their school committees, inviting parents for informational sessions on WISERBridge, the KCPE, and scholarship opportunities for secondary school.

7.) Continually Increasing the Effectiveness – WISERBridge realizes that it is still a new organization and it encourages formal and informal feedback from the community. Teachers continually fill out surveys to provide concrete feedback, the WISERBridge Director solicits direct feedback from each headteacher and deputy weekly as well. WISERBridge then uses this feedback to adjust course when things are not working or can be made better. For example, when teachers were complaining that their food supplement was not enough for the amount of time and effort put into WISERBridge, our program responded immediately, using a focus group to uncover the idea of a pay for performance type system. In addition, when students at the two lowest schools seemed discouraged after the first end of term exam, the WISERBridge Director met with these schools to create action plans for students and teachers to become reinvested in the program. One of the reasons that WISERBridge has been so effective is because it has been successfully incorporated into each of the schools in a different way. It adapts and adjusts course based on the schools’ needs instead of following a rigid model.

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Success in Year 1:

While WISERBridge has already demonstrated an impact in its first few months, we need to ensure that teachers, students and other stakeholders are continually invested in meeting the goals of the first year. Goals for 2009 are as follows:
1.) Increase KCPE exam scores by an average of 82 points for the Standard 8 students in Muhuru Bay primary schools. (This is a 42% increase, with the beginning measurement being a baseline examination, in which the average score was 193 points out 500. If students in Muhuru meet their goal, they will have increased to a 275 average.)
2.) Ensure that over 70% of admissions to WISER are from the local community.
3.) Build measurement tools that increase data-driven instruction in the community to increase the awareness of academic standing for the students, parents, and teachers and to increase the level of rigor exhibited by the students.
4.) Ensure the success of a Teacher Resource Center and student study centers so that teachers and students are empowered with the tools to increase KCPE exam scores.
5.) Increase collaboration between and among teachers, students, parents and administrators in the community.
6.) Ensure the program’s self-sustainability through entrepreneurial endeavors and businesses.

Because WISERBridge is already funded until January 2010, we are focusing exclusively on these goals to ensure its success.

Success in Year 2:

In order for WISERBridge to continue its success in its second year, teachers, students, parents, and administrators need the tools to increase the rigor and standard of education in the primary schools. To be successful in Year 2, WISERBridge must continue to promote equal opportunities for girls and boys to advance to higher levels of education. While part of this goal involves continually improving KCPE exam scores for Standard 8 students, WISERBridge also aims to narrow the “gender gap” in the primary schools in Muhuru in the following ways:
1.) Expand WISERBridge to other upper primary classes (Classes 5-7), utilizing differentiated goals for particular grade levels that are meant to increase rigor in the classroom, benchmark successes, and invest students in performing at higher levels.
2.) Professionally develop teachers with technology training, expert seminars, school visits, and other means to improve the quality of instruction.
3.) Assist schools with entrepreneurial endeavors that will help them to generate extra income for student groups, materials, teacher incentives, and other investments.
4.) Increase communication, collaboration and competition amongst the primary schools in Muhuru Bay.
5.) Create opportunities for students in Standard 8 to receive funds for secondary schooling.

WISERBridge relies on a $15,000 USD budget that will also need to be fulfilled through WISER NGO donations, outside grants, and income generated from small business endeavors.

Success in Year 3:

In Year 3, WISERBridge must focus on tightening all of the programmatic initiatives set out in Years 1 and 2. While Year 3 may have different quantitative goals, it will still follow along the same vision as set out from the beginning. Most importantly, Year 3 must ensure the shift in funding from external sources to internal sources. Our goal is to have 75% of funding come internally from within the schools, with 25% coming from outside sources, mostly to fund the salary of the WISERBridge Director.

Do you have a business plan or strategic plan? (yes/no)

Yes, we have a strategic plan for the next 3 years. We also have strategic plans for 2009 and for each term within 2009 in order to ensure progress to our long-term and short-term goals.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 1:

Shift the funding from external, grassroots donations to internal sources, with funds coming directly from the schools themselves. In order for this project to be sustainable without the support of the WISER NGO and school, it is essential that schools develop entrepreneurial initiatives to help them secure funding for their individualized needs of the program. By doing so, they will be able to expand the program in ways that they see fit for the school. Several schools are interested in launching such entrepreneurial intiatives and are acquiring venture capital to do so. We are helping them to seek small loans or venture capital grants from organizations such as SolarAid and Caleb Bank to get them started in this process.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 2:

Include an additional motivational factor in the program by providing greater opportunities for students to gain scholarships for secondary school. While WISERBridge motivates students with a clear, measurable goal, it has been difficult for students to see beyond primary school simply because of secondary school fees. Working in conjunction with the businesses that WISERBridge wants to include in each of the primary schools, we also think it is vital for primary schools to provide its students with greater opportunities for secondary school in the form of scholarships. Because the average salary earned in Muhuru Bay is around 80 KSH ($1 USD) per month, funding secondary school is not an option for many families. If primary schools are able to incentivize the students with monetary support, however, this could increase student motivation and lead to even higher academic outcomes.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 3:

Continually increase the effectiveness of the program, proving its feasibility so that it can serve as a model for other high-need communities in Africa. In order to do so, it is important for the program to grow programmatically and achieve the goals and results expected in its first two years. This is an action that is already ongoing, but is of utmost importance. Teachers are solicited for feedback consistently and thoughtfully, and adjustments are continually made to ensure the program is working. Programmatic changes that are occurring include the expansion of WISERBridge to all upper primary classes, increased amount of resources for students and teachers, increasing parental involvement, and increasing the rigor in the classroom.

Describe the expected results of these actions.

If schools are able to fund the project internally, they will be able to expand the program in ways that they see fit for their school. For example, schools that are extremely isolated from any roads or markets can help fund fieldtrips for students to travel to such areas in order to gain more exposure to the outside world. This will help with student motivation and teacher motivation, thereby driving up student results. As mentioned, schools will also be able to fund scholarship programs for its primary students. This motivates students to perform, and gives them a concrete way of acquiring the funds desperately needed to attend secondary school.

By tightening the programmatic elements already in place, we expect that the academic outcomes of the students will continue to rise. After proving its success over two full school years, WISERBridge could be an effective model for other hardship areas to utilize in Kenya and throughout Africa.

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

In May of 2008, our WISER Board realized that while we were building a secondary school for girls, very few of the girls in our community would even qualify to enter the doors of WISER. Worried that we wouldn't be able to serve the very population we were building a school for, I had a brief conversation with one of the headteachers of a nearby primary school, Senye. When I asked him what the solution he thought we needed to raise the admittance of girls in secondary he suggested the idea of "bridging" them from primary to secondary school through a supplemental program. Hence, the idea for "WISERBridge" was born.

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

WISERBridge itself is a true community project, being formulated from meetings and brainstorming sessions with government officials, headteachers, teachers, WISER Board members, and students. The social innovator behind the project is the community, and it has been so successful so quickly because of this.

WISER, however, is an organization that was founded from a partnership between a Duke University professor, a Duke student, and me. I am currently the Director of the Institute for Gender, Poverty, and Development at Egerton University, and I grew up in the Muhuru Bay community. In fact, I am the only woman from Muhuru Bay to ever earn a university degree, and I am the only person from Muhuru to earn a Philosophical Doctorate. I do not want to be the anamoly. Together with this community partnership, I am ready to make a systemic change and sustainable impact in Muhuru and Kenya.

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

I first heard about Changemakers through a friend.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What would prevent your project from being a success?

Even a teachers’ strike in Kenya could not stop it from being a success! Key organizers of the program must believe in its vision and have a sense of possibility that this program can change the standard of primary education in Africa. If key organizers are not convinced or not invested in the project, it is difficult to motivate educators, administrators, and community members to invest in it as well. Just like any great teacher invests her students in the work that is being done in the classroom, the key organizers must also lead the stakeholders in WISERBridge to continually believe in, support, and work hard to achieve the goals of the project.

Financing source

Yes

If yes, provide organization name.

WISER (Women's Institute for Secondary Education and Research)

How long has this organization been operating? (i.e. less than a year; 1-5 years; more than 5 years)

1-5 years

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

We have a Board of Directors.

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs? (yes/no)

Yes.

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses? (yes/no)

Yes.

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government? (yes/no)

Yes.

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

Our partnership with SolarAid, Kenya has been critical in providing our community with affordable lighting for classrooms, homes, and churches. In addition SolarAid is also providing macro solar installations at two of the primary schools in the area, giving them the venture capital necessary to start small businesses at their schools. In this way, these schools will be able to start funding their WISERBridge programs without the help of the WISER NGO.

Because our WISERBridge Director is affiliated with Teach For America, we also have a fantastic partnership with staff members of this U.S. NGO. Teach For America has provided many of the ideas and instructional materials utilised in teacher seminars, and following its focus on measurable outcomes has been crucial in the success of WISERBridge.

Our partnership with the local government in Kenya has been crucial to our success. All of the four local chiefs and the divisional officer of Muhuru Bay have been instrumental in promoting WISERBridge at each of the local schools. In addition, councilors, the area education officer, opinion leaders, and even the local Member of Parliament in Nyatike Constituency have all recognised WISER as a leader in educational development in the community of Muhuru Bay, and Nyanza and in general.

Several small businesses have also partnered with WISER in order to help provide materials and resources for the WISERBridge classrooms such as printer ink, paper, textbooks, and other office supplies. One of the largest business partners is called the YSE (Young Social Entrepreneurs), which donates 15% of its proceeds directly to WISER. This partnership was started in the community by the youth leadership and has been an incredibly monetary support network in Muhuru Bay.

WISER also partners with numerous partner schools in the U.S. that are invaluable in terms of providing volunteer support, monetary support, and ideas for the school itself. They also volunteered within WISERBridge classrooms, helping to increase the rigor and expectations of the students in Standard 8.

How many people will your project serve annually?

For the first year, our project serves 400 students, with access given to all students in Standard 8. We also serve 42 teachers. If you include the families of the students and the impact that this will have in the community, we indirectly serve 36,000 people in Muhuru Bay. By 2010, we aim to also include standards 6 and 7, which is 1500 students in the community. With expansion to other communities in Kenya or Africa, this project could serve millions of students throughout the continent annually.

What is the total number of employees and total number of volunteers at your organization?

150, mostly consisting of volunteers.

What is your organization's business classification?

Non-profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

Have you received funding from any of the following groups? (Please check as many as apply.)

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) .

Educate! -- Educating and Empowering Africa's Future Leaders

Created: 06/03/09 by John McDermott

Location

main Boulder, Colorado
Uganda
40° 0' 53.9496" N, 105° 16' 13.9656" W

Through an innovative two-year program of study, guided by Ugandan university graduates and emphasizing critical thinking, personal engagement, and mentoring, Educate! supplements the traditional curriculum of partner secondary schools in Uganda to prepare students to be socially responsible leaders in their communities and throughout the country.  By challenging students to become responsible leaders and to develop social enterprises that address community needs, Educate!

IkamvaYouth-in-a-Box

Created on 06/2/2009 by Joy Olivier

IkamvaYouth is a by-youth, for-youth non-profit organisation that enables disadvantaged South African youth to get themselves out of poverty and into university. Its simple but comprehensive model is highly effective, and ensures that learners get the grades, information, skills and support they need to move from secondary to tertiary education.

About You

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Location

Project Street Address

Cnr Lansdowne and Cekece Road, Khayelitsha

Project City

Cape Town

Project Province/State

Western Cape

Project Postal/Zip Code

3600

Project Country

South Africa

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Country your work focuses on:

South Africa. (We work in Khayelitsha, Nyanga and Masiphumelele in the Western Cape; Cato Manor in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Ebony/Ivory Park in Gauteng)

Website URL

What stage is your project in?

Operating for more than 5 years

YouTube Upload

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

<$100

Name Your Project

IkamvaYouth-in-a-Box

Describe Your Idea

IkamvaYouth is a by-youth, for-youth non-profit organisation that enables disadvantaged South African youth to get themselves out of poverty and into university. Its simple but comprehensive model is highly effective, and ensures that learners get the grades, information, skills and support they need to move from secondary to tertiary education.The project has been running since 2003, and most of the programmes are now managed by ex-learners in the community where it first began. Impressed by IkamvaYouth's significant impact and results (e.g. 92% of last year's grade 12 learners at the Khayelitsha branch are either in university or employed), social entrepreneurs have begun running IkamvaYouth branches in other communities.Multiple entities (libraries, NGO’s, and schools) have approached us to assist in implementing the IkamvaYouth model, and IkamvaYouth-in-a-Box is the toolkit that will enable them to do so. IkamvaYouth-in-a-Box open sources IkamvaYouth's model, so that anyone who wants to be a part of the learning revolution can implement it at their local library, school or community centre.The "Box" contains electronic and hardcopy How-to guides and templates, as well as tools for monitoring and tracking, to guide the implementation of IkamvaYouth's programmes and processes. An annual leadership development and training bootcamp will bring all the people who are running IkamvaYouth chapters and wish to do so in the coming year together for a week. The Camp will provide opportunities for experiential learning, skill sharing, personal and community development. A core support team will provide ongoing support and training to new and expanding chapters of IkamvaYouth.

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Describe your idea in fewer than 50 words.

IkamvaYouth enables youth to get the grades, information, skills and support they need to lift themselves out of poverty into university. Most return as volunteers: project beneficiaries become its drivers. IY-in-a-Box enables the model's roll-out. It comprises a:

* Toolkit (How-to guides, templates and tools)

* Skillshare Boot Camp; ongoing training and support for new chapters

What makes your idea unique?

It's high-impact and low-cost

It shifts paradigms and enables the disadvantaged to become advantaged

It produces great results (learners' academic performance and access to higher education) in contexts that generally produce some of the poorest results in the world

It is run by-youth, for-youth and the project's beneficiaries become its drivers

What is your area of work? (Please check as many as apply.)

Children & Youth , At risk youth , Behavioral issues , Boys' development , Education , Education reform , Girls' development , Mentorship , Play , Youth development , Youth leadership , Development & Prosperity , Community development , Conscious consumerism , Corporate social responsibility , Design , Economic development , Employment , Income generation , Information technology , Mentorship , Networking , Poverty alleviation , Scholarships and grants , Social Enterprise , Technology , Sustainable design , Health education , HIV/AIDS , Sexuality , Civil rights , Crime prevention , Gender equity , Racial equality , Vulnerable populations , Public Participation & Engagement , Arts and culture , Citizen participation , Ethics , Intergenerational relations , Media , Mentoring , Transparency , Volunteerism , Youth leadership.

What impact have you had?

Nationally, the matric pass rate has dropped from 68.3% in 2005 to 62.5% in 2008. Yet IkamvaYouth has achieved a 100 – 90% pass rate working with learners in impoverished schools.

Only 10% of pupils in the South African school system achieve results good enough for them to enter university (SAIRR) and unemployment of youth is estimated at over 60%. Yet at IkamvaYouth:

* 71% of the class of 2008 gained access into tertiary studies; 12% gained employment

* 92% of the class of 2007; 62% of our class of 2005; 42% of our class of 2006; and 76% of the class of 2005 gained access to either tertiary education, learnerships or employment in the year following matriculation.

The most convincing evidence that IkamvaYouth's contribution is worthwhile is that between 40 and 60% of each matriculating class stays with the organisation as volunteer tutors and mentors. Not only do they spend their afternoons, Saturday mornings and two weeks of their holidays engaged in peer-to-peer tutoring and mentoring, but 75% of the Western Cape branch's management committee comprises learners from the classes of 2005 and 2006.

Describe the primary problem(s) that your project is addressing.

According to SAIRR, less than 10% of all South African youth access higher education. IkamvaYouth addresses the lack of black professionals, brain drain, poverty and youth turning to crime, and enables young people to overcome their contextual challenges, rather than fall victim to them.

South Africa's education system is in crisis. Learner performance in numeracy and literacy assessment is abominable (e.g. see the TIMSS scores), and very few learners living in disadvantaged communities access higher education. Most are computer illiterate and more than 40% are HIV positive.

Describe the steps that your organization is taking to make your project successful.

- Building the capacity of young people to develop themselves and each other

- Tracking and monitoring progress and impact

- Documenting processes and policies

- Customising tools for data collection and analysis; information management and sharing

- Collaborating and sharing with partner organisations

- Achieving sustainability by turning project beneficiaries into project drivers

- Maintaining low-cost/high impact balance to ensure maximum replicability and scale

- Adopting a whole-community approach and working with the schools, parents, ngos, learners, activists, community leaders, local Government officials and young people.

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Success in Year 1:

2009
- IkamvaYouth operating with chapters in 3 communities in the Western Cape
- One chapter in Kwa-Zulu Natal
- One chapter in Gauteng

Between 60 and 100% of Grade 12s from Khayelitsha and Cato Manor perform well in their exams and access post-school opportunities in 2010.

Success in Year 2:

2010
- 4 chapters in the Western Cape
- Computer lab established in Kwa-Zulu Natal branch (all other chapters have done so already) + another chapter established
- 2 chapters in Gauteng

Between 60 and 100% of Grade 12s from Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Cato Manor & Ebony/Ivory Park perform well in their exams and access post-school opportunities in 2011.

Success in Year 3:

2011
- 5 chapters in the Western Cape
- 3 chapters in Kwa-Zulu Natal
- 3 chapters in Gauteng

Between 60 and 100% of Grade 12s from 3 chapters in the Western Cape, 2 chapters in KZN and 2 chapters in Gauteng perform well in their exams and access post-school opportunities in 2012.

Do you have a business plan or strategic plan? (yes/no)

Currently in the process of being developed.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 1:

- Consolidate and document processes
- Improve efficiency of programme implementation, tracking, reporting and monitoring processes
- Provide support and resources to build the capacity of the current provincial directors

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 2:

- Raise awareness of the model to social entrepreneurs, organisations with similar missions, teachers, students, businesses, Government etc.
- Secure seed funding for new chapters
- Build core organisational capacity at a national level in order to respond to the need and provide ongoing support and training to the local chapters

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 3:

- Hold bootcamps for social entrepreneurs establishing IkamvaYouth chapters in their communities, providing opportunities for skillsharing, community building and leadership development.
- Provide on-going support and training to budding local chapters.
- Provincial directors establish new chapters as existing chapters become sustainable in terms of their human resources (ex-learners are now running programmes) and financial resources (local businesses / foundations / indviduals are sponsoring the programmes).

Describe the expected results of these actions.

Step 1: IkamvaYouth-in-a-Box: The model is documented and published, processes clearly outlined and the tools are customised and configured. Provincial directors' capacity is built.

Step 2: Provincial directors can support leaders of new chapters in their provinces. More social entrepreneurs learn about the model and set about implementing it in other communities.

Step 3: Existing chapters produce results and more chapters are established.

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

When 65% of the class of 2005 enrolled in tertiary education, and 60% stayed on with the organisation as volunteer tutors, I realised that the model was far more effective that anyone would ever have guessed, as well as sustainable. Seeing these learners move from their shacks to residences at universities, and return to the townships on weekends to tutor, I was excited and humbled. I quit my full-time job and became a freelancer in order to be able to spend as much time as possible working with the other volunteers (some of them the learners from the class of 2005!) who have helped me develop and build IkamvaYouth.

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

While working in Science, Technology and Innovation policy at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), Joy Olivier was struck by the shocking lack of learners matriculating from secondary school with sufficient grades to access tertiary education. She's been volunteering with IkamvaYouth since 2003. She has worked for a think-tank on the use of technology for development (bridges.org) and conducted research for various universities, Government departments and NGOs. She is the regional manager of TEACH South Africa in the Western Cape, the chairperson for Lucca Leadership South Africa and is currently completing her MA in Education and Technology at the University of Cape Town.

While Joy is the co-founder and executive director, she is certainly not the only social innovator who have developed the IkamvaYouth model. Others include Susan Godlonton, currently doing her PhD in Economics at the University of Michigan; Luyanda Kota, currently running the Western Cape branches; Julia de Kadt, the founder of IkamvaYouth KZN and PhD candidate working in Education at the Human Sciences Research Council; Andrew Barret who founded IkamvaYouth Gauteng; as well as all the members of the management committee (many ex-learners).

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

I was contacted by Yuting Beverly Lien, who was referred to me by Dana Ledyard at the International Youth Foundation.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What would prevent your project from being a success?

- Lack of funding
- Losing key members before the model is documented
- The school system continues to deteriorate to the point where our supplementary after-school efforts are insufficient to fill the gaps

Financing source

Y

If yes, provide organization name.

IkamvaYouth

How long has this organization been operating? (i.e. less than a year; 1-5 years; more than 5 years)

6 years

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

Yes

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs? (yes/no)

Yes

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses? (yes/no)

Yes

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government? (yes/no)

Yes

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

* IkamvaYouth is based at public libraries, schools and community centres. By partnering with Government departments, other non-profits and schools we supplement the education system at a low cost. (All our services are provided free of charge at venues provided to us free of charge).

* By partnering with other organisations in our programme delivery, we are able to ensure that our learners access their services as well (e.g. partner organisations in each community where we work provide HIV awareness workshops, voluntary counselling and testing, workshops on a variety of topics from leadership to entrepreneurship, etc.)

* By partnering with universities we are able to connect student tutors and mentors with our learners. Universities avail their campuses (including their science and computer labs) to us free of charge for our holiday programmes.

* By partnering with other organisations that develop open educational resources, we are able to share and access learning and teaching support materials.

* By partnering with Government libraries, which have allowed us to establish computer labs on their premises, we are able to provide low-cost telecentre services to the community during school hours and subsidise the free after-school computer classes and access provided to our learners.

* By sharing our knowledge, processes and materials with other organisations with a similar mission, we are able to build on the work of those around us in an aligned and mutually beneficial way.

* By partnering with businesses, we are able to channel resources and equipment, as well as opportunities such as scholarships and internships. Businesses are able to tap into the opportunities we provide them, from volunteering and corporate social investment to building the capacity and skills of young black people whom they will employ.

How many people will your project serve annually?

2009: 350 learners; 180 volunteers
2010: 620 learners; 320 volunteers
2011: 980 learners; 400 volunteers

What is the total number of employees and total number of volunteers at your organization?

2009: 7 staff; 180 volunteers
2010: 10 staff; 320 volunteers
2011: 15 staff; 400 volunteers

What is your organization's business classification?

Non-profit/NGO/citizen sector organization

Have you received funding from any of the following groups? (Please check as many as apply.)

None of the above.

The schools’ music challenge for individual and group performers.

Created on 06/1/2009 by richard bukenya

Starting this year, myself with my students are organising to hold an annual music challenge , for students only, which will involve both individual and group performers. In this, using flstudio8 software, we are composing five tracks in different styles i,e.

About You

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Location

Project Street Address

Project City

Kampala

Project Province/State

Buganda

Project Postal/Zip Code

256

Project Country

Uganda

Your idea

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Country your work focuses on:

Uganda

Website URL

What stage is your project in?

Idea phase

YouTube Upload

What is the average monthly household income in your target community, in US Dollars?

<$50

Name Your Project

The schools’ music challenge for individual and group performers.

Describe Your Idea

Starting this year, myself with my students are organising to hold an annual music challenge , for students only, which will involve both individual and group performers. In this, using flstudio8 software, we are composing five tracks in different styles i,e. RnB, reggae, hiphop, dancehall and afrobeat.We shall then send a copy of thesel tracks to each of the participating schools.The participants will then have to create their own song alongside one of these tracks.They will practice their song and are to present it on a concert where there will be a big audience and judges.On the competition day all the music will be played live by a band.Thereafter the winners will be announced and will recleive big prizes.Most important of these will be a chance to record their music in a good recording studio.

Innovation

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Describe your idea in fewer than 50 words.

Me and my music students are going to organize an annual music challenge for teenage music students in high school. Participants will be provided with five tracks(which we are going to create with my students using flstudio8 software) of different styles of music and are to select one and compose a song alongside the track. They will have to present this song on the competition day to the judges and an audience.

What makes your idea unique?

For many decades now in my country, their have been music competitions but these have not really benefited the students who offer music as a subject and those young talented musicians. All competitions held have aimed at schools as choirs but the individual participants have not gained much.In these competitions participants have had to select one song by a famous music star and prctice and present it for adjudication.As a result the competitions have always ended and the participants end up just like that with no realistic benefit.Their talents have ended there in vain.More to that the young performers especially high school students have been scared to take part in these competitions because they are scared to compete against more experienced and older performers. In this music challenge we are aiming at giving our young music students plus others an opportunity to develop their music ideas to the fullest until they make it to big stages. We now also believe that a student who has completed high school education must be able to sustain themselves using the skills and knowledge they have acquired in school and be of use to the society. Both the learners and the community must benefit from our education and music is well known to send the loudest message. We want to give our students an ability to change their lives and those of others by the time they leave our schools.

Most important here is that I teach in a purely girls school comprising always over1000 girls and I want to make girls believe that they to can make it just like their male counterparts.There is obvious need to fight an inferiority complex developed by female learners themselves and their seniors as well. This will motivate many other girls out there if they see their colleagues tussling it out competitively with the male counterparts.

What is your area of work? (Please check as many as apply.)

Children & Youth , At risk youth , Behavioral issues , Child care , Child exploitation , Child labor , Child protection , Early childhood development , Education , Education reform , Girls' development , Mentorship , Play , Youth development , Youth leadership , Development & Prosperity , Community development , Corporate social responsibility , Design , Economic development , Employment , Income generation , Information technology , Mentorship , Networking , Poverty alleviation , Scholarships and grants , Sustainable development , Technology , Recreation , Sexuality , Abuse and violence , Child exploitation , Civil rights , Conflict resolution , Crime prevention , Indigenous cultures , Intercultural relations , Cultural preservation , Ethics , Intergenerational relations , Spirituality , Women's Issues .

What impact have you had?

The impact I have had so far can greatly be witnessed in my school. My senior five students can now all create a simple track with out words using flstudio8 and this has had them believe that they too can be great music producers. I have also been able to convince five schools to join this competition with each school promising to take part in each category. Many of my students can now capture, edit and make a simple music video using simple home cameras and simple video editing software like pinnacle and adobe. Within my own school we have started staging simple performances to the students.We are also creatiing tracks now for variious hymns in the protestant hymn book and this has made praise and worship more interesting. We have also started teaching our students various stage instruments like the keyboards and guitars.

Describe the primary problem(s) that your project is addressing.

•Many youth are currently unemployed in Uganda yet they have got certain skills they could apply to earn a living.
•The moral behavior of our young youth starts deteriorating during the teenage age and they need to be put to activities that make good use of their time.
•Us as high school teachers spend six years with the students and send them to world practically with no basic skills to sustain them and their immediate community.
•Female learners are often left behind in many important activities with a backward mind that these activities are meant for male learners.

Describe the steps that your organization is taking to make your project successful.

•My school has offered to host the competitions at the school theatre.
•I have been able to teach many girls the various software using the school’s computer center.
•My school has consistently held an annual inter house music, dance and drama competition which gives an opportunity to over 1000 girls to get to stage and present something. This has greatly erased stage fright from them.
•The school has at many occasions allowed students to present musical plays in different theatres which have gradually increased the students levels of performance.
•The students have also been taken out on numerous occasions to watch operas, jazz shows, concertos, and many other musical performances.
•At many occasions my school invites different local musicians to come and perform and talk to the girl as well about different issues concerning teenagers.

Impact

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What will it take for your project to be successful over the next three years? Success in Year 1:

•Being able to hold the first competition show and having at least 50 performers both boys and girls.
•Having the show recorded and broadcast on TV by various local TV stations for the whole public to watch and appreciate.

Success in Year 2:

•Being able to find the necessary sponsorship for this competition so as to market it among more schools and the whole community at large.
•Being able to record the songs of the winners in a real music studio.

Success in Year 3:

•Enlarging the competition to cover other parts of the country with regional competitions held before the final competition.
•Having the competition to be done in a public place where anyone can join the audience for the performers to perform for a mixed crowd other than fellow students only.

Do you have a business plan or strategic plan? (yes/no)

•Yes we have got a strategic plan for the whole project but no business plan yet. We are hoping to work with schools around Kampala city for the first competition and expand the competition to other regions in subsequent years. We are going to send our proposals to the different companies that are potential sponsors right away and link up with the media houses to market the idea. We are also aiming at pairing up the winners to work with each other after the competition for even better songs and get then work with a professional music producer.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 1:

•Convince the schools on the practical benefits of such a project to their learners and have them send their learners onto the competition.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 2:

•Obtaining different software and hardware to teach the different students and teachers on how to create their own simple music just with a computer, a microphone and a pair of headphones.A number of computers, microphones, speakers and headphones will need to be given to the different music departments in the schools.

What are the three most important actions needed to grow your initiative or organization? STEP 3:

• Enough financial ability to involve more schools and participants in the competition. Equipment like video cameras, a good public address system and simple music recording gadgets to enable easy production of the songs at no cost to the owners.In short to set up a schools' recording center.

Describe the expected results of these actions.

•After the schools have been convinced to send their students the competition will be held and this will definitely attract companies and media to sponsor the event and make bigger to attract a wider attention from the society. Hence more people will be reached.
•When there is acquisition of both soft and hardware many more students wont have to wait to receive finished tracks but instead will create their own and entirely own the song. The preceding performances will have more variety and this will give the performer liberty to discover their best potentials.
•Recording a song in a good studio in my country today costs over $50.This is too much money for a beginning musician and they might remember these are school children who even don’t have jobs to earn. So a studio to record the winners music for free would be of great benefit to them since they would be guaranteed of having a copy of their music on CD.

What was the defining moment that led you to this innovation?

•Six and a half years when I left high school I got to accept that I have not got a song of my own yet I studied music and passed with excellent grades. As if not enough most of the famous local musicians in my country have all made their plight in the past eight years and are now earning big yet they had no music education. I meant a former music classmate in high school and as we chatted about music we were forced to believe that out of 17 of us who completed high school as music students, only 2 were active in music. What happened to the remaining 15? We sat back and enjoyed our moments. WE used perform for an audience of 1500 students every week and leave them commenting and from that we are supposed to have taken on audiences outside the school. We remembered that despite all that ability we had, our music teacher never took us an extra step to turn us into real musicians while he still had control of us. On leaving high school we all went for different field and up to now non of us has succeeded yet we had been already succeeded in music and its now that we are gathering ourselves to start performing again and we are all thinking about the time we lost elsewhere.

Tell us about the social innovator behind this idea.

•Richard Bukenya is a Ugandan aged 29 years and works for Gayaza High School as a teacher of music. I had my secondary studies at Makerere College School in 2002 from where I joined Makerere University in 2003-2007. After sitting my senior six exams I was called at Gayaza High school to train the choir in various areas from which later I was able to start teaching music as a subject as well. During this time I have kept a very strong and active choir that it has gone for numerous music competitions and had a number of musical plays in different theatres.

How did you first hear about Changemakers?

•I first heard about changemakers at a workshop organized in Kampala led by Victoria Nyakundi,an ashoka staff.

This Entry is about (Issues)

Sustainability

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

What would prevent your project from being a success?

Such a kind of project could only fail if:
•the schools are not convinced enough to send their students to participate in the competitions.
•there was alleged unfairness in judgment.
•There was not enough equipment to play the music and record it for both video and audio.
•There is no awareness from the public about the whole competition and hence commanding a small fan base. All performers would like attract great recognition among the fans.
•If many schools keep not having computer centers which prevents the students to lean the different technologies in music production.
.Also if the winners are not rightly followed up to ensure that their music is recorded and put out to the public.

Financing source

Yes

If yes, provide organization name.

my initiative is connected to Gayaza High School.

How long has this organization been operating? (i.e. less than a year; 1-5 years; more than 5 years)

more than 5 years

Does your organization have a Board of Directors or an Advisory Board?

•It has got a Board of Directors.

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with NGOs? (yes/no)

Yes

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with businesses? (yes/no)

No

The Story

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Does your organization have any non-monetary partnerships with government? (yes/no)

Yes

Please tell us more about how these partnerships are critical to the success of your innovation.

•The different NGOs have at various occasions donated computers to the school which computers have greatly aide the quick learning of simple music productions I teach my students.
•Some of these organizations at times have called on to the choir to perform hence aiding their ability to perform.
•A number of organizations have come to my school to hold seminars for students about different social morals.

How many people will your project serve annually?

1001-10,000

What is the total number of employees and total number of volunteers at your organization?

155 employees and no volunteers

What is your organization's business classification?

Government

Have you received funding from any of the following groups? (Please check as many as apply.)

None of the above.

Act Fast: Eating Chipotle’s Fast Food Can Make a Difference

Created: 05/27/09 by andrea boston

Eating at a fast food joint may not seem like an inherently progressive thing to do, but if you bite in to one of the Chipotle chain's tasty oversized burritos, you're supporting a business dedicated to natural ingredients, environmental awareness, and enthusiasm for education. 

Global Art Expeditions

Created: 05/21/09 by gina paoli

Location

main san francisco
United States
See map: Google Maps

Best idea to spread imaginative creative constructive community developement around the world, not just in developing nations but at home where we have similar social issues and poverty.

great work.

good luck

The International Theatre and Literacy Project

Created on 05/13/2009 by ITLP

To bring theatre artists from the US to Tanzania to conduct community-based playwriting and theatre workshops for secondary school students and teachers, nurturing their creative voices and providing them with the tools they need to give form and structure to their ideas and stories and developing their English literacy skills.

About You

read more↓↑ hide↑ hide

Location

Project Street Address

Tengeru

Project City

Arusha

Project Province/State

Project Postal/Zip Code

Project Country

Tanzania

Your idea

read more↓↑