WHAT ARE THE RESULTS OF THE FIRST PILOT PHASE?
After almost two years of planning and four months of hard work in El Salvador, the first pilot phase has now come to an end. The evaluation process has just begun. All participants, their parents/caretakers, teachers, school principals and facilitators have been interviewed, and the final evaluation report will be published in July/August. However, I want to share some conclusions with you already now:
- All participants, their families, teachers, school principals and facilitators claim to be extremely happy with the project and want to continue with the second phase.
- All participants and their parents say that the kids are more interested in reading now than before the project started. Several of the kids told us that in the past, they only read if they had to as a part of their school assignments. Now, they vounteerily look for books to read in their spare time. "I remember what you said about books being our friends. Now, if I feel sad or if I'm bored, I grab a book and start reading", as one girl puts it. The facilitators have also observed a great advance regarding the reading level of the participants during the project.
- Teamwork, non-violence and value games and exercises seem to have paid off on a short term. All participants claim that the group environment has improved during the project, and many acknowledge a change in their own behaviour. That's also something that the facilitators have observed. As one boy says: "Yes, I have changed. Before, I used to hurt other kids physically, now I'm more respectful towards others". An older sister to one of the participants shares: "I've seen how the communication within our family has improved during this project. We almost never talked, and now she tells us a lot about what you've been doing in the workshops and she asks for help with her school assignments".
- Our "LIfe Plan" work has had an impact on the kids. One of the orphanage workers told me, regarding one of our orphan girls: "One day she started to ask me what I thought she would be doing in 20 years... When I came to the closing ceremony and saw her life plan I understood why!". Both parents and teachers also claim that they've seen a change in the participants when it comes to study motivation and completing school assignments.
- The participants have discovered talents no one ever acknowledged before the project. Some of the most "restless" kids have shown extraordinary talent in narrative writing, drawing and drama. One of the girls, who is an orphan, would have a good chance of entering in one of the Salvadoran schools for students talented in writing.
You find pics from the closing ceremonies here:
WILL THE PROJECT CONTINUE?
Yes, the project will continue and expand
even though I now leave El Salvador. Our new local project manager is the Savadoran Luis Alvarenga, who is responsible for the coordination of the project and for reporting to the Executive Committee in Sweden. During the first phase, we developed a strong team of dedicated, reliable local volonteers
who will continue with two of the three groups, every Friday as before. Furthermore, two more schools and two more groups will be added to the project. These new schools are situated in rural areas, which is a new challenge for the project. Up until now, we've only been working in urban areas. Altogether, four groups consisting of totally 40 children aged 11-13 will be receiving weekly workshops until the end of the Salvadoran academic year in October. After that, we have a lot of schools waiting for us to start working with them, too. Furthermore, we will start training teachers and more facilitators in our methodology in the future. Hopefully, the methodology will spread also to other parts of the world (including Sweden).
WHO SUPPORTS US?
The project is financed by donations from friends and members of Schools for the Future around the world. The cost of the first phase was approximately $1400 (about ten thousand SEK). All donations were spent on direct project costs such as books, material, snacks and bus transport for local facilitators. Flight tickets, food and accomodation for me as a project manager was financed privately. All people involved work as volunteers without any financial compensation. We believe that we've proven that a very small amount of money can make a significant difference and lead to sustainable project development.
Examples of local partners helping us with certain material, facilities, field trip transport, PR etc. are our co-operating schools, the Municipality of Santa Tecla, The Salvadoran Ministry of Education, the companies Grupo AGRISAL, Diszasa and Editorial TMR, Fundación Empresarial para el Desarrollo Educativo and Central American Foundation for Rural Education Development.
CAN I HELP?
Yes, of course you can! The more the project expand, the more funds we need. If you wish to support us in our work, do not hesitate to become a member of Schools for the Future, or to send us a donation. Or maybe you know of a school that would like to cooperate with us and support our work in El Salvador? You find all information here:
http://www.schoolsforthefuture.org/Howtosupportus.html
I kindly ask you all to write me any comments, ideas or doubts that might come to your mind. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND SUPPORT!!!
I kindly ask you all to write me any comments, ideas or doubts that might come to your mind. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME AND SUPPORT!!!
