Estero de platano - education

Improving education levels and organizational capacity through high-school scholarship program and community group project planning

Facts at a glance:

Brief Description of Project:

Recognizing the stark reality that small rural communities face in terms of a lack of educational opportunities, the Yanapuma foundation will work towards creating viable educational opportunities for young people. Many children, especially women, do not have the economic resources necessary to continue on to high school. Many continue to have children at a very young age, sometimes as young as 13. There is a strong need for sexual and reproductive health from an early age.

The local school lacks even the basic necessities. Without a kitchen or dining room children were forced to eat huddled together in their classrooms. In April 2009 the foundation, together with a group of volunteers and local community members, will work to construct a kitchen and dining room to rectify this problem. The school also lacks books, desks, a library and computers. These are all goals in the near term for Yanapuma. Recognizing the extremely low rate of high school graduates, the foundation will work together with a nearby high school to allow some 50% of applicants to acquire a space in next year’s high school course. We hope to raise the coverage of this scholarship program to 75% by the next year. A ‘homework club’ will also be designed to monitor the progress of scholarship programs and aid their advance throughout the school year. The scholarships will be administered by initially providing the funds required for 3 months of transportation and all school materials and uniforms. We will work with families to budget their child’s education.

Community action groups will form the basis of our strategy in Estero de Plátano. Yanapuma will have regular meetings with these groups, working on specific activities that will help to improve organization, planning and motivation. These groups will prove indispensable to advocating for community interests, especially concerning the access of basic services, such as water, electricity, refuse collection, and cellular phone signal.

General Objective:
Increase rate of children attending high school to improve educational level of the community in general while also delivering more resources to local elementary schools

Specific Objectives:

1: Monitor, evaluate and expand scholarship program for local school children to have the chance to go to high school

2: Improve the resources of the local elementary school

3: Work together with local action groups to drive the sustainable development process forward and increase their political capability to advocate for their rights

2009 Project Actions

1. Select scholarship recipients and have meetings with recipients to elaborate an annual budget and strategy to manage the scholarship
2. Have regular meetings with professors in high school to monitor and evaluate scholarship recipients’ progress
3. Create a homework club to help scholarship recipients and other students complete their school requirements
4. Together with community members and LEAP volunteer group construct new kitchen and dining room for local school in Estero de Platano
5. Finish new classroom and computer center in local elementary school in Caimito
6. Continue with English and Environmental education in Estero de Platano and Galera elementary school