Summer School class
Si Poe Khee school
Summer School
Summer School walk
Presentation at the workshop
"Learning is Fun" Workshop
Equipment for Health Workshop
10kg package of books for each library
Planning
Preparing a Presentation
Klay Poe Glo School
Mae Kae Khee School
Mae La Ah Hta School
Mae La Ah Khee School
Phow Pwo Lay School
Tee Tu Kaw School
Summary
We funded the feasibility study for the capacity building project in 2018 and watched it grow into the full programme in 2019. The programme, named ‘SchoolPower’, is based in Ta Graeh Sub-district, Pa-An District in Karen State Myanmar.
The programme works closely with teachers, women, children and youth from 9 marginalised communities living in conflict-affected areas, where they are unable to get access to basic education, housing and healthcare, making them even more vulnerable to various forms of abuse and discrimination.
Background
Friends Without Borders (FWB) Foundation was established in 1999 and registered as a non-profit organisation in 2008. FWB works primarily with refugees and displaced children living in conflict-affected areas in and around refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border. Since October 2018, FWB has been running the project ‘Capacity Building for Border Karen Schools & Teachers) in Karen State, Myanmar, with the support of PCF. The programme has been renamed ‘SchoolPower’ to gain recognition in the area. The project was initially based on the feasibility study and consultation conducted with beneficiaries during 15 September – 15 October 2017.
The ‘SchoolPower’ project is a run in cooperation between FWB and the local Karen Education Department (KED), which aims to strengthen the quality of life and well-being of approximately 660 Karen children living in 9 communities in the targeted areas and to be a model for similar efforts in other border areas.
Support is given in several ways
1. Providing training, workshops and ongoing support for the teachers
2. By topping up the salaries of teachers by 50% we enable the teachers to earn enough to stay in post and ensure that essential skills and knowledge is not lost.
3. Purchase of essential school equipment and materials enables a quality education
4. Providing and supplying small libraries and reading corners in each school
Goals and Results
Goals
1. The primary aim of the project is to strengthen the capacity of Karen teachers in the schools so that they will become a valuable resource, sharing knowledge and skills on various topics including child protection and education provision. A resource that responds to the needs of communities while helping to strengthen the schools to become sustainable local institutions.
2. To strengthen the capacity of the schools so that they have sufficient infrastructure, equipment, materials and policies that contribute to child protection, quality and relevance of education and to serve as sustainable local institutions with the participation of children, teachers and communities members.
3. To develop the quality of education and life of children and members of all eight targeted communities, for them to live a decent life with dignity.
Results
The first year of the project has been successfully conducted, with all activities being implemented according to the initial plan:
1. Four capacity-building workshops and one evaluation meeting were conducted with 28 teachers, including the headmasters and school committee members.
2. 20 teachers from the eight schools directly benefited from four capacity-building workshops on the topics of situation analysis, library management, the right to health and the role of schools, basic healthcare and first aid, mental health and children of special needs, labour rights and Thai law, sexual and gender-based violence prevention, child protection policy, participatory teaching methodology and English language teaching methods.
3. Seven out of the eight schools received school material support and identified their needs for additional equipment, material and infrastructure support. One school did not require school equipment as they already had an existing sponsor.
4. All the eight targeted schools received support for and established their own reading libraries and first aid corners.
Sponsors
What's Been Happening Recently
𝗠𝗘𝗘𝗧 𝗦𝗔𝗪 𝗣𝗢𝗘 𝗦𝗜 - 𝗥𝗘𝗧𝗨𝗥𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗖𝗛 𝗜𝗡 𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗛𝗢𝗠𝗘 𝗧𝗢𝗪𝗡
Saw Poe Si is an English and History teacher at Pwoh Pwo Lay school, at the Thai/Myanmar border. He was born and raised in Pwoh Pwo Lay, but had to flee when he was very young due to the constant military conflict in the area. After years of displacement and moving from place to place, he finally found a place with a good school to settle in. Upon graduating, he decided that returning to his hometown to become a teacher and nurture the next generation was his calling. His goal was to give back to his community and provide the children with the opportunities he never had.
"When I was growing up, there were no schools. Now there is a school but no one to teach," he said.
"The children now will become the next generation of adults and teach future children. We, as teachers, have to encourage and support them to learn happily."
Saw's school is one of nine ethnic Karen community schools that PCF partners with Friends Without Borders (FWB) to support. The program works closely with teachers, women, and children from marginalized communities in conflict-affected areas.
Here is a link to learn more about this project.
philanthropyconnections.org/project/strengthening-capacity-of-border-karen-schools-and-teachers-i...
#Friendswithoutborders #FWB #CapacityBuilding #TeacherEmpowerment
𝟱𝟬 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗗𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗛𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗔 𝗦𝗔𝗙𝗘 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗗𝗬
The Ta K’Paw primary school in Pa-an District, Karen State, Myanmar, is one of nine schools we support under our "Capacity Building Project for Karen Teachers and Schools" or "SchoolPower" project.
The old school building at Ta K’Paw was not well-built because the community did not have the budget to purchase good quality materials. The construction of the building was poor and weak; the wood used was old and now rotten. The roof of the building was leaking, and students had to move their desks to avoid rainwater.
It is clear that we had to do something, and a new school building has been constructed. The new building is now ready to use with six classrooms, one office, and a library. This new building will benefit 50 students aged 6 to 12 years old, five teachers, and 240 villagers.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to Michael Richter (Micha) for providing all the funds to support the construction of this new school building.
#NewSchoolBuilding #SupportEducation #SchoolPower #FWB
𝗦𝗨𝗣𝗣𝗢𝗥𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗔 𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗢𝗢𝗟 𝗧𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗜𝗡 𝗖𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗗𝗥𝗘𝗡 𝗙𝗟𝗘𝗘𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗩𝗜𝗢𝗟𝗘𝗡𝗖𝗘
Thoo Mwe Community High School has been providing food to displaced students fleeing villages in battle zones near the Thai Myanmar border. The students needed a safe place to stay, a school to go to and, definitely, food to survive.
This school, one of nine schools PCF supports in the area, told us that this year there are 11 more pupils in need of food aid than the previous (from 35 to 46 students, aged 11 to 18).
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵 𝗶𝘀 𝟰𝟬𝟯 𝗕𝗮𝗵𝘁 | 𝟭𝟭 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼. To support 46 students for 10 months, the total budget is 185.380 Baht | 5.101 Euro.
Thank you again to the anonymous sponsor and to Joanne Nihom and Michiel Schrijver for your great support.
#sponsoring #schoolpower #fwb #fooddonation #foodinconflict
Hello Sallo, once again I cannot let this appeal pass me by. Let me know how to contribute. Regards Nigel.
