Running Project

 

 

                Project Title:    Educational Support for Underprivileged Children

                Proposed Duration:  12 months starting from actual inception

 

Part 1 :  Basic information

 

 Full name:                                    NIHARIKA

 Founding year:                             2002

 

Address:                                     Head office:

 

                                         132, Darus Salam (Ground & 2^nd floor),

                                      Eastern    Housing Project, Kalyanpur

                                Mirpur, Dhaka 1216, Bangladesh. 

                     Phone: 88-01737770775

                                            

Vision:

The poor and underprivileged people have consecutively been exploited by the rich. They will work for the betterment of their life. The organization will just play the role of catalyst.

 

Mission:

                  To establish a sustainable organization devoted to other and ensure quality and responsible service to improve the self esteem and self confidence of members, especially women to establish self employed sustainable livelihood dignified life.

                                                                     

Organizational objectives:

• To organize the destitute, poor and disadvantaged people specially women in groups and develop collective leadership among them.
• To facilitate member to create employment opportunity through skill development generating self financed capital and organization support.
• To impart training to enhance the capability of the members to select plan and manage a feasible IGA. So that it can enable them to increase the purchasing capacity subsequently the quality of life.

 

• To increase access to educational opportunities for children, adolescent and adult members through nonformula education and literacy centres.
• To produce a wide range of services relating to human rights, family law and legal support to protect vulnerable victims from any sorts of oppression.
• To undertake various environmental including environmental education, plantation, solid water management etc and ensure safe and hygienic water and sanitation program.

    

 Management practices:

The organization has a general body which is the prime authority for formulating policies and strategies, approved periodical budget and look after program implementation. It has also an Executive council presently consisting of 7 members which is actually the authority to ensure dynamic administration and management of the organization, plan and execute development programs, control finance & accounts and look after personnel and program issues. It has the provision to form management committees at its project offices to run the project activities smoothly.

 

Geographical coverage:

 

Target population:

       NIHARIKA organizes its member on the following criteria:

• Poor and under privileged people specially woman, adolescent who are willing to join the organization with a desire to positively change their life and livelihood.
• Poor and extreme poor, which are unable to build any capital from their fragile income and compel to live in the vicious poverty cycle but willing to come out through vising and undertaking income generating activities.
• People who are engaged in any income generating activity and likely to establish small enterprise.

 

Program Interventions:

Institution building

Income generating activities

Non –formal child education

Poultry, livestock & fish culture

Rural Nursery & social forestry

Skill development training

Drinking water & sanitation

HIV/AIDS, arsenic awareness

Women &Gender development

Disability program

Relief & rehabilitation

 

Existing manpower:

 

 

Part 2 :    The Project

 

      Title of the Proposed Project::  “ Educational Support for underprivileged children”

 

a)    Tenure:                                     12 (Twelve) Months starting from the date of actual inception as specified by the sponsoring authority.

b)    Proposed Location:

 

 

c)    Objectives of the project:

• To create easy access to primary education for underprivileged children and children with poverty, with Disabilities and with backward communities.
• To explore innovative interventions for quality and sustainable primary education system.
• To find out effective and appropriate measures for comprehensive involvement of parents and community leaders in primary education operation system.
• To promote the process of enrolling 100%. Children to primary schools.
• To establish and assist to run village/mahalla based pre-primary schools (preparatory schooling) in order to organize all children within 4-5 in non-formed and innovative education system.
• To introduce attractive and child friendly methods in pre-primary schools to orient the children with good manner, health & hygiene practices, cultural activities, psychological and disciplinary issues in order to establish foundation of life.
• To provide early level literacy & numeracy among the children through the pre-primary schools to cope up with standard –I of primary school.
• To establish an innovative system as a pilot to enroll 100% children with their continuous existence up to standard V which may be spread out and expanded throughout the country.
• To create employment through the pre-primary schools.

d)    Background rationale:

During the recent years, Bangladesh has achieved considerable success in economy, industrialization, employment and some other sectors including a significant lift in education sector. In spite of continuous and gross promotion in higher education and in increasing literacy among the mass people in Bangladesh during the said period, quality of education is still far beyond the actual need of the time. Vast portion of the higher educated people are suffering from the lack of employment for the sake of weaker education. It is a general consensus in our country that still a considerable portion of children at early childhood does not enroll in primary school. Through a survey and publication by UNICEF in 2005, 22% children under 6 do not enroll in primary schools. Another 45% children drops out during the primary stage before completing standard V. Govt. specially the primary education department did a lot and launched bigger programs nationwide, but the situation has not changed as per expectation. Major constraint of these situation have identified as extreme poverty, lack of consciousness, illiterate parents, lack of community involvement in education system, lower and weaker education methods,, non-skilled teachers, weak supervision and finally, lack of Govt. commitment. As a result this situation in primary education is ongoing as a national curse.

 To eradicate this curse and to promote the expected situation, the proposed project has been undertaken by the organization. Through implementing the proposed project, enrolment of children in primary schools has been expected 100% with resisting drop out at subsequent stages. Through the community involvement as proposed in the project, the result will be made sustainable and it may be expanded in broader area in Bangladesh. So, the organization sincerely commits and expects to implement the project with a reasonable outcome and impacts.

 e)    Activities of the project:

 Baseline survey: A benchmark baseline survey will be conducted to asses the actual prevailing situation in primary education sector in the reference area. Facts and figures will be used in implementing the project.

 Staff allocation & training: For efficient and successful implementation of the project, proposed number of female part time teachers  will be recruited/ deployed in the project. Subsequently they will be trained through time to time.

 Training, workshop & seminar: Proposed number of training courses will be organized for community people such as-selected parents, community leading peoples, primary managing committee members, and local Govt. members, professional bodies, civil society members and other stakeholders as per need of the project. Workshops and seminar will be organized for selected relevant issues especially primary school enrolment promotion and promotion of intra-school environmental situation in the locality.

Establishment of pre-primary schools (Early childhood school): Pre-primary schools for children within 4-5 will be established around the existing Govt. primary schools and registered primary schools, 3 -5 numbers of pre-primary schools will be established in the catchments area of existing primary schools.

Major characteristics of these schools will be:

Sit 5 days in a week 2/3 hours in a day normally in the morning

• A local women will be the teacher who is SSC passed
• No. of students will be 20-25
• A 5 members committee will be formed among the mothers of the children to look after and manage the school. The committee will sit once in a month and review school activities.
• The pre-school will facilitate the children with alphabetical and numerical orientation, cultural aspects, recitation, story telling, health & hygiene issues, good manner and other necessary topics fit for early childhood age
• The school will motivate the children and their parents to enroll in the Govt. primary school after completing the pre-primary school
• Different kinds of pictures, teaching aids and playing tools will be available and used in the pre-primary schools.
• 5 number of such kind of center will be established.

Selection & training of the pre-school teachers: Before starting the pre-school activities necessary number of preschool teacher will be recruited from the locality. They will be provided a one week basic training at first, with one day refreshers after every 3 months. They will be provided a small amount of allowance as pocket expenses. But this could not be considered as salary or honorarium. As pre-school teacher, college and university going women students will be given preference.

Sharing sessions with the Govt. primary school teachers: Sharing sessions will be arranged for the teachers of the Govt. primary schools in the project are to activate them in the process. They will be motivated and urged to play active and functional role in collecting new learners and behave with the children in a way so that the children can retain their attraction to school continuously.

Assessing needs of the students:

Through consultation with the teachers and students, needs for development areas especially educational facilities will be identified. These areas for development will be prioritized later on and will be taken to be fulfilled.

Supplement of children’s facilities :

As par identified needs, facilities will be developed through supply of material inputs such as :

• Different kinds of playing & sports materials both local & regional games.
• Instruments for recreational events.
• Books & management’s published for children.
• Materials for intellectual games.
• Display materials
• Attractive pictures etc.

In addition, limited quantity of usable facilities like bookshelf, cleaning materials, shelf for playing materials may be arranged.

Opinion sharing workshop: Considering a Govt. primary school as a base and center, teachers, community leaders, school managing committee members, selected guardians and other important people will be organized in a opinion sharing workshop in the starting and mid of a year. They will formulate and help to enroll 100% children to school, resist drop out and improve the internal environmental situation of a school.

Monitoring & supervision: The project will be closely monitored and supervised by the proposed project authority and field staff. Monthly review and sharing meeting will be arranged to share the programs..

Reporting: Half yerly activities and progress report will be sent to the to the donor as per guidelines of the project. In addition half yearly and annual report will also be sent. At the closure of the project, a completion report and audited accounts report will be sent to the donor.

 

f)     Proposed manpower:

g)     

Project Director( part timer)  1

Pre-school teacher:               5

Support staff:                         1

Total:                                      7

 

h)    Innovative aspects of the project:

i)       

• Highly community involvement based
• Participation of parents will be ensured
• School will be an attractive place for the children instead of a place of fear.
• All sections of the community will be involved in the process
• In pre-primary, learners will achieve cultural, intellectual and moral attitude in addition to alphabetical orientation.
• 100% children will enroll resisting drop out at subsequent stages.

Project Beneficiaries:

Children from poor families

                               Boys:             50

                               girls:              75

                               total:              125

 

Project outcome:

At the end of the project following outcome will be achieved:

• 100% children will be enrolled in primary schools from the poor families.
• Easy access will be created for children with poverty & disability
• Community participation in a higher range will be created
• Parents will be involved in the education process
• Pre-primary schooling system will be established which will promote the existing primary education system.
• Foundation of primary education will be strengthened
• Teacher and other stake holders will be trained

Project Impact:

Following impacts are expected:

 

• Literacy rate enhanced in the locality
• Primary education system will be strengthened
• Education system will be changed through a social revolution
• Govt. & community participation strengthened
• Socio-economic status of Bangladesh promoted.

 

Plan of Action :