OBJECTIVES

1- General objective

This project aims at having firms and individuals sponsor rural schools, in order to improve the development conditions of the children. The sponsoring of these schools would enable the children to pursue their studies, so that they have a better future, far away from poverty.

2- Specific objectives

Reduce poverty, hunger and underfeeding.

Avoid school drop-out and improve the quality of education.

Maintain and improve the infrastructure of the school, avoid its deterioration and damages to the environment.

Improve the children’s health and nutrition.

Improve the quality of life of the children and their families.

Set up courses on technical and pedagogical training specifically for the teachers in rural areas. Update their competencies and motivate them so that they carry on their exemplar work.

Promote gender equality and the autonomy of women.

Avoid migration to the cities due to a lack of work and opportunities.

INVOLVED ACTORS

In Latin American countries, rural schools are totally forgotten by governments. However, these schools comprise several functions. Indeed, they provide the children with education, but also with food and sociological support. They are ranged as “fourth category” and are situated in impoverished areas, like mountains, mounts, close to rivers –which makes access to school difficult due to continuous water swelling)- or in desert areas, where water and transportation are rare.

Rural school keeps its role of link between the city and the countryside and is at the same time a school, a dining hall, and a socialization and integration center. Its importance and influence stem out from there. It is a meeting place for the inhabitants of the neighborhood, a center for the dissemination of technology knowledge for the children, but also for their parents and the people around. School gives another dimension to the landscape, it promotes children’s rights and women’s role; it creates a sense of citizenship, by involving people to recreational activities gathering the whole community. It protects traditions and customs; it teaches good health habits and practices and serves at rooting the population in the region.

Rural schools turn out to be real reference centers for the neighboring communities. They have to answer the educational needs of isolated populations, taking into account their particular situation. They also have to promote the enhancement of cultural capital of the pupils. One has to keep in mind that the majority of children and teenagers who attend these rural schools are among the poorest groups of the population.

Sources: INDEC, UNICEF and the Argentinian Health Ministry.

Poverty and deprivation: 7 children or teenagers out of 10 are poor. The deprivation rate is 37.6%.

School drop-out: In Argentina, 376,286 children from age 12 to 17 do not attend school.

Rural schools: There are 13,200 and most of them lack resources.

Labor: 22% of children from age 5 to 14 work and 58% of working teenagers do not attend school.

Health: In 2001, 11,111 children under one year old died. 6 deaths out of 10 could be preventable. 50% of children under age two are affected with anemia (iron deficiency).

The figures collected by two German NGOs show that hunger in Argentina reaches very serious rates, which can be compared to those in Africa. This is even more concerning when one considers the fact that Argentina has sufficient natural resources to feed its population.
Source: Jean Ziegler, Rapporteur on the right to food for the UN Commission on Human Rights (“El País”, Saturday May 17th, 2003).

ACTIVITIES TO BE DEVELOPED

1- Collection of supplies

School supplies: notebooks, files, books, pencils, rules, ball point pens, erasers, pencil-sharpeners, geometry games, paper, color-pencils, highlighters, blackboards, chalks, ink-erasers, bristol, maps, pedagogical panels, etc).

Clothes and food: casual clothes, coats for children, teenagers and adults, shoes for walking long distances, school bags, wool clothes, etc. Mattresses, pillows, blankets, bed sheets, towels. Kitchen supplies, such as pots, cutlery, plates, glasses, bowls, etc. Non-perishable food, such as powder milk, flour, sugar, tea, cans.

Medicine and hygiene products: supplies for a pharmaceutical kit, such as wadding, sterile gauze, straps, serum, iodine, alcohol, bandages, and equipment for a small clinic, with some basic drugs in order to prevent illnesses from spreading out. Indeed, this phenomenon is often due to a lack of prevention or non-respect of basic precautions. Hygienic and cleaning supplies, such as soap, disinfection mean, bleaching liquor, detergent, laundry detergent, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, hydrating cream (to protect from sun and extreme cold), etc.

Other: cookers, pans, various devices, books and videotapes for the school library, photocopiers, computers, bikes (to foster school attendance among children who live far away from school), gas-running fridges (in order to preserve the products from the kitchen garden and the farm), paint for inside and outside (in order to ensure the maintenance of the school building).

2- Donations

The collected money will serve to cover the basic needs of the children and to maintain the school building. Also, it will ensure the correct functioning of the school all year round. The donations will be used to improve the school infrastructure and provide the children with quality food, during school year, but also during school holidays. It will also enable us to provide them with appropriate clothes and shoes, school supplies, grants, courses, and transportation means.

Buying of food, clothes and shoes.

Buying or repair of desks and school furniture.

Building, maintenance and repair of classrooms, roofs and infrastructures essential to the good running of the school.

Building, renovation and maintenance of bathrooms, tanks and drinkable water supply network.

Improvement of transportation means to go to school, for the pupils, but also for the teachers: bicycles, motorbikes, buses and coaches.

Grants for the children to avoid school drop-out, child labor and drop-out after elementary school.

Routine medical check-up on a regular basis, immunization and emergency care.

Routine dental check-up on a regular basis, education to oral hygiene and emergency care.

Classes and specialization provided for teachers to help them update their knowledge.

Educational programs for children and their families.

RESULTS

Improvement of education and eradication of school drop-out in rural areas.

Improvement of children health and nutrition.

Improvement of the capacity and quality of the school building.

Update of the teachers’ competencies.

Significant improvement of the quality of life of the children and their families.

Families’ sustainable development and rooting in the region.

TIMEFRAME

The implementation lead time is of 5 years.

EVALUATION

The work done is evaluated on a yearly basis, with the lessons learned to improve the implementation of the rest of the project.

Thanks to our organization, we would like to stimulate solidarity and promote individual commitment. This is the reason why we invite individuals and firms to collaborate to our “SPONSORING OF A RURAL SCHOOL” project.

This will enable you to keep regular contact with the school and its pupils and to receive information on the progress made and the results obtained.

SPONSORING A RURAL SCHOOL IS AN ACT OF LOVE AND SOLIDARITY…