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DOWA DNS Project Report

January—December 2016

Submitted to:

U-landshjelp fra Folk til Folk, Norge

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1 Project name DAPP Dowa Teachers’ Training College

2 Operational area Dowa District, Malawi

3 Project Leader Blessings Kambewa

4 Physical address and contact de-tails

DAPP Dowa Teachers’ Training College, Private Bag 5, Dowa, Malawi bkambewa@yahoo.com

5 The project idea and the people it reaches

The main idea is to train Malawian local community male and female youths to become primary school teachers for the rural areas in Malawi. Once trained, these teachers become highly qualified and trained in both primary school teaching methodol-ogies and in local community development. They become pro-fessionally trained, skilled and productive members of society. The trained teachers acquire knowledge in modern ways of teaching pupils about the importance of the same technique. They understand learning and skills training not as a technical thing but as being humanly motivated, demanding responsibility and contribution from each individual, delivered unreserved and with care. They are also trained in spearheading community building through putting efforts in and around the community areas around their schools

6 The people at the Project

1 headmaster; 1 person in charge of food production; 7 teachers; 5 cooks; 12 guards; and students in two teams

7 The history in brief

DAPP Dowa Teachers’ Training College was established in December 2010 when the first phase of the construction was completed and first intake of student teachers enrolled. The sec-ond intake also called the Team 2011 was enrolled in July 2011. This is when the second phase of construction of the college was finished. The Dowa Teachers Training College graduated its first 114 student-teachers in October 2012. The college was officially inaugurated on 30th November 2012 by the former Vice President of the Republic of Malawi, Right Honorable Khumbo Kachali.

PROJECT AT A GLANCE

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September 2013 Team This is the first team that that started the 3 year program and graduated in November 2016 waiting for posting by Ministry of Education Science and Technology. The team had a total of 86 student teachers who were allocated in 14 primary schools for teaching practice reaching up to 20,000 primary school learners. Apart from classroom work, the student teachers were also engaged in community work in areas of adult literacy, health and conservation agriculture. Team 2014 The team has a total of 62 student teachers. Currently they are in their third year, “The year of Another Kind of Teacher” doing teaching practice in 10 primary school. Some of the notable activities the team has been doing apart from learning teacher didactics include working with community members, school children and organizing open days together with youths from Dzaleka Refugee Camp. Team 2015 Team 2015 which started in September 2015 is now in the second year called “The year of another kind of school”. The team has been going through teaching practice sessions at the demonstration school and continuing their studies in the different learning areas. In addition to classroom work, student teachers are also teaching the community members in adult literacy, health, cookery, sanitation and environmental conservation. Food production In the 2016/2017 farming season, the college has cultivated 6 acres of land of which 4 acres will be for soya production, 1.5 acres maize and half an acre for vegetables. The college has since planted soya and maize, the college is estimating to produce 4 metric tones of soya beans and 3 metric tones of maize. The college has started the establishment of 2 model plots of maize with support from “Farmers Organization Limited (FOL) in partnership with Syngenta. The idea is to teach student teachers and the community members on the importance of using improved seeds. A field day together with Farmers Organization Limited will be conducted with the intention of making the community members to understand the importance of planting improved seeds. Climate change mitigation As a way of mitigating the adverse effects of climate change, the college embarked on a tree planting exercise. A total of 2,000 trees were planted around the college. Each student has made 20 holes for tree planting. Students in teaching practice have played a role in mobilizing community members to plant trees around their homes, fields and along slopes. Youth Centre Activities The DAPP Dowa Youth Centre continued to provide youth from surrounding communities a platform to interact with their peers and discuss possible solutions to the everyday challenges they face growing up in rural areas with limited access to post secondary school opportunities. The activities at the centre have helped enhance self-confidence among the youth through capacity building as the centre creates a trustful space for each individual to express his/her feeling. The youth centre was officially handed over to DAPP in July 2016 by His Excellency Mr. Shi-Ting Wang the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Malawi.

PROJECT ACTIVITIES

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Through the introduction of remedial, girls’, debate and English clubs in the teaching

practice schools, there has been improvement in the writing and reading skills of the learners. Improved performance of the learners through remedial lessons conducted both at the college and in teaching practice schools has also been well noted.

There has been an increase in the number of youth utilizing the community youth centre at

the college which is equipped with information, communication and technology resources is providing students and the youth a resource centre where they are able to connect with the rest of the world and come up with youth driven solutions to some of the challenges they face and brainstorm ways in which they can uplift their livelihoods.

The pre-school supervisor and Development Instructors are helping 9 pre-schools in raising

the standards of education in collaboration with community members. Apart from the community pre-schools, the college has its own pre-school within the college campus. These activities are of great inspiration to other preschools in the area as they in a practical way demonstrate how to improve the quality in cost effective ways.

The project is contributing positively to the social and economic development of the

community members as the establishment of demonstration plots for maize and Open Days on conservation agriculture and the use of hybrid seeds show and explain to the community members how to increase their yield and thus also income.

DAPP Dowa Teacher Training College acts as a center of education within the community,

offering among others adult literacy classes. The continued fight to improve literacy levels among the community members enables more to effectively contribute to the social and economic development of the area.

The efforts of the student teachers doing their teaching practice towards creating inclusive

child friendly school environment and providing improved quality education has not only resulted in high school attendance and reduced drop out, but it is a source of inspiration to other teachers and; over and above it is making the children enjoy attending school.

The number of girls in attending school also increased due to motivation resulting from the

female student teachers who act as role models to the learners. The formation of girls’ clubs equip girls with essential life skills and so they become assertive especially in the decision making processes of issues that affect them.

There is an improvement in sanitation, health and hygiene practices in the teaching practice

schools because student teachers encourage learners to clean their environment and to adopt good hygiene practices such as washing hands after the use of a toilet and before eating and; washing fruits before consumption.

EFFECTS OF THE PROJECT ACTIVITIES

PROJECT EFFECTS

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PROJECT IN NUMBERS

DAPP DOWA TEACHER TRAIN-ING COLLEGE

Planned Activities 2016

Planned Jan to Dec 2016

Variance

Team 2013 September 90 86 -4

Team 2014 September 64 62 -2

Team 2015 September 80 71 -9

Team 2016 64 0 -64

Students graduating in 2016 (Team 2013 September)

86 86 0

Primary schools for school – based Teaching Practice

14 14 0

Primary schools for college based demonstration Teaching Practice.

1 1 0

Events held related to the Primary Edu-cation sector.

10 9 -1

Community members benefiting from community lessons at the college (including children)

400 400 0

Micro-projects will be implemented by students Team 2013 (September).

6 5 -1

Acres for maize production 5 1.5 -3.5

Acres for soya beans production 0.5 4 +3

Acres for vegetable production 0.5 0.5 0

Fruits, agro-forest and other tree nurse-ries

11 11 0

Primary school pupils benefiting from the DNS students in the teaching prac-tice schools

20,000 20,000 0

Open days 4 4 0

Tree planting 1,500 2,000 +500

Chickens reared for egg production and income generation

200 200 0

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PROJECT IN NUMBERS Variances’ Explanation

Comments The college did not manage to achieve the planned goal for enrolled student teachers. For example team 2013 has a difference of 4 students, team 2014 has a difference of 2 while team 2015 has a difference of 9 students. The reasons vary. Some students withdrew from the college to join government colleges, while others changed the career on the back drop of un-certainty of employment after graduation. The college is only able to replace students who chose to leave if it is during the first 4 month and subsequently it has not been possible to fill the gaps. The college has not enrolled any students for Team 2016 due to the current economic chal-lenges being faced.

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PROJECT IN PICTURES

The establishment of new girls’ clubs and strengthening of existing clubs has propelled girls who had dropped out of school due to different reason to go back to school

The students have been in forefront to fight the effects of climate change by planting tress around the college and surrounding communities

PROJECT IN PICTURES

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As the DAPP Dowa Youth Centre was being handed over, the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China also donated a borehole, which will reduce water challenges that the college and the communities face, es-pecially during the dry season

PROJECT IN PICTURES

The students from Team 2013 who pioneered the 3 year program gradu-ated in November 2016 and had the best grades overally compared to previous teams.

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