View
221
Download
4
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
DESCRIPTION
Â
Citation preview
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
Helambu Education and Livelihood Project
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
2
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR 3
AIMS OF THE VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMME 4
TEACHING 4 FUNDRAISING 4
SPREAD OF VOLUNTEERS 5
RECRUITMENT OF VOLUNTEERS 6
FINANCE 6
TOP FUNDRAISERS 8
DETAILED REPORT ON SPENDING OF FUNDS RAISED BY VOLUNTEERS 9
SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE 9 TEACHERS TRAINING 12 CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS ADDITIONAL TEACHERS SALARIES 12 SPORTS EQUIPMENT 13 SCHOOL EXCURSION- NAKOTE AND GUNSA 13 COMPUTER LAB MANAGEMENT AT GUNSA 14 EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT (ECD) AT GUNSA (B) AND MAJUWA (NEAR PATING) 14 ADDITIONAL SCHOOL BAG DISTRIBUTION (50 BAGS AT NAKOTE) 14 SCHOLARSHIPS 15 CHILD SPONSORSHIP 16 KARSANG AND ANG MAYA 16 NURBULING BOARDING KIDS SPONSORSHIP 16 BOOKS AND SCHOOL UNIFORM GRANT 16
TESTIMONIES: 17
APPENDIX 1: LIST OF VOLUNTEERS IN 2013 18
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
3
Message from the Director This report is intended specifically to inform our valuable past volunteers on the impact of their fundraising. At the outset, I would like to thank each of you for all the hard work and for believing in HELP’s activities.
The year 2013 has been very successful at HELP in terms of receiving a very inspiring number of volunteers, thanks particularly to CU HELP and all of our valuable partners. A total of 46 volunteers spent their time teaching children and working with the teachers across 12 different Schools in some of the rural villages. As well as teaching, volunteers raised more than £15K in donations enabling us to make essential improvements to the schools at which they were placed as well as enabling us to reach out to new areas where the need is even greater.
We greatly appreciate suggestions that volunteers give us at the end of their placement on how they feel their donations would be best spent. Since October 2013, I am happy to report, we started implementing various projects based on the priorities, needs and our ability to fund the work. Most of them, as you will read below, have either been completed or are rapidly making progress. In using funds raised by volunteers, we have taken specific and general suggestions of our volunteers very seriously, but we have also used our own judgement, based on a more overall picture of all our partner school’s needs, as to what would make lasting difference.
In summary, a total of number of projects were funded, which simply would not have happened without the generous donations raised by the volunteers, so once again many thanks to you all.
We are committed to keeping our volunteers informed on how their donations are impacting the lives of children and we shall work harder to improve the way we run and handle our volunteering programme. To help us with this, we are happy to announce that one of the former CU HELP Presidents, Priska Komaromi, is currently at HELP in Nepal doing an intern for 3 months and she will be with us at least until the mid of July. You may feel free to contact her directly at priska@help-‐nepal.org
Further, we were able to keep the admin cost of running the Volunteering Program very low at £505, which is around 3.3 % of the total donations raised. This has only been possible because of the financial support we receive from MondoChallenge Foundation (our partner charity in the UK) to support a big part of our admin work, as well as the income we make from our popular Teach and Trek Scheme.
I hope you enjoy reading the report, and I look forward to receiving your feedback!
Jimmy Lama, HELP Director
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
4
Aims of the Volunteering Programme
HELP has been receiving volunteers since 2010, starting with a small cohort of 5, volunteering at a couple of schools. Since then, the number of volunteers has been steadily increasing every year, reaching a record total of 46 volunteers working at 13 different schools this year, mostly from Cambridge University, International Teachers Association and others who came independently.
1. To facilitate links between underprivileged schools and volunteers looking to contribute time and support.
2. To help improve English language skills of the children in the remote village Schools of Sindupalchowk district.
3. To help children build confidence and empower then to expand their horizons beyond their local
environment. 4. To assist and encourage schools in creating a more interactive learning environment. 5. To ensure a sustainable source of funding to enable our continued support to partner schools.
Teaching Volunteers bring fresh perspectives and ideas into teaching and open up ways for children to learn through different fun filled interactive teaching. The volunteers teach English with correct pronunciation and inspire fellow teachers to adopt more interactive teaching methods. The volunteers are encouraged to teach alongside local teachers, who can learn new teaching methods and at the same time, the volunteers can learn contextual matters from the local teachers. Volunteers bring tremendous energy to remote and under-‐resourced schools. Children are exposed to a new culture, language and are able to learn about other parts of the world; which are all very vital for children's learning and understanding of the world in the age of globalization. Learning from new people inspires children to expand their horizons, and dream big.
Fundraising Volunteering with HELP doesn't include any compulsory ‘admin’ fees but all the volunteers are required
to raise a minimum £200 prior to coming to Nepal, which goes towards supporting the various Schools that HELP support including the School they volunteer. Funds we receive from volunteers through MondoChallenge Foundation, our international partner in the UK, comprise a big portion of our total annual budget and help us to continue supporting our partner schools in various ways, ranging from classroom building and teacher's salary and trainings, to other infrastructure and education based programmes. In this respect, the financial support we receive through the Volunteering Programme has been pivotal to our growth and our ability to expand our
programs with partner schools.
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
5
Spread of volunteers In 2013 volunteers went out to the following schools, many of them receiving foreign volunteers for the first time in their school's history.
S. No. Partner School/Village No. of volunteers Notes 1. Shree Pema Chholing LSS, Nakote 8 2. Shree Nurbuling LSS, Kharkadanda 6 3. Shree Deurali PS, Tartong 8 4. Shree Serkathali PS, Serkathali 4 5. Shree Narayan LSS, Ichowk 4 6. Shree Risankumane PS, Dhundeni 2 7. Shree Satdharra PS, Bhirkharka 2 First time 8. Shree Mahankaleshwori LSS, Solsing 2 First time 9. Shree Manikanteshwori PS, Churetar 2 First time 10. Shree Bhumeshwori HSS, Kiul 2 First time 11. Shree Satkanyamati LSS (Gunsa A), Gunsa 6 12. Shree Kumbheshwori PS (Gunsa B), Gunsa 2 First time 13. Shree Taltuleshwori PS, Kotgaon 2 First time
Some of the volunteers have gone on to more than two schools and have been counted to both the schools, so the summation of the table is more than the actual no. of volunteers.
Figure 1-‐ Spread of Volunteers across schools
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Bhumeshwori Birkharka Dhundeni Gunsa A Gunsa B Ichowk Churetar Nakote
Nurbuling Serkathili Solshing
Taltuleshowri Tartong
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
6
Recruitment of Volunteers
CU HELP CU HELP (Cambridge University HELP) is a registered student organization within the University of Cambridge started by former HELP volunteers which organizes information sessions for those interested in coming to Nepal to volunteer with HELP partner schools. The student-‐run committee of CUHELP coordinates the recruitment process of volunteers from Cambridge, as well as providing training and orientation on teaching and travelling in Nepal. CU ELST CU ELST recruits volunteers to work with communities of Tibetan origin in Nepal, India, Mongolia, etc. HELP is one of their partner organizations in Nepal, and receives around 4 volunteers per year on average through CU ELST.
ITA Jytte Svendsen, Editor of International Teachers Association's Danish Board helps recruit volunteers to Nepal, organizing meeting with the volunteers and providing helpful information.
Independent volunteers Volunteers who find us through the internet or through the recommendation of past volunteers and contact us directly. See appendix 1 for a detailed list of volunteers in 2013.
Figure 2-‐ Recruitment of Volunteers
Finance In 2013, Volunteers raised a total of £15,020 to go towards HELP’s projects. Figure 3 illustrates how this funding has been allocated since October. The majority of the funding raised by volunteers went
towards School infrastructure, which is one of the most urgent needs of many of HELP’s partner schools, especially new partner schools.
CUHELP
CUELST
ITA
Independent
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
7
Figure 3-‐ Allocation of Volunteers' Donation
Figure 4: Volunteers' Recommendation on Allocation of Donations
Volunteers are encouraged to give suggestions as to where the funds they raise should go, based on
their experiences and observations of the needs of the schools. As shown in Figure 4, many volunteers suggested that their funding should be spent on improving school infrastructure and providing more training for teachers. Many volunteers had specific requests for how their funding should be spent
(scholarships, hostel building, computer classrooms etc.) which have been honoured as much as possible in the allocation of volunteer funding. While we value these recommendations, we try to allocate funding based on the overall priority needs of all our partner schools.
School infrastructure
Teachers Salary
Teachers training
Books and Uniform grant Sports
Child Sponsorship
Computer Facilijes
School trips
Classroom Room decorajon Drinking Water Project
Administrajve Costs
School infrastructure
Teachers Salary
Teachers training
Books and Uniform grant
Child Sponsorship
Computer Facilijes
Classroom Room decorajon
Drinking Water Project
Other
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
8
Top fundraisers
As figure 5 shows, over half the volunteers managed to raise more than the minimum target of £200. While we appreciate the funds raised by all our volunteers, we would especially like to thank those who hugely overshot their fundraising target and continued fundraising after their placement.
David Low: £770 + 3000 Euros post placement
Imogen Buxton and Rebecca Cavanaugh: £1,500 post placement
Pritesh Raichura: £660 + £500 post placement
Rachel Stoplar: £790
Figure 5-‐ Amount raised by Volunteers 2013
Figure 6-‐ How funds were transferred to HELP
As figure 6 shows, the most popular and convenient way of getting their fundraised money to HELP is
through setting up a JustGiving page and using HELP’s UK partner MondoChallenge Foundation as an intermediary to transfer funds to Nepal.
0 5 10 15 20
Above £500
£200-‐ £500
£200
Less than £200
£0 received to date
JustGiving – To Mondo-‐ Paid directly to Mondo Account-‐ In kind-‐
Paid to HELP directly-‐ Raised no funds
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
9
Detailed report on spending of funds raised by Volunteers
School Infrastructure
Classroom Building and fencing at Thangpalkot
While Imogen Buxton (from Cambridge University) and
Rebecca Cavanagh (from Oxford University), volunteers who came through CU HELP, were teaching at Thangpalkot, the construction of two rooms had been
halted due to lack of funds and one of the classes was being conducted in make shift classroom made out of
bamboo. We made an agreement with them that if they raised funds to support the completion of the classrooms, HELP will find matching resources to do the fencing work,
which Mondochallenge Foundation agreed to fund. Everything went as planned and the villagers, with the classrooms having a very beautiful and equally suitable design relevant to the classroom dynamics. The fencing, which is needed primarily to stop
horned buffaloes from entering the school and posing a threat to students, was completed before the end of February with aluminium wire nets tied to iron poles fixed on low concrete
walls around the school compound and a gate in front of the school to beautify the overall environment. Now, the school has enough rooms to conduct all the classes and the new academic
session starts with a true gift for over 155 students currently studying at the school.
We spent over Rs. 5,00,000 or £3500 towards this project of which Rs. 200,000 or £1,350 came from volunteers donation.
Churetar
Manikanteshowri School offers grade 1 to 5 along with Nursery
and KG but has only 6 rooms, one of which is used as an office. For the past 3 years, when the school was upgraded to grade 5,
two classes have been conducted in makeshift classrooms that forced students to find shelter in other classrooms most of the time during the rainy season. We have been supporting the
school since the beginning of 2012 and in 2013, Sky Holmes and Jennifer Bloomfield, recommended their funds be put towards 2 new classrooms. However, we needed to work with the villagers
to find other sources in order to build 3 more classrooms they needed. In January, the School informed us that they collected Rs. 300,000 including the funding they received from the District Education Office, and proposed us if we could match their grant. We saw this as opportunity to quickly make things
happens, so decided to contribute Rs. 300,000 (£2000) from our side. This will enable around 85 children to study in an improved learning environment.
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
10
Of this, we used £1000 from various volunteers donation.
Contribution towards Nakote hostel building
Looking at the past few years, the quality of education at Nakote has improved tremendously, with one of the students at the school topping the district level
examination administered as the final exams for grade 8 students. Located at a climatically favourable location and with the possibility of hosting more students, the
villagers requested HELP to assist them in the construction of a hostel at the school. David Low, who
taught at Nakote for more than 2 months, raised €3000 or £2450 to go towards this project.
According to the plan, 3 new rooms for hostel have been added at the cost of Rs. 7,50,000 or £5000 with contribution from the local villagers. We have also supplied a whole host of equipment required for
running the hostel such as where the school will run the classes and use the lower floor of their pre-‐existing building as a dormitory. Rajan Basnet, the newly elected hostel in-‐charge, along with the school management committee, are busy managing the new dormitory rooms. More than 15 students from
different villages have already shown their interest and the school is aiming to receive 30 students in total this year.
We used Rs. 4,50,000 or £3000 towards this project from volunteers donation.
Classroom Building and classroom decoration at Bhumeshwori
Due to lack of funds, the building of two new rooms at Bhumeshowri school was halted. Because of this, the computer lab and library were managed inside the
teacher’s office by partitioning the room, making both of these rooms were quite inaccessible for students if there was any meeting being held in those rooms. At the same
time, the school showed their interest in properly managing the laptop computers we had provided through the Kids on the Grid program, if they could complete the building, which
was half complete. We supported funds to complete construction of the rooms and furnishing the rooms i.e.
plastering and colouring. Now, as the new session has just begun, the school is in the process of adding more computers through government support and managing computer lab and library in spacious rooms, appropriate to the classroom sizes.
Charlotte Chorley and Jesicca Curie, who volunteered at Bhumeshowri, recommended their funds be
used to decorate classrooms. We discussed this with the teachers and they suggested waiting until all the classrooms are properly allocated (once all the classrooms have been built) so that the cost and effort of decorating classrooms not go to waste.
With huge support from MondoChallenge Foundation, we have allocated around £300,000 towards
Bhumeshowri School of which Rs 1,20,000 or £800 is used from volunteers donation.
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
11
Solsing Fencing
It was very difficult to conduct sports activities at Solsing as balls and badminton shuttlecocks kept going out on the field next to the school and the teachers,
leading to complaints by villagers, and lost sports equipment.
Pritesh Raichura, who taught at Solsing along with Chris Lovejoy as the first ever volunteers to the school, and they raised over £950, which has gone into fencing the playground and the
school compound, for which materials have already been delivered and construction works are underway and is set to be
completed by the first week of May.
Fencing and Drinking Water Supply at Nurbuling
Not having fencing at the school has meant students wasted more of their playing time collecting balls than actually playing. The temporary fencing the students had put up with their
tremendous effort and enthusiasm was no longer suitable, so we decided to provide support for materials for wire nets and iron poles after the school committed to secure funding for
other materials. This fencing has also meant that the Himalayan Olympics, hosted at Nurbuling School, were able to be carried out in a much more efficient manner.
With over 70 students in the school hostel, availability of only one tap at the school made the students tired of
waiting in lines, for washing in the weekends. Also, the students spent more time waiting in lines than washing before school, forcing them to be late for the assembly.
Given the availability of space around the school, we provided materials for the school to construct taps in different parts of the school.
To do this, we spent Rs. 20,000 or £130 on drinking water
and Rs. 1,50,000 or £1000 on fencing project.
Retaining wall at Bhirkharka
At Bhirkharka, overflow of water in the monsoon eroded part of the playground, making it risky to conduct play activities. We had previously supported the school to build gabion walls to prevent further damage, which was completed last year. This year, the school requested further support in making the school compound safer and helping the expansion of the playground. The school committed to manage the significant labour contribution for the works as well as additional financial support from other sources, making it possible for a lot to be done with a limited budget.
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
12
We expended Rs. 100,000 or £650 out of the volunteers donation.
Teachers Training Local teachers are not eligible for trainings organized by the government although it is now changing
from 2014 after long lobbying by HELP. Also, we hear from the government teachers that the training sessions they
receive were not thoroughly effective as there isn't any system of monitoring. Most of our volunteers, having found the teaching at the school very traditional,
recommended training being one of the primary needs to improve education at the schools. Most of the teachers HELP supports and other privately arranged teachers are
not trained and despite working very hard, they are not able to teach as effectively because they lack training. This year we organized a teachers training in October, during the Dashain and Tihar festivals vacation. The weeklong Teachers Professional
Development (TPD) Training at the Career Training Foundation (CTF), a private training institute, was organized for 18 teachers from 11 partner schools. Later in December, we organized one of the teachers from the training centre to visit two of our partner schools to visit the school to observe how the
teachers implemented their learning from the training into their classrooms and teaching. On a basket-‐funding basis, we used the funds raised by the volunteers, who recommended their funds should be put towards teacher’s training.
We have expended Rs. 100,000 or GBP 650 on this heading and we have plans to host at least 4 teachers
training in 2014 for which at least £1000 more is in reserve and the earliest one is happening from the 9th of May to the 14th of May, 2014.
Contributions towards additional teachers salaries In most of our partner schools, the number of teachers is less than the number of classes being offered at the school, meaning that children are often left with no teacher. We have been paying the salaries of 12 full time and 5 part time teachers who are working across 10 different schools. Teachers support, as important as it might be, is difficult to maintain and find funding for. Funding additional teachers was initiated with the idea of a short-‐term support to convince the government to hire more teachers. However, this has not happened because of the unstable political situation and the lack of commitment on the part of communities themselves, putting us under pressure to secure a stable stream of funds for the programme. It is only through volunteers funding that we have been able to continue this programme.
Paying salaries for additional teachers is the biggest ongoing expenditure at HELP and we request volunteers to support us to keep this vital support going.
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
13
In 2013, the total expenditure on teachers’ salaries were Rs. 1,512,000 or roughly £10K. Our partner MondoChallenge Foundation provides a huge part of this and we have decided to allocate around £3000 of the cost from volunteers’ donation.
Sports equipment Sports and music equipment being available at school entices children to attend school because they can play different games
with their peers, something they don't get at home. It is also evident from volunteer’s experiences how much children love playing. For this reason, we encourage the volunteers to take
sports equipment, so that the children as well as the volunteers have a quality time during their stay. Teachers organize weekly activities to evaluate the student’s
sports skills and encourage them to participate more. Apart from most of the volunteers taking sports equipment with them during their training, we provided sports equipments to Nakote, Sarkathali, Gunsa and Thangpalkot. This equipment allowed schools to prepare for the Himalayan Olympics before we
distributed the materials to all the participating schools. With the volunteers' donation, we distributed sports equipment for
all the 20 schools participating in the Himalayan Olympics. Thanks to the equipments, the students were able to harness their athletic skills, evident in their hugely improved
performance during the Himalayan Olympics. These equipments proved to be helpful for the schools to prepare for the Himalayan Olympics before we distributed the materials to
all the participating schools.
We have so far expended Rs. 75,000 or £500 on this heading to support 20 Schools using volunteers
donation.
School Excursion- Nakote and Gunsa A large chunk of Social Studies-‐ a compulsory subject, are related to culturally and historically important sites, most of which are located in the Kathmandu valley. However, most children don't go to Kathmandu until they complete their SLC. So, their knowledge on this subject is limited to books with
little or no practical understanding. Opportunities like this provide children a much needed exposure and confidence to think beyond their small villages and to view the outside world from a different perspective.
Nakote School: We organized a tour of Kathmandu valley for 40 students from grades 5 to 8. During the 4 days, the students
visited important sites like Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Changu Narayan, Pashupatinath, Bouddhanath; visited some exciting
places like Chobhar and Central zoo and participated in a cultural show at City Hall, movie at KL Tower
and wall climbing at Pasang Lhamu Foundation. Each of the students contributed Rs. 1000 along and HELP covered the rest to finance the school excursion. We paid Rs. 80,000 or GBP 540.
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
14
Gunsa School: 60 students from Gunsa followed a similar itinerary in Kathmandu. To finance the trip, the students had collected Rs. 35,000 on a Deusi-‐ Bhailo programme during the Deepawali and
each student contributed Rs. 1000 each and the remaining cost was covered from the funds raised by the volunteer who went out to teach at the school. HELP provided Rs. 60,000 or GBP 400 to enable this trip to be organized.
After the trip, at each of the schools, the participating schools were asked to write reports on their experiences, which were evaluated as a part of their curriculum.
Computer lab management at Gunsa
The government is providing funds for the lower secondary and secondary schools to purchase computers but the schools struggle to furnish and maintain a dust free
environment for these rooms. The school has received several computers from the government, as well as 3 laptops from our Kids on the Grid Project. In order to
maintain and make these computers accessible to students, we decided to support the school in furnishing the room i.e. plastering, painting and laying carpet on the floor.
We have expended Rs. 75,000 or GBP 500 on this heading, which all came from volunteers donation.
Early Childhood Development Classroom management (ECD) at Gunsa (B) and Majuwa (near Pating) Kumbeshwori School (Gunsa B) received volunteers for the first time in 2013. Volunteers to this school
identified early classroom management as one of the key needs of the school. Volunteer’s funds went towards laying wooden planks over the floor, carpeting, installing colourful low desks
for writing and cushions to sit on. This has created a lively learning environment for the younger years. On top of this, 3 whiteboards and 1 School noticeboard is being sent to the
School soon. We have expended Rs. 90,000 or £ 600 to support Kumbeshowri School.
In Majuwa, a village just below Solshing with 35 households, they do not have a School. As walking to the nearest village would be at least an hour walk, we were requested by a local government official to provide classroom materials to set up ECD class. One of the past HELP teachers at Birkharka, having
married to a man from Majuwa, now works as a part time teacher to manage and run this ECD.
We provided materials worth Rs. 15,000 or £100.
Additional school bag distribution (50 bags at Nakote)
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
15
As part of the second phase of our School In A Bag Distribution scheme, we first considered distributing
the bags on a partnership basis, where we covered the cost of all the materials plus half the cost of the school bags, with the parents covering the half cost of the bags
only. However, understanding in detail about the students' families revealed that many parents were not in a position to pay the cost of the bags. Elodie Broad, a
HELP volunteer going out the school, agreed to fund the total cost of 50 such school bags, allowing the price of School In A Bag to be maintained. With this, all the students from the school received School In A Bag, without the parents having to cover the cost of the materials. The best news is that, a year after
the bags were distributed, there haven’t been any complaints of wear or tear of any of the bags.
To do this, we expended Rs. 30,000 or £200 for the bag project.
Scholarships Though some high school equivalent institutions have been established in the Helambu region in recent years, they only offer courses in certain streams. Therefore, most of the students have to come to Kathmandu to study streams that are not offered in the Helambu based institutions such as sciences. Because of this many talented students with bright prospects are forced to drop their studies after SLC. With support from our Scholarship program, they can continue their studies and contribute back to their communities as teachers, health workers, etc. upon completing their studies. For this, we partner with institutes in Kathmandu who provide generous discounts for students from Helambu. HELP scholarships help in covering the rest of their tuition fees. The students arrange their accommodation individually by mostly living with their relatives.
Last year, we awarded scholarships for 28 students during a programme at Melamchipul Bazaar. David Low, who after volunteering at Nakote was present at the distribution programme, committed to sponsoring 2 students and following his idea, Misako Ohasi, who did her thesis research whilst teaching with David Low, committed to supporting 2 more.
Scholarship amount is worth anywhere from Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 20,000 (£80 to £130) per month. We received a generous donation from our volunteers worth £1000 towards this project for two years.
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
16
Child Sponsorship Karsang and Ang Maya
Our child sponsorship programme operates at a very small scale to support children with vulnerable family situation. We had been supporting 2 talented siblings with both their parents deceased from AIDS. Until last year, they walked 3 hours each way to Sarkathali Primary School and now have gone on to study in Melamchi Ghyang School hostel. Through funds raised by the volunteers, we have been supporting for their tuition, stationery and uniform expenses.
We expended Rs. 40,000 or £ 270 to support these children. We have collected list of as many as 10 other students to support in the year 2014. Nurbuling Boarding Kids Sponsorship
Similarly, we have continued to support 10 children boarding at Nurbuling School who come from poor family background from other villages. We covered their tuition fees, uniform, books and subsidized heavily their living cost.
We spent around Rs. 1,50,000 or £1000 to do this.
Books and School Uniform grant The government provides support for government curriculum books, which are often outdated and not suitable for primary level students. More interactive private curriculum books are more expensive, and often unaffordable for parents in rural areas. For this we provide lump sum grants to schools, which they use to top up the amount they receive from the government for buying textbooks. This year, we provided books grants to the following schools in following amounts. Wearing uniform is mandatory for this gives students a sense of pride and a feeling of inclusion despite coming from different ethnic or economic backgrounds. For children from poor families with limited clothing, having a uniform becomes a prime motivation to attend school. This year, we supported uniforms for all 89 students of Dhundeni, all 21 students at Dhapsung and the 35 new admissions at Gunsa (A). The donations from volunteers covered the cost of cloth and parents covered the cost of stitching the uniform for the students, which made it possible for the programme to benefit more children with limited funds while also encouraging parents' participation in their children’s education.
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
17
This year, we have allocated funds for needy students as identified by the school to purchase uniform set that includes shirt, pant/skirt, shoes and socks. We will provide Rs. 600 per student and the parents will contribute from their side to provide uniform sets for the schools. The number of students who will receive uniforms this year are shown in the table below.
Grant amount S. No. School Village
2013 2014 2014 Uniform
Students Number
1. Shree Narayan LSS Ichowk Rs. 15, 000 Rs. 15,000 -‐ 400
2. Shree Dhapsung PS Dhapsung Rs. 10,000 Rs. 5000 Rs. 12,600 (21 students) 25
3. Shree Deurali PS Tartong Rs. 10, 000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 19,200 (32 students) 78
4. Shree Nurbuling LSS Kharkadanda Rs. 12, 000 -‐ 130
5. Shree Risankumani PS Dhundeni Rs. 7500 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,200 (17 students) 89
6. Shree Satdhara PS Bhirkharka Rs. 7500 Rs. 10,000 Rs. 10,800 (18 students) 97
7. Shree Satkanyamati
LSS
Gunsa (A) Rs. 12,000 Rs. 15,000 Rs. 18,000 (30 students) 280
8. Shree Pating LSS Pating Rs. 5,000 -‐ 250
9. Shree Kumbheshwori
PS
Gunsa (B) Rs. 10,000 -‐ 160
10. Shree Serkathali PS Serkathali Rs. 7,500 Rs. 6,000 (10 students) 50
Total Rs. 74,000 Rs. 87,500 or GBP 575.
Rs. 76,800 or GBP 500.
Testimonies: Rachel Stoplar, volunteer at Nurbuling School, 2013: My overall volunteering experience in Nepal: 'a thoroughly rewarding and challenging experience, with some of the most unique, inspiring, and wonderful people I've ever met'
Chris Lovejoy, a volunteer at Solshing School, 2013: My experience in Nepal was one of the greatest of my life. It opened my eyes to Nepalese life and culture, made me appreciate how much of a difference we can all make and was thoroughly enjoyable on the whole.
Pritesh Raichuri, a volunteer at Solshing, 2013: Experiencing village life first-‐hand gave me incredible insights into the experiences, motivations, ambitions, joys and problems the villagers had. It was truly
humbling to be welcomed and treated like family, respected like a teacher and to have ideas responded to with such enthusiasm. The experience has made me aware of a new culture and lifestyle, and has enthused me to commit to the field of education.
Tom Mawson, a volunteer at Nurbuling, 2013: Volunteering with HELP was a fantastic and very
rewarding experience. I really enjoyed my time in Nepal, especially meeting the great HELP team and the lovely people of Helambu. I felt so welcome at Nurbuling, where the teachers, pupils and parents were so friendly, especially Chiring's mother, Sakiri, it was lovely staying with her. Thank you.
Volunteer Funding Impact Report 2013
18
Appendix 1: List of volunteers in 2013 S. No. Name of volunteers Placement School Recruitment info
1. Tim van der Lee Gunsa CU HELP 2. Christian Ravenberg Tartong ITA 3. Mikkel Gammeljord Tartong ITA 4. Nanna Dyhl Overby Serkathali ITA 5. Tenna Damm Nakote then Tartong ITA 6. Niels Bjerren Sorensen Serkathali then Tartong ITA 7. Osten Borre Simonsen Nakote then Tartong ITA 8. Jack Woodnott Nurbuling CU HELP 9. George Brain Nurbuling CU HELP 10. Elodie Broad Nakote CU HELP 11. David Low Nakote Individually 12. Misako Ohasi Nakote Under JL recommendation 13. Joachim Dias Tartong CU ELST 14. Jenifer Bloomfield Churetar CU HELP 15. Sky Holmes Churetar CU HELP 16. Charlotte Chorley Bhumeshwori CU HELP 17. Jessica Currie Bhumeshwori CU HELP 18. Rachael Stoplar Nurbuling CU HELP 19. Tom Mawson Nurbuling CU HELP 20. Pritesh Raichura Solsing CU HELP 21. Chris Lovejoy Solsing CU HELP 22. Robert Shorrock Gunsa (A) CU HELP 23. Thomas Hodges Gunsa (B) CU HELP 24. Tanya Basi Gunsa (B) CU HELP 25. Anish Pathak Gunsa (B) CU HELP 26. Lara Spencer Nurbuling CU HELP 27. Matthew McConkey Dhundeni CU HELP 28. Maev Conneely Dhundeni CU HELP 29. Gabriel Quiros Rubio Ichowk CU HELP 30. Calum Kennedy Ichowk CU HELP 31. Eliza Prettyman Ichowk CU HELP 32. Megan Dance Ichowk Individually 33. Imogen Buxton Thangpalkot CU HELP 34. Rebecca Cavanagh Thangpalkot CU HELP 35. Sonja Weigl Nakote CU ELST 36. Alaxender Ballard Tartong CU ELST 37. Olga Pushkina Nakote CU HELP 38. Ben Liard Gunsa (A) CU HELP 39. Tony Barker Gunsa (A) CU HELP 40. Anastasiya Pachyna Serkathali CU HELP 41. Anna Martin Kelly Serkathali CU HELP 42. Chloe Romambason Tartong then Nurbuling CU HELP 43. Lee Jia Wie Bhirkharka CU HELP 44. Yiren Thng Bhirkharka CU HELP 45. Emma Copham Nakote CU HELP 46. Eoin Brady Gunsa (A) CU HELP