The Learning Village
August 29, 2009
Friend and Haiti Partners Associate Luke Renner is doing some really cool stuff. His mission is to equip Haitians with skills in media technology toward helping them to educate the masses. We’re honored and privileged to be collaborating with him. He’s already created a number of videos for Haiti Partners and will be doing many more. He and his family are living in Cap Haitien. Click here to learn about how he’s helping kids to develop skills in story telling with media technology. Great stuff Luke!
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Piloting “Partner Schools”
August 27, 2009
Thanks to a grant from Vista Hermosa for our Social Enterprise for Advancing Quality Education project (click here), we are, among other things, piloting 3 partner schools with the intent of creating an approach that can be replicated. Click here for the working draft of goals for Haiti Partners partner schools.
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Haiti Partners Youth Choir and Dance Troupe
August 19, 2009
The neighborhood where I (John Engle) stay when I’m in Haiti and where I lived for more than 10 years is called Mariaman. It’s in the mountains outside of Port au Prince.
My wife Merline has been working with a group of young people for the last three years helping them to develop skills in singing, dancing and leadership. It’s now about a year since her brother Alex has served as director. He’s doing a fantastic job and many of their songs were written by him and the kids and have a social justice message. They’ve performed during Sunday am services in about a dozen Port au Prince churches and have done several concerts. Alex is a participant in our Capacity Building Project.
Merline and I are working with Alex and kids to determine what’s next. During summer break they’ve been learning to embroider, weave straw hats, etc. toward identifying some income generating activities. We’re also exploring the possibility of having them come perform in US to help raise funds for Haiti Partners work in education. Contributions to help support this choir and dance troupe initiative can be sent to Haiti Partners.
John Engle
Posted in Haiti Partners, Special Projects, Uncategorized, Youth Choir | No Comments | Email This Post
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Piloting a “Partner School”
August 14, 2009
Here’s a quick video of Community School of Cabois (Lekòl Jean Jacques Dessaline) which is one of four partner schools that we’re piloting. We’ve been collaborating with school director and teachers in literacy projects for years before they had the vision to create this school. These teachers have worked without pay and worked with local masons to construct the building. The school’s director and two of the teachers are participating in our 3-year Capacity Building training.
Community School of Cabois will receive from Haiti Partners over the next 3 years funds to help finish the building, start a garden that is used to teach agricultural techniques and produce revenue for school, and to start a social enterprise toward making the school autonomous. Only 15% of schools in Haiti receive government funding. Thus, paying teachers’ salaries and other expenses involved is a major challenge. While Haitian families place high importance on education, the fees they’re able to pay are normally not enough to pay teachers’ salaries. Following the model of one of our partners, we’re creating a training module and pilots toward helping schools create social enterprises that generate revenue that can pay teachers’ salaries and other necessary school expenses.
Posted in Cabois Community School, Grants, Haiti Partners, Partner Schools, STUDENTS Program, Social Enterprise for Quality Education, Special Projects, Uncategorized, Vista Hermosa Foundation, Zyman Foundation | No Comments | Email This Post
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LWA 2 PYE – LAW OF 2 FEET
August 12, 2009
Here it is on a license plate: “Law of 2 Feet” in Haitian Creole. Pictured with owner of truck, Eric Graham. Eric participated in a couple of open space meetings and liked the law : ). He’s part of our Capacity Building Project. If you’ve looked at any of our recent photos of open space meetings in Haiti, there’s a good chance he took them. We’re lucky to have him as a very active member of our Haiti network.
Thank you, Eric! Click here to see some of his photos of a Capacity Building seminar and open space meeting last week.
For those unfamiliar with Open Space, the law of 2 feet is key. It means that each person is fully responsible for how she spends her time and that if she finds herself in a discussion where she feels that she neither learning nor contributing, she needs to get up and go somewhere else.
John
Posted in Haiti Partners, Open Space, TEACHERS Program, Uncategorized | No Comments | Email This Post
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Significant Grant from Major Donor!
My colleagues and I (John Engle) are celebrating! Vista Hermosa, which is funding our 3-year Capacity Building Project just approved funding of 3 year proposal called Social Enterprise for Advancing Quality Education. We’re elated! Here’s a summary below. Click here to download proposal in PDF format.
Overall: Develop and promote good leadership, inspiring successes, innovative solutions and community commitment to quality education in Haiti by leveraging Vista Hermosa-funded Capacity Building3 Project.
I. Create, distribute and promote a video documentary and companion booklet highlighting a success story of Haitian social enterprises that are funding six schools. This video will be made available in English, French, Spanish and Creole for widespread use in Haiti and elsewhere.
II. In partnership with four Haitian schools, develop a “model school” approach for replication: teachers’ salaries funded by social enterprise, 50%+ students are girls, and curriculum including agriculture (community garden), participatory leadership, discussion-based education and social enterprise creation.
III. Design program to train groups of about 15 people in each of 25 communities, igniting their imaginations and equipping them with tools and knowledge for creating social enterprises for furthering education.
IV. Energize Mwen Renmen Peyi m initiative (“I Love My Country“), which is led by Haiti’s private business sector by: a) Providing material, programs and projects that further their cause (above 3 objectives), b) bring American business leaders to Haiti who are known for corporate responsibility/philanthropy for exchange, c) film their visits so that they can spread the word among their US contacts and networks about these exciting initiatives in Haiti.
John
Posted in Bèl Platon Community School, Cabois Community School, Grants, Haiti Partners, Henri Christophe Community School, Partner Schools, STUDENTS Program, Social Enterprise for Quality Education, Special Projects, Uncategorized, Vista Hermosa Foundation | No Comments | Email This Post
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Open Space meetings in 38 Schools in 2 Months
August 8, 2009
I’m (John Engle) in Carrefour Haiti participating in one of our Capacity Building seminars, which includes 35 of my Haitian colleagues from around the country. Among them is a small team of four that are having incredible results with Open Space meetings in schools. They have contracts with Save The Children and Concern Worldwide to work with dozens of schools. During the next two months they will do open space meetings in 38 different schools.
Last year around this time this particular team of colleagues did open space meetings in 29 different schools. The objective was to engage parents more in the life of the schools and also in their child’s education. There are numerous testimonials from school directors now that the year is over about the transformative role these meetings have had in their schools functioning, especially as relates to parents paying their child’s school fees which make it possible for teachers to get paid. In Haiti, 85% of schools are private because the state doesn’t have resources to create and run more schools. Thus, these small and often poorly run private school live on the fees paid by parents. When fees aren’t paid, teachers don’t get paid, motivation falls and everything degenerates. Open Space meetings with parents have delivered incredible results in confronting this challenge.
Posted in Haiti Partners, Open Space, TEACHERS Program, Uncategorized | No Comments | Email This Post
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