Knowledge Products
BGE Knowledge Products: PCTFI Tips Series:The Patsy Collins Trust Fund Initiative (PCTFI) is excited to share its new series of lessons from the field, the PCTFI Tips Series! Over the past year, each of the PCTFI Cohort 1 countries (Cambodia, Honduras, Mali, and Tanzania) have participated in a reflective exercise on the work that they have done. Drawing on their experiences, each country compiled a list of potential topics for their first contribution to the Tips Series. After discussing and vetting the topics across the group of four countries and BGE, single themed topics were decided upon. Information was collected through a series of interviews and a thorough document review of each program’s work. Topics were created from a field-perspective, with the intention that these documents would be shared across the CARE community. Each document describes a challenge the team encountered, CARE’s response, the results of this response, and recommendations to other colleagues. The first volume of the Tips Series will be published over the upcoming months and will include all four Cohort 1 countries. It is our hope that these CARE lessons are helpful in not only telling the story of the work we are doing, but also encouraging cross-collaboration and sharing across the CARE education and program sectors. As they become available, electronic copies of these documents can be found here on the BGE Wiki as well as the CARE USA website at http://www.care.org/careswork/whatwedo/education/edu_publications.asp. The topics of the first four PCTFI Tips Series documents to be published are:
Please watch the BGE Bulletin for announcements about the ongoing publication of the PCTFI Tips Series. Translations into French and Spanish will be made as soon as the first volume is completed. For general inquiries about, or suggestions for the PCTFI Tips Series, please contact Amanda Moll at amoll@care.org. If you would like to learn more about the program you read about, or if you have questions for the country office staff who are part of the program, their contact information will be included with each publication. PCTFI Tips Series: Collaborating with Government in the Context of a Highly Centralized System in CambodiaIn ensuring an enabling environment for sustained change, there is a need for a positive relationship between NGOs and governments. Through its initiatives in bilingual education, CARE Cambodia has been able to do this. Building a positive relationship with the government takes a lot of work. CARE Cambodia identified four core challenges in establishing a mutually beneficial relationship: dealing with skepticism, sharing the right amount of information, navigating protocols and requests, and knowing who to keep engaged. With these identified, they worked from a number of angles to create the right environment to foster a relationship. As a result of building advocates from the inside, demonstrating good will, and seeking opportunities for the government to participant in decision-making, a good relationship was formed. This has led to a number of changes to be made, helping to further not only CARE’s work but also the government’s work. Based on their experiences, a series of five recommendations and tips have been made by the CARE Cambodia staff for other staff who are working to build a relationship with their government. This publication may be accessed here: PCTFI Tips Series Volume 1 July 2009, Cambodia.pdf.If you would like more information about the work done by the CARE Cambodia team, or more information about the PCTFI education program in Cambodia, please contact Jan Noorlander at jan.noorlander@care-cambodia.org. Table of ContentsStrategic Impact Inquiry:LAC RegionThis publication can be accessed by clicking HERE
The Strategic Impact Inquiry (SII) has allowed CARE Ecuador and Perú to conduct two bi-national education programs called EDUBINA and EDUCAVIDA. These projects contributed to the achievement of goals 2 and 3 of the Millennium Development Goals: to achieve universal primary education and promote gender equality. Through this investigation, CARE Ecuador and Perú concluded that both EDUBINA and EDUCAVIDA are educational models that have shown signs of impact that can be replicated in multicultural contexts similar to those which exist in the countries Ecuador and Perú. These models bring together a set of proven strategies that ensure better education for girls from the perspectives of quality, educational achievement, equality, and empowerment. Finally, this inquiry confirmed the importance of implementing educational strategies that integrate CARE’s interventions, with the participation of community stakeholders as well as educational authorities. This publication can be accessed by clicking HERE
A través de La Encuesta impacto estratégico en educación (SII), CARE en Ecuador y en Perú, llevaron a cabo dos investigaciónes binacionales que se llaman el proyecto Educación de Calidad para la Vida (EDUCAVIDA) y el Proyecto Nueva Educación Intercultural Bilingüe en los Andes (EDUBINA). Estos proyectos contribuyeron en el logro de las metas dos y tres de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio: la universalización de la educación básica y a la equidad entre los géneros. A través de la investigación, CARE en Ecuador y en Perú concluyeron que EDUBINA y EDUCAVIDA, son modelos educativos que han mostrado evidencia de impacto y pueden ser replicados en contexto multiculturales similares a los de Ecuador y Perú. Estos modelos traen consigo un conjunto de estrategias validadas que aseguran una mejor educación de las niñas desde las perspectivas de la calidad, el logro educativo, igualdad y empoderamiento. Finalmente, la investigación confirma la importancia de implementar estrategias educativas que incorporan las intervenciones de CARE, con la participación de los actores de la comunidad y también con las autoridades educativas. Se puede acceder a esta publicación por hacer clic AQUI Africa Region
The Strategic Impact Inquiry (SII) has allowed the CARE Kenya team to examine its education programs in Dadaab through various lenses, while also allowing for staff and community development in designing methodology and particaipatory approaches. Through this SII process the education team has began to internally evalute its programs with an eye to indicators that focus on attainment; quality; equality and empowerment. The SII, has presented CARE Kenya with an opportunity to reflect on how it would like to approach education in its future programming as the study has provided CARE Kenya with an in-depth view of perceptions from the community on the education system, as well as providing quantitative data on its attainment levels, equality and quality of education in Dadaab schools. The study has allowed CARE Kenya to probe deeply into its education programs and reflect on how its education programs have impacted the empowerment of girls and other marginalized children. The findings from this study will guide future strategic planning within the Dadaab education program. This publication can be accessed by clicking HERE Learning Journey Series:LAC Region-Learning Journey Series: A Learning Internship on Intercultural Bi-lingual Education in the Classroom”. Education colleagues from CARE Bolivia, CARE Ecuador, CARE El Salvador, CARE Guatemala, CARE Honduras, and CARE Peru, participated in this learning internship by visiting two community schools of the MET Mathematical and Technology project implemented by CARE Guatemala, located in Central America. Their visit and observations provided opportunities to reflect on implementing effective bi-lingual education strategies in the classroom, keeping in mind the elements of the Mayan cultural, processing the dimensions of education quality for intercultural and indigenous populations based on the positive “Appreciative Inquiry” methodology and focus group dialogue with key stakeholders and beneficiaries.This publication can be accessed by clicking HERE Learning Journey Series: "Una Pasantía de aprendizaje educación intercultural bilingüe en el aula." Colegas de Bolivia, Ecuador, Perú, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador y Guatemala, participaron en la pasantía por una vista a dos escuelas comunitarias del proyecto Matemática y Educación Tecnología-MET implementado por CARE Guatemala, ubicado en Centro América. Su visita y las observaciones ofrecieron la oportunidad de reflexionar sobre la eficacia de la educación bilingüe de las estrategias en el aula, teniendo en cuenta los elementos de la cultura maya, el procesamiento de las dimensiones de la calidad de la educación intercultural y las poblaciones indígenas sobre la base de la positiva "Indagación Apreciativa" metodología y grupos de diálogo con los principales interesados y beneficiarios. Se puede acceder a esta publicación por hacer clic AQUI A Learning Journey About Educational Quality: Reflective Observations from a visit to CARE India's GIrls' Education ProgramThe Learning Journey Series reflects on an in depth understanding of how the five dimensions of Educational Quality: Content, Environment, Outcome, Process, and What Learners Bring, play out in schools and classrooms, in CARE India’s formal and non-formal school settings. This series illustrates the reflective observations by the Learning Group, representing education colleagues from the Asia Region, to gain a better perspective about how CARE India promotes educational quality in their work. Their observations, key tips and promising practices that are identified and documented relied heavily on reflective discussions, on open-ended observations and discussions with students, teachers and community members. They are not meant to be exhaustive, but rather illustrative about how all five dimensions of quality can be seen in CARE’s work.This publication can be accessed by clicking HERE Promoting Early Childhood Development for OVC in Resource Constrained Settings: The 5 x 5 ModelIn sub-Saharan Africa, poverty and HIV pose grave threats to the well being of families and therefore the healthy development of children. In response to these and other threats and in light of the overwhelming evidence of the positive impact of early intervention, CARE developed the 5 x 5 model for comprehensive early childhood programming. This 5 x 5 model identifies five areas in which a holistic intervention can help young orphans and vulnerable children: health, food and nutrition, psychosocial support and cognitive stimulation, child rights/protection, and economic security. The model also intervenes at five levels: the individual child, the family or caregiver, the childcare setting, the community and the wider policy environment. CARE has integrated the 5 x 5 model into ECD programs in Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya, Angola, and Uganda. All sites are collecting data on the outcomes of the CARE ECD programs. Thus far only the Ugandan data has been analyzed but the results have been encouraging This publication can be accessed by clicking HERE Caution – Children at Work: Galvanizing Communities to End Child LaborChild labor is one of the greatest moral issues we face today. Approximately 218 million children around the world are engaged in some form of work. This report takes a look at CARE's experience combating hazardous and exploitative child labor around the world. The theme – galvanizing communities to end child labor – resulted from a strategic review of the interventions to combat hazardous and exploitative child labor, including the role of education.This publication can be accessed by clicking HERE Perspectives: Using a Broad-Based Approach to Conduct a Comprehensive Situation AnalysisThis field guide is based on lessons learned and advice from CARE offices implementing programs to address the marginalization of girls. It aims to support the work of program planners and implementers as they organize and conduct a situational analysis, and is structured around the process of conducting a situational analysis about the marginalization of girls.This publication can be accessed by clicking HERE Child Labor and Effective Policy Changes: An Evidence Based Review of Advocacy Approaches in CARE LAC Education ProgrammingIn Latin America child labor is a daily phenomenon that prevents many boys, girls and adolescents from enjoying their rights, making their dreams come true, and living a healthy childhood. Despite international standards signed by most of the countries in the region, the Children’s Rights Convention and ILO Conventions, 138 and 1982, deficiencies in the application of mechanisms to control child labor persist. According to statistics reported by the International Labor Organization - ILO – and despite substantial reductions in child labor, “there are 5.7 million girls and boys who work without being old enough to be admitted to a job or work in areas prohibited by ILO Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labor. Most are boys and girls who work in agriculture; however, thousands of them work in other high-risk sectors such as mining, trash collecting, housework, making fireworks, and fishing”Around 2003, and based on a child labor study promoted by ERAC LAC, with support from the LACRMU, and developed in El Salvador, CARE established the reduction, prevention and elimination of child labor as a priority task in programmatic work. Its implications in the reproduction of poverty cycles, the violation of rights, and the negative effects it has on the education of boys, girls and adolescents make it an obstacle to the development of the most vulnerable population. Within this framework of dialogue and proposals, CARE in the LAC region began programmatic guidelines directed at contributing to public policies, educational models, awareness, and the establishment of local allies that would allow it to effectively take on the problem of child labor. This publication can be accessed by clicking HERE Highlights In Latin America Education Programming: Girls' and Young Women's Empowerment Through Education in BoliviaThe Education and Girls Leadership –EDUMUJER project implemented by CARE Bolivia is currently implementing two major strategies: the Empowerment Strategy and Educational Strategy. Both are focused on women empowerment.Rights and Sexual and Reproductive Health As part of the Empowerment Strategy, CARE developed actions and training sessions to incorporate aspects of human rights, democracy and citizenship into the school curricula. This component had the “largest degree of success of any of the objectives”. The Final Evaluation of 2008 clearly indicates a high level of knowledge of human and labor rights as a result of the project. A focus group of 25 women expressed the “importance of having this type of project that allows them to improve as people, and helps them feel more secure about themselves”. The women said that “by participating in the workshops they have improved their leadership skills and knowledge on gender and the promotion of women’s rights, human rights, and sexual and reproductive rights and that this knowledge allows them to make better decisions in their personal relationships and even with their partners”. Improving linguistic abilities through the “New Writers- Nuevos Escritores” program. CARE and a well know writer in Bolivia John Paz Soldan a consultant, developed the program “Nuevos Escritores” (New Writers) to strengthen students’ language abilities and also improve their self esteem. Students, teachers and authorities alike commended the tangible results of the program. Students mentioned that the program helped them to “develop as people.” Teachers noted a change in the students’ self esteem and confidence at school, and authorities mentioned that it was an opportunity for students to discover themselves, to recognize their talents, abilities, and knowledge, and that the initiative was a way to harness their emotions and immortalize them in a story. The initiative culminated in a competition in which students from three of the six schools participated and with the publication of the book “Un Cuento para Cada Momento.” 6 of the 11 winners were girls and young women. One of whom, María Isabel Guachalla , has already sold the 50 books awarded to her by CARE for writing her story and now has a petition for 200 more books. As such, we are thinking about publishing a second edition. This clearly shows that this initiative has not only improved the linguistic abilities of students, strengthening their self esteem and emotional development, but also provides concrete economic opportunities for young women. This Publication can be accessed by clicking HERE. |
