Yes We Can Foundation to support 'Refurbishment' of 10 Schools across India
With a literacy rate of little above 74% and a dropout rate of 48% in elementary education (source : Fortress Team Research) , literacy in India clearly remains a major issue. Adding to its agony, poor infrastructure in our schools are pushing the numbers further down as we go up the ladder towards higher education. Education infrastructure broadly includes teachers, learning materials, school buildings(with basic facilities) and furniture. While initiatives like Teach For India and Gandhi Fellowship have been focussing on first two components, school buildings are still waiting for their turn to see a miracle happening.In this direction, a step was taken recently by Yes We Can Foundation, an initiative by Nahar Family(Bangalore) when they announced grants for Refurbishment of 10 schools across the country. The foundation is working in healthcare & hygiene, primary education and environmental sustainability sectors, but their earlier work towards supporting school infrastructure (named Hosa Belaku) has given many hopes. The project vision statement says- ‘Through this project the organisation is trying to renovate, rebuild and modernize the schools at all levels from infrastructure, hygiene and quality of education’.
Speaking further about this project Anil Nahar, one of the founders of Yes We Can Foundation mentioned, “We are not here for income but, for the outcome.” According to Anil, the scope of refurbishing any school is endless and therefore, most of the decisions about the refurbishment project will depend and come from the school’s aspirations and requirements. But some of them will be clearly necessary and unavoidable, whatever else may happen, and there will be little choice but to allocate a significant portion of the budget to them.
The key criteria of the development plan for transforming schools by refurbishment is to identify small changes that won’t cost very much but could make a big difference and have a tangible impact to the operation of the school. In most of the schools they have refurbished, the entire community of staff, students and nearby villagers have taken pride in this joint effort; which stands up as a fantastic exemplar for all such schools to follow.
Details of Yes We Can Foundation School Refurbishment Grants 2013
Criterion and Extent of Financial Support:
The proposals are invited from Private Affordable Schools that are Non- Government Schools and are operational for more than three years and have three years’ audited accounts. Schools and projects will be given preference to the extent that they:
• Commit minimum standards of educational attainment (Reference: Yes We Can Foundation guidelines)
• Reduce the gender gap in literacy
• Reduce dropout rates of children
• Promote innovative community-based model to education system
• Increase the percentage of students going to higher education
• Generate local knowledge and involvement of communities in planning, implementing and monitoring of projects
• Demonstrate high replicability and scaling-up potential Guidance Notes for Organisations
What the Foundation does NOT support :
• Running expenses for the organisation or individual projects
• Salaries, training costs or office equipment/furniture
• Publication costs e.g. printing/distributing promotional and information leaflets
• Projects that have been completed
• Items that have already been purchased
• Playschemes/summer schemes/Trips.
• Holidays or expeditions for individuals or groups
• Consumables (e.g. stationery)
• Welfare Funds for individuals
HOW TO APPLY
Please apply on your organisation’s headed note paper (letterhead) giving or attaching the following information:
• A brief history of your School, its objectives and work
• Organization Structure, list of key professional/staff and their areas of expertise
• Description of the project and what you intend to achieve
• A copy of your most recent Annual Report and Audited Accounts
• Details of funds already raised and other sources that you have approached
• Proposals to monitor and evaluate the project
• Any other relevant information that will help to explain your application
• Refurbishment appeal with timetable of and anticipated date of completion
• Two photos of the existing School facility
The interested schools may email the proposal to the Programme Manager at admin[at]yeswecan[dot]in. So, next time you pass by a school with poor infrastructure and you want to see it revamped, just go ahead and make the administration apply.
Last date to apply is September 30, 2013 !