Art, for our Future

For the past 17 years, TIPA (Terrain for Interactive Pedagogy through the Arts) has been a steadfast ally to children from vulnerable communities in ZEP schools across Mauritius. Rooted in the belief that art can be a transformative force in education, TIPA has used creativity as a bridge to instill core human values—respect, empathy, discipline, and collaboration—helping children build strong foundations for life. Beyond academic progress, TIPA’s vision has always been broader: to contribute to a healthy, stable, and value-driven society, one that offers every child an environment conducive to growth and responsible citizenship.

In the course of the past year, the organization recognized an important insight: the promotion of essential life values is not only relevant in vulnerable communities but vital for all Mauritian children, across every social stratum. This realization has become the cornerstone of TIPA’s refined strategy regarding its social entrepreneurship project, anchoring it in a framework that could both extend social impact and ensure financial sustainability for the organization.

Over the past few months, a series of collaborative brainstorming sessions with the TIPA team ignited fresh ideas and innovative approaches. Together, they reflected on the organization’s solid expertise in art-based education, exploring how this unique strength could drive both social change and entrepreneurial growth.

The discussions centered around two major axes:

• Creative Communication – Designing imaginative ways to promote and embed essential values within the broader Mauritian society through art and awareness initiatives.
• Leveraging Expertise – Drawing from nearly two decades of hands-on experience in art pedagogy to fuel new activities and service offerings under the Social Entrepreneurship project.

With this renewed momentum, TIPA is charting a new program for its Social Entrepreneurship project —one that stays true to its roots in education through art while opening pathways for innovation, inclusion, and impact across Mauritius.

On 6 and 10 September, we were humbled to premiere the documentary film “ENN TIPA” in a movie theater for our key partners. Directed by Mauritian filmmaker David Constantin, the film offers a tangible vision of TIPA’s work in promoting citizenship values through arts-based pedagogy. This initiative aligns with TIPA’s new 2025–2029 Strategic Plan following the evaluation of our past impact.

The journey of the film began at Camp Levieux Aimé Césaire Government School, where it was patiently captured over a year of weekly shooting amidst the school’s premises. Fittingly, the very first audience to discover it on Saturday, 6 September, were the children, their parents and staff of this school — a touching avant-première that rooted the story where it all started. 

A visual testimony to TIPA’s work since 2007, highlighting the long-term impact of its mission, the film showcases our core values: Respect, Self-esteem, Discipline, Sharing, Listening, Empathy. Capturing authentic interactions in TIPA’s in-school sessions, it aims to spark debate on citizenship values, coexistence, and the role of art in social change. 

Next Steps

• Extend screenings beyond partner circles into local communities, followed by dialogue sessions on citizenship values and social cohesion. The first community screening will be scheduled in Camp Levieux.
• Use the film as a communication and fundraising tool with  partners and the wider public.

STRATEGIC PRIORITIES 2025-2029

TIPA continuously evaluates its impact to realign objectives with both external needs and internal resources. The most recent assessment exercice reviewed the implementation of the 2021–2024 Strategic Plan. The report assessed the relevance, efficiency, and effectiveness of TIPA’s activities and identified directions to amplify impact in coming years. This exercice helped lay the foundation of the next Strategic Plan 2025-2029, currently under implementation. TIPA aims to:

• Cultivate a collaborative environment where Parents, Teachers and Children nurture positive relationships, mutual support and trust.
• Reinforce a valorizing and participative approach for educational stakeholders, and promote life skills and citizenship values in the society.
• Implement art-focused pedagogical approaches and develop innovative tools and solutions that enhance children’s learning experiences.

EXPECTED IMPACT

• Parents and teachers are empowered to support children’s learning, fostering stronger school–family cohesion and joint projects for child development.

• Child-centred approaches create a sustainable educational ecosystem, while awareness initiatives promote shared values and social responsibility in Mauritian society.

• Children gain life skills such as self confidence and critical thinking, and citizenship values such as respect and collaboration. TIPA builds a skilled team and innovative tools that enable scalable solutions.