By April Stone | Director, Communications and Development
During the life of the program, for three years to date, more than 6,300 Dadaab camp residents enrolled in and used Planet Learning, a personal learning system that empowers the learner, with meaning and connection to thrive, even in dire and disrupted settings. OLE’s Community Learning Center (CLC) program, in partnership with UNHCR, in Dadaab, spearheaded by an amazing team of 6 learning coaches has proven highly effective increasing member literacy and numeracy, and expanding their knowledge and initiative to begin careers. 42 percent or close to 2,700 of the CLC participants are girls and young women, as is half the Community Advisory Council for the camp.
Please meet Rahma, who is 20 years old and has lived in the Hagadera community of the Dadaab camp most of her life. She arrived at the camp in 1998 along with her family. Rahma was a stellar learner in primary school and early secondary school, though her situation changed in 2016 when she was pressured to stay home and help with work around the house. Rahma’s mother struggled as Rahma’s sister is disabled, requiring both of their attention. Out of school for two months, Rahma’s friend Aisha asked her to join her at the Community Centre library for a ‘girl child training session’ by the OLE team. She participated in the course, watched related videos, and was in the audience for a show put on by students on the importance of education and how to overcome the barriers that may hold you back. Rahma narrates her story:
“After the event, I was struck by emotions and wild feelings of remorsefulness as I missed lessons for a couple of months because of obstacles that I now see I could have overcome, if only I searched diligently for solutions.”
Working with her OLE coaches at Hagadera, Rahma developed a plan with her parents that enabled her to return to school for the following term. Today, she has gained her momentum and is preparing for her final exams.
Popular courses taken by CLC members include:
As with any program that includes public outreach, the number of indirect program beneficiaries is considerably higher than the direct program beneficiaries. Indeed, the OLE Dadaab Team of Coaches and Tech Geniuses have worked diligently to expand the reach of the program in Dadaab. As part of this effort the centers are open and available to all community members. Center activities that provide access to indirect beneficiaries include the screening documentaries, youth group meetings and activities, English language debates and other ESL activities, hosting community focused activities such as World Refugee Day, and publishing an occasional camp newsletter. The teams also organized public debates on current issues, sports tournaments, spelling bees, movie discussions, and to name a few activities. Throughout the course of the CLC program OLE International supported the community centers by directly supporting library development through the curation and collation of resources relevant to the courses and interests of members.
Unfortunately, this program will end this December as available funding has run out for it to continue, let alone expand it to the other two remaining camps, or address the replacement of aging equipment. To enable the remarkably successful program to continue optimally (refresh, expansion), will cost just $5,000/month.
Thank you.
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