By Ashley Doria | Business Development Coordinator
For over a decade School-to-School International (STS) has implemented and refined an approach that embodies our founding principle: For students to thrive, they must have their basic needs fulfilled. We have implemented activities from all three components of the Whole Child Model — Education, Health, and Community Engagement — reaching over2,600students in Guinea in the 2015-16 school year alone. Our program covers a broad set of interventions, including activity-based teaching and learning, a girls’ scholarship program, construction of school wells, quality health and wellness education, improved school sanitation, parent and community involvement, and empowerment of school management.
Since our last report in December 2016, we have continued to implement activities for the 2016-2017 school year.
Girls’ Scholarship Distribution
Through a grant from the Alcoa Foundation, STS selects primary school girls to receive scholarships based on need, academic achievement, and regular school attendance. This school year we have continued distributing scholarships to recipients on a monthly basis. The scholarships, in the form of a monthly donation of a 50kg sack of rice, directly impact the recipient girls and their families. Since our last report, scholarships have continued to be disturbed monthly since the beginning of the school year.
Curriculum Development for After- School Clubs
Since November, STS has been working to develop the curriculum for our afterschool clubs. The clubs are designed to give extra academic support to our scholarship recipients and other girls and boys in our partner communities. Afterschool clubs aim to build teamwork, agency and self-esteem. Each session will tackle an area of academic need identified by teachers in our partner schools as well as one or more life skills topic through games and discussion. In early March, we trained the club facilitators in each school. The weekly sessions are scheduled to begin in mid-March and will continue through the end of the school year.
Well Construction
In late February, STS began construction of wells at two schools. The wells will serve as a clean water source for children and others in the community. The wells, funded by Alcoa Foundation, will be completed before the rainy season starts in May.
Presentation of Case-Study Findings on WCM’s Girls’ Education Component
STS researchers presented findings from a mixed-methods case study on the WCM’s girls’ education component at the annual conference for Comparative and International Education Society (CIES) in Atlanta, GA. The presentation highlighted lessons learned and adjustments to implementation as a result of the study that was conducted in the 2014-2015 school year.
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