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Mobile Computer Lab - Why we wish to provide this service....Vocational training in the Philippines is supposed to start at Grade 5. Students at Indangan Primary school study vocational skills and technology from their textbooks, because there is no equipment to practise ICT, sewing, woodwork etc. Agriculture is also included in the Work and Vocational curriculum. There are a total of 324 Grade 5 and 6 students at Indangan Primary school who are learning vocational theory without the practice. Cabantian Primary School does not even bother with providing this subject. They have not received the subject text books from the government and they have a computer lab with a grand total of 2 computers! The 199 Grade 5 and 6 students are allowed to go across once a year for a 40 minute session in the computer lab, which mainly involves playing an educational game unassisted. Both principals said that even if they did have the equipment for the technology workshops, they would not have the money for consumables for students to learn and because their families are so poor, students would be unable to pay a material fee. Kids Worldwide hopes to address this need. First we will focus on the ICT needs of the schools. Whilst the initial outlay and expenses for an ICT lab will be considerable, maintenance should not be an issue, as we have a few computer technicians who have offered to volunteer their services should we need it. We wish to purchase a van in which it is possible to stand, so that we may also add other capabilities in the future – such as transform it into a small mobile classroom or library. Initially we hope to start with 15 laptop computers. Mobile labs have been proven to be more cost effective in the long run than desktop PCs (countless research articles on the internet about this) and they offer more versatility in provision of programmes. With 2 children per laptop, and 60 minute classes, we will be able to provide the government teachers with a welcome respite from their overloaded classes (30 children taken out at a time). There are currently 6 classes at Indangan Primary school at Grade 5 & 6 level and 4 classes at Cabantian. This would mean that we would be providing a total of twenty 60 minute sessions per week purely for their students. We can offer a total of twenty sessions in a week excluding transport and set up time between schools. On a rotational basis, we will also be able to include two of the AMSAI schools in the locality (AMSAI Cabantian and AMSAI Buhangin). Every fortnight, we would bring the laptops to the orphanages to offer classes there. In the evenings, the laptops could be used by volunteers to prepare for lessons and classes, or by teaching staff wishing to further their professional development. The internet connection would be purely for teacher and staff use and limited to one or two PCs in order to avoid risk of virus contamination. Each laptop would have educational software installed to support the teaching of classes. If schools wished to provide internet access, this would be a service that they would pay for. |
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A Brief OverviewKids Worldwide Maharlika are currently constructing a technology, music and arts centre at Blissful Village, Indangan, on the outskirts of Davao. The Imagine IT! project will consist of a mobile lab of computers which will rotate around the government and private schools within a 1.5 km radius of our Kids Worldwide HQ. On the weekends, the mobile lab will visit the orphanages that Kids Worldwide supports in Tugbok, and be available for teachers wishing to gain online qualifications in teaching. We also intend to support the professional development of the 50 teachers from the schools which we serve in Indangan.This will be a pilot project and if successful, we hope to replicate it with fleets which will serve schools and orphanages throughout the city. BackgroundWe realized the need in the last few years for setting up a headquarters and model project from which to operate Kids Worldwide for two main reasons. Firstly, many of the projects whom we assist by sending volunteers, do not know how to fully utilise them, and we wish to demonstrate how even short term volunteers, if properly managed, can successfully assist and benefit a project through their skills and contacts. Aside from this, it was always the intention for Kids Worldwide to not only assist affiliate projects, but also to run our own support centre to assist local schools and orphanages. Staff
Detailed Geographic Location of the project.We have procured a 600m2 plot of land on the outskirts of Davao, in a community called Sitio Sagrada, Km12 Indangan. The land is approximately 30 minutes from the city centre and is a rural location which is beginning to be developed into large subdivision estates providing cheap housing. The people in the area are subsistence farmers, labourers and unskilled workers. There is a high level of unemployment. Davao city is located in Mindanao, the southern-most island in the Philippines. This island has received a lot of bad press review of late, being in the international news recently for the massacre of 53 people in Cotabato (5 hours north-west of Davao City). Despite this, Davao is reputed to be the safest city in the Philippines with the lowest crime rate, due to the preventative measures put in place by the current mayor. We acquired land for the centre in May 2009 and started construction in September. Construction is currently ongoing and we anticipate to be completed by June of this year.
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The director of Kids Worldwide, who is overseeing this project, is Kate Ericksen. Kate is a qualified primary teacher and web designer, who currently teaches technology (ICT, sewing, cooking, woodwork and electronics) to primary students in the South Island of New Zealand. She has 7 years experience in fundraising and development work in sub-Saharan Africa, having run kindergartens, libraries and a childrens home there. Kate currently commutes every 6 months between the Philippines and New Zealand to organise training programmes for teachers and in January set up the music tuition project. 
Jay Lopena is an architect and is overseeing the construction of the Kids Worldwide site. He is managing the activities of Kids Worldwide in the Philippines and supervising volunteers, co-ordinating communications between orphanages and overseeing the orphanage support services. Jay has worked in South America, Sri Lanka and sub-Saharan Africa in a developmental and relief capacity for a total of 19 years. 
Proposed plan 
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